McConnell Comes Up With a New Anti-Shutdown Tactic

In the past, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has repeatedly stepped in at the last minute to help President Obama and the majority Democrats in the Senate break a political impasse and avert a budgetary or economic crisis. As the Senate’s minority leader, the wily Kentucky Republican did so in the summer of 2011, just hours before the U.S. faced default - and then again in the fall of 2013 when he helped end a 16-day government shutdown. Today, McConnell faces another thorny prospect – this time