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Democrats Seize on McConnell Shutdown Threat

Democrats are firing back at Mitch McConnell's suggestion that Republicans, if they win control of the Senate, would possibly threaten to shutdown the government
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Democrats are firing back at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion that Republicans, if they win control of the Senate, would possibly threaten to shutdown the government to force policy changes from President Barack Obama.

"We're going to pass spending bills, and they're going to have a lot of restrictions on the activities of the bureaucracy," McConnell told Politico in an interview. "That's something he won't like, but that will be done. I guarantee it."

As Politico said of the strategy to deal with Obama, if Republicans control both chambers of Congress: "Mitch McConnell has a game plan to confront President Barack Obama with a stark choice next year: Accept bills reining in the administration's policies or veto them and risk a government shutdown."

More from Politico:

"The emerging strategy: Attach riders to spending bills that would limit Obama policies on everything from the environment to health care, consider using an arcane budget tactic to circumvent Democratic filibusters and force the president to 'move to the center' if he wants to get any new legislation through Congress."

But Democrats have jumped all over McConnell's suggestion.

"McConnell's case for a GOP Senate -- more shutdowns, more brinkmanship, more gridlock, less progress," tweeted White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer.

Added Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: "Once again, we're seeing that Republicans see government shutdowns as partisan tools, not economic disasters. It's exactly this kind of reckless gamesmanship that led to the last shutdown and is leaving the door open for another at the end of September. For the sake of our economy, this Republican Congress needs to take shutdowns off the table once and for all."

McConnell is locked in a tight re-election battle with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky, a state where Obama is widely unpopular.

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