McConnell says CR should pass, bigger budget battles ahead

A second, short-term resolution to fund the government for three more weeks should pass, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday, but he warned that a tougher battle lay ahead over the long-term federal budget.

“I don’t think we ought to let the government shut down,” McConnell said on Fox News Sunday. “I think it [the continuing resolution] is going to include about $6 billion in cuts – so we’re on a path, a slow path, but a path never the less to get to the $61 billion in this year’s spending that House Republicans were able to send over to us. So I think it should pass and will pass.”

Some conservative House Republicans have said that they will vote against the measure put together by the House leadership because it does not cut enough or because it does not include stronger anti-abortion right language.

McConnell said it was up to his colleagues in the House to decide on specifics, but he seemed to suggest that they should hold their fire until the next battle.

“They’re going to have to make the decisions, if the bill originates in the house, as to whether to include any riders or not,” he said. “This is not the ultimate solution for this year, that’s going to be negotiated in the coming weeks.”