'Foolish': McConnell blasts Republicans pushing Christmas shutdown in leadership farewell

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave a leadership farewell speech in the Senate on Friday as he prepares to step down as Senate Republican Leader, reported CNN — and took a parting shot at his colleagues in the House whose last-minute obedience to threats from tech billionaire Elon Musk led to a bipartisan funding agreement falling apart, and a possible government shutdown.

McConnell, who has grown bolder about criticizing the direction of the GOP under President-elect Donald Trump in recent weeks, amassed a reputation throughout his career as a legislative obstructionist — but he has been through multiple government shutdowns during his four decades in the Senate, and has a clear warning for the GOP: the party that shuts the government down, always takes the blame for it.

“Folks come to Washington to do one of two things: either to make a point, or to make a difference,” said McConnell. “It’s usually not that hard to tell who’s doing which, especially in situations like the one we’re in right now.”

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“The people who are here to make a difference recognize pretty quickly you never get everything you want, but often you can get quite a lot. And the folks who prefer to make a point have a funny habit of reminding us, out loud, how poorly they understand that fact,” he continued, warning, “I don’t care to count how many times I’ve reminded our colleagues and our House counterparts how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay a political price.”

The continuing resolution collapsed after Musk threatened a primary challenge against every GOP lawmaker who voted in favor of it. House GOP leaders quickly drafted a dramatically smaller continuing resolution that cut a litany of popular government programs — only for dozens of House Republicans to reject the package anyway, causing it to fail.

Another vote on a new deal is planned for later tonight.