Major health care legislation is also unlikely in an era of divided government. Trump threw GOP lawmakers into a frenzy recently when he said during a closed-door lunch that he wanted them to craft legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. He later backtracked saying it wouldn't be taken up until 2021, after the presidential election.

"Well look we made that effort last Congress," McConnell added on Wednesday. "Clearly the Democratic House is not going to pass it. So we're not going to spend time in the Senate on things that have literally no chance of becoming law"