McConnell Punts On Government Shutdown Standoff Over Immigration

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, accompanied by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., center, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, accompanied by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., center, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) MORE LESS
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday wouldn’t rule out — or endorse — a strategy that could spark a government shutdown battle over President Barack Obama’s promised executive actions on immigration.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, the Kentucky Republican was asked if he’d support Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) plan to attach a provision rolling back Obama’s move to a must-pass bill to keep the federal government open past Sept. 30.

“I hadn’t heard about that before. We’ll talk about all that when we get back in session,” he said.

Rubio’s comments were published in Breitbart, a conservative website, on Tuesday and have received attention elsewhere since then. Congress is on recess until the second week of September, when it’ll have about 10 working days to agree on a government funding bill or risk a shutdown. Obama’s immigration action is expected by the end of the summer.

McConnell is in the midst of a tough reelection battle. He said he doesn’t want to see the government shut down this year or next year if he becomes majority leader.

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  1. Avatar for korvu korvu says:

    We already know his thoughts from the recordings at the Koch meeting.

  2. Avatar for topcat topcat says:

    “I hadn’t heard about that before. We’ll talk about all that when we get back in session.”

    They have already talked with the Koch boys – so who’s left?

    You don’t suppose Mitch thinks we’ve forgotten already…jeez, it was just last week.

  3. That is what you get for Koch-sucking around and saying anything your bondage partners wants to hear. Secondly are we limited to only doing business in DC while in session.

    What about your campaign manager and his connections to the plea deal reached yesterday in Iowa by state senator Kent Sorenson of bribery? You can’t punt the Koch brothers, wing nuts or the Paul nuts.

  4. Avatar for mymy mymy says:

    Now they are saying that they won’t bring it up till after the midterms. I guess they expect to win. But a 67% majority??? Not likely.

    This has to be just to suck the Kochs dry of as much money as possible.

  5. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    Photo shows the SenileMutantNOnjaTurtle checking the wind direction…

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