[ad_1]
US Senate control remains unstable, less than three weeks before polling day, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of R-Kentucky said on Wednesday.
Citing new competitive races Throughout the country – in Arizona, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Florida – Mr. McConnell has stated: "I do not think that any of them is in one way or the other." In recent weeks, he described the ongoing battle for control of the Senate as "a knife fight in an alley" and he reiterated Wednesday that somewhere among these nine races, "constitutes a majority for someone" .
"We probably have a slight advantage based on the numbers," McConnell added, probably in reference to the number of seats defended by Democrats – 26 – compared to Republicans, who defend only nine seats.
The Senate leader spoke in an interview with correspondents and producers of national cable television channels and network, as part of a media tour going on in the days leading up to the mid-term elections. mandate.
McConnell disagreed when asked if he was in agreement with President Trump. he should not assume responsibility if Republicans lose control of Congress.
"We have not had an election yet," said McConnell, who has rarely publicly separated from the president. "After every election, no matter what the loser, a lot of indicators point fingers, and the winner wins a lot of effort to get credit.I prefer to wait to see what happens.J" hope we can retain the majority I would prefer to be at age 51 than 49, but we have a lot of tight races and it's not over. "
Republicans currently hold 51 seats, compared to 49 for the Democratic caucus. National political polls show that Republicans are well placed to hold and perhaps expand their majority in the Senate.
As for what might happen once the elections are over, McConnell said he hoped Congress could avoid a further government shutdown on spending. Trump is pushing for full funding for his long-promised border fence along the US border but in Mexico, but McConnell would not commit to full funding.
"The speaker and I will try to help the President to be heard financing for the wall for a year, "he said. Closing the government is, in my opinion, very reprehensible to almost all Americans, and I do not think we will end up doing it. "
In the longer term, Mr. McConnell said that he did not think that the White House and Congress would attack a long-term reform of programs such as social security and insurance. until Mr Trump had left office, given that the current occupant of the White House had reorganized those programs.
When asked if he thought he could change the president's view of the subject, McConnell replied, "I do not think so."
"One day, we will have to tackle this big problem and when we do, we will have to do it on a bipartisan basis," he said.
"A divided government would be the perfect time to do it, and President Obama and I had a lot of discussion about it during his tenure, because six out of eight years we split the government." For a variety of reasons, we did not do the work, "he said.
During this 35-minute exchange, several hypothetical questions were posed to McConnell about the risk of division of congressional control – Republicans allegedly holding the Senate and Democrats to take control of the House. On several occasions, he refused to entertain the notion.
"I hope we will not have to deal with a democratic house," he said. "It would not be a welcome advance, and I hope we will have a Republican Senate."
Bo Erickson contributed to this report.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
[ad_2]Source link
