The federal government is approaching a potential shutdown, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed his disagreement with former President Donald Trump. McConnell opposes Trump’s demand to halt federal operations later this month unless the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is incorporated into a temporary spending bill.

During a press conference on Capitol Hill, McConnell stated that he would take all necessary measures to prevent a government shutdown, asserting that “it would be politically beyond stupid” for Republicans to pursue such a course of action in the lead-up to the elections in November.

An off-camera reporter asked McConnell, “Susan Collins said yesterday that a six-month CR could have a devastating impact on defense spending. Do you think your House colleagues should drop this idea of six months?”

“I think we first have to wait and see what the House sends us. My only observation about this whole discussion is the one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame,” McConnell replied.

“And one of my favorite old sayings is there’s no education in a second kick of a mule. We’ve been here before. I’m for whatever avoids the government shutdown and that’ll ultimately end up obviously being a discussion between the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House as to how to process avoiding government shutdown,” he added.

McConnell’s remarks followed a message from former President Donald Trump, who last week encouraged his Republican colleagues in Congress to consider a federal government shutdown unless they receive “assurances.”

“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO “STUFF” VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN – CLOSE IT DOWN!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

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