Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters Tuesday that he does not believe there will be a government shutdown before Christmas.
He told NBC’s Kasie Hunt that he was convinced there would not be a shutdown.
.@Kasie: Are you convinced there won't be a government shutdown over Christmas?
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 18, 2018
Senate Majority Leader McConnell: "Yeah, I am." pic.twitter.com/2xSglRhYM3
Congress faces a partial government shutdown if a deal is not reached on the amount of funding for border security by Friday.
“I think a government shutdown is not a good option,” McConnell emphasized.
McConnell said he had discussed a “reasonable” deal to continue the same level of government funding for fencing along the border at $1.6 billion, but provide another $1 billion to the Trump administration for other immigration issues.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have rejected that deal.
President Trump has demanded $5 billion to fund the border wall and indicated last week that he is willing to shut down the government over the issue.
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However, the White House appeared to back down from that position Tuesday indicating that they are exploring other ways to fund the border wall.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News Tuesday that “at the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government.”
"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we'll work with Congress," she added.
McConnell said he was discussing options with the White House and would meet with Sen. Schumer again.
Sen. Schumer said Tuesday that Senate Democrats are open to considering a short-term continuing resolution to avoid the shutdown.
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