No government shutdowns will occur on Mitch McConnell’s watch, the likely Republican Senate majority leader said in some of his first post-election comments on his plans for the 114th Congress.
“There is no possibility of a government shutdown. Remember me? I’m the guy that gets us out of government shutdowns,” McConnell said in an interview published by Time Wednesday morning.
The Kentucky senator, who was instrumental in cutting deals with President Obama in standoffs over the Bush tax cuts, the debt ceiling, and the 2012 “fiscal cliff,” expressed deep confidence in his ability to avoid his party provoking another shutdown over disagreements with Obama.
“I’m the one who’s cut the deals that we’ve had,” McConnell said.
“I’m not fundamentally opposed to negotiating with the President and his team and, in fact, I’ve been the one who’s done that in the past,” McConnell said. “So, sure, he’s going to be there for two more years, so we’re going to sit down and talk to him and see what we might be able to agree on.”
Tax reform and trade agreements were two areas that McConnell identified as possibilities for cooperation with the White House.
Some more stridently conservative Republican senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas, have sought to escalate confrontations with the Obama administration in the past.
McConnell suggested that working with members like Cruz to avoid a shutdown would be a focus of his work.
“Look, we have a big party. Everybody from … [Maine Sen.] Susan Collins to Ted Cruz,” he said, referencing the moderate Maine Republican. “There are lots of different points of view. Bringing them together, that’s my job and I work on it every week.”
