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[Sen. Joe] Manchin insists that Democrats will settle for nothing less than a year-long extension of health-care benefits for those miners. But McConnell told Politico they will have to settle for what they have now and continue the fight in 2017.
“The difficulty here is they are having a hard time taking yes for an answer. I represent a lot of coal miners, I’m concerned about this issue. I had hoped we’d get a year. But we’ve got until the end of April to get at it again,” McConnell said in an interview on Friday–a point he stressed on the Senate floor later that morning.
Asked if the government would shut down, the GOP leader replied: “I certainly hope not. There’s no reason for it.”