The shutdown battle has led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to modify his favorite saying that “there’s no education in the second kick of a mule.” On Tuesday, he revised that to a “third” kick. | M. Scott Mahaskey/Politico government shutdown ‘Get this done’: McConnell moves to avoid new shutdown The Senate majority leader is coming out strongly against another shutdown — making it harder for Trump to close the government again.

Mitch McConnell is willing to go big, go small or anything in between to avoid another government shutdown. He’s even willing to appeal to a higher power.

At a meeting with GOP chairmen on Wednesday, the Senate majority leader had a lighthearted message for his negotiators trying to avoid another shutdown, according to attendees: “We’re praying for you. Get this done.”


McConnell has made no secret of how much he hates shutdowns, particularly the most recent and historic partial funding lapse. He said Tuesday he’ll probably support “whatever works” to avoid another debacle. He’s considering bills to end shutdowns forever and giving his four GOP conference committee negotiators wide berth to strike a deal with Democrats.

GOP senators insist President Donald Trump does not want another shutdown, though the White House has notably refused to rule one out if lawmakers don’t deliver Trump his border wall money.

McConnell allies say he’s not girding for confrontation with Trump and is only seeking bipartisan action to stave off a shutdown. But McConnell’s sentiments — reflecting a Senate GOP deeply disturbed by the latest debacle — will make it far more difficult for Trump to close the government again and still maintain party unity.

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As Republican leader, McConnell has now undergone the 35-day partial shutdown and the 16-day complete shutdown in 2013 when Republicans were largely blamed, as well as a three-day lapse sparked by Senate Democrats in 2018. Other than the 72 hours of the “Schumer shutdown,” as he dubbed it, McConnell has hated absolutely every minute of them.

The Kentucky Republican viewed the most recent episode as largely out of his control, the product of a clash between Trump and Democratic leaders. But now that the government is reopened, the GOP leader has thrown himself into preventing the next impasse.

“He’s said it publicly and privately: He thinks shutdowns don’t work. Nobody wins and that’s not what we worked so hard to get into the majority to do, to shut down the government. We got the majority to govern,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close McConnell ally. He said the way forward is “to talk, to negotiate and to compromise.”

McConnell has even modified his favorite saying that “there’s no education in the second kick of a mule.” On Tuesday, he revised that to a “third” kick.

After previously beating the drum repeatedly in favor of Trump’s border wall and attacking Democrats for being unreasonable on the Senate floor, the GOP leader is also shying away from needling Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. His more delicate handling of the debate ahead of the Feb. 16 deadline reflects a 53-member Senate GOP that is utterly sick of shutdowns but divided over the best alternative.

Some would vote for a stopgap spending bill even if Trump opposed it. Others would urge the president to declare a national emergency and move the battle over the wall to the courts.

“It’s an absolute necessity” to avoid another shutdown, said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). “I’ve been through 15 since I’ve been here … there were three or four big ones. I don’t want to go through them.”

“There is a strong desire to get this one behind us,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “There’s a real fatigue.”

Johnson clashed with McConnell last Thursday as the party prepared to take two failed votes to reopen the government, time Johnson thought would be better spent making Democrats vote on proposals to pay government workers. According to Johnson, McConnell told Republicans last Thursday: “Colleagues, this is the position we find ourselves in.”

“And I said, my exact quote: ‘Not to be too obnoxious, but let’s face it, you put us in this position,’” Johnson recalled of the spat over floor strategy. Johnson also said he was blindsided by the voting schedule, though several Senate Republicans defended McConnell by noting he held a conference call to discuss it, according to attendees.

The exchange illustrated the unease in the GOP over the shutdown, something McConnell is acutely aware of. It was top of mind at the chairmen’s meeting on Wednesday and is ever-present as the threat of another funding crisis hangs over the Republican majority.

“I don’t think McConnell ever wanted a shutdown,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “It happened, it could happen again, but I don’t think anyone wants it, including the president.”

Trump weighed in Wednesday by declaring on Twitter that if the conference committee "is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!"

While many senators speak with Trump frequently, McConnell’s sway is unmatched. Even though the majority leader once found himself the subject of Trump’s Twitter ire, he’s now helped the president secure sweeping tax cuts and two Supreme Court nominees, all while rarely breaking with the president and never undercutting him during the shutdown.

Now McConnell is keeping the president apprised of the likelihood he gets a deal in the conference committee, and whether lawmakers will give him anything for his wall.

“The White House is very flexible in what might be included in a deal. But beyond that it’s hard to tell,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), McConnell’s chief deputy. “He’s conveying to the president what his percentages and the odds are. So they’re going in with their eyes open.”

The conference committee met for the first time on Wednesday, with few signs of tangible progress in a public meeting. Yet Republicans, and to a lesser extent Democrats, are channeling all their optimism into the panel, hoping it will absolve them of the alternatives: Another shutdown, a GOP rebellion against Trump or a national emergency declaration.

Republicans have mulled contingency plans, Thune said, but few want to dismiss the conference before it ends. McConnell says he doesn’t want a national emergency or a shutdown, a position shared almost uniformly among Republicans.

“I’ve just been pointing out what an impractical idea the emergency route is,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who said there’s a “99 percent likelihood” that the courts would block the president. “It’s a much stronger opportunity for good border security if we work something out.”

That puts plenty of pressure on Senate GOP conferees Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to cut a deal with Democrats on border security over the next two weeks.

Pelosi huddled with House Democratic conferees on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s conference meeting. But McConnell’s done no such thing, said Shelby, the appropriations chairman.

“Did I meet with him? No, no,” Shelby said. “I don’t like marching orders, I like cooperation.”