McConnell offers two-month extension of bill to fund the government

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced a one-page continuing resolution Thursday that funds the government through Feb. 18. 

Senate Republicans have railed against a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill offered by Democrats that would keep the government running through fiscal year 2011. 

"Just a few weeks after the voters told us they don’t want us rushing major pieces of complicated, costly, far-reaching legislation through Congress, we get this," McConnell said on the floor.

"They want us to ram this gigantic, trillion dollar bill through Congress — and they’re using the Christmas break as a inducement to get us to vote for it," he said. 

"This is no way to legislate."

McConnell uses the stopgap measure that expires Saturday and changes the effective date to Feb. 18. 

Republicans on both sides of the Capitol are proposing the two-month extension that holds fiscal 2010 spending levels in place until they can take a shot at cutting spending next year. 

"Once the new Congress is sworn in, we’ll have a chance to pass a less expensive bill free of wasteful spending," McConnell said.