Senate

McConnell: Senate won’t override Trump veto on shutdown fight

by Jordain Carney - 01/15/19 3:10 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday ruled out a scenario where the chamber would try to override a veto from President Trump as a way out of the partial government shutdown.

“In a situation like this where the president in my view is in the right place — trying to get the right outcome … with regard to border security — of course not,” McConnell told reporters when asked if he would be willing to override a veto on legislation to fully reopen the government.

Democrats, who have been trying to build pressure on McConnell to break with Trump in the weeks-long funding fight, blasted the GOP leader on Tuesday afternoon, asserting he and Republicans were more worried about “not offending” Trump than reopening the government.{mosads}

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that Republicans “are hiding in the shadows as if they have some kind of aversion to doing their job when it involves even the slightest break with the president.”

GOP senators, including members of Republican leadership, have repeatedly shot down questions from reporters about potentially trying to override a Trump veto — suggesting it was something McConnell would not consider as an escape hatch to the partial shutdown.

“We’re not going to do that. Twenty Republicans are not going to join with 47 Democrats and override a veto on this issue,” Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, told reporters late last week. “It’s like many other discussions here, a waste of time.”

McConnell has said the Senate will not take up government funding legislation unless it’s an agreement reached by the White House and congressional Democratic leadership.

“There’s no way around it. Having show votes in the Senate doesn’t solve the problem,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

The GOP leader has twice blocked a House-passed package that would fully reopen the federal government, roughly a quarter of which has been closed since Dec. 22 amid a stalemate over Trump’s demand for border wall funding.

One of the bills passed by the House would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8, while the other would fund the rest of the impacted departments and agencies through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Updated: 4 p.m.

Tags Chuck Schumer Donald Trump Mitch McConnell Roy Blunt