Mitch McConnell: Expect more shutdown brinkmanship if Republicans take the Senate

Mitch McConnell: Expect more shutdown brinkmanship if Republicans take the Senate
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says that if the GOP emerges from the midterms with control of both chambers of Congress, he'll give Obama a choice: Pass bills you don't like, or risk another government shutdown.

In an interview with Politico, McConnell says that if he ran the Senate, he would slap riders — unrelated, typically partisan amendments — on to spending bills to force Obama to "move to the center." Stacking bills to fund the government with a wish list of non-germane conservative policy would naturally trigger a confrontation with the president that could cause Washington to once again grind to a halt — something McConnell seems keenly aware of.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.