House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., lashed out at Republicans Thursday when asked about their efforts and said she doesn't even know if conservatives would have the votes to block the measure.
“But it is yet again a double, a double sense of irresponsibility," she told reporters at her weekly press conference. "First of all, they shut down government, and then they shut down science.”
"This is so silly that we have people [who] are anti-science, anti-vaccination, saying they're going to shut down government over that," she added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Thursday, "Unfortunately, it seems Republican dysfunction could be a roadblock to averting an unnecessary and dangerous government shutdown ... Let's be clear, if there is a shutdown, it will be a Republican anti-vaccine shutdown."
McConnell, meanwhile, made it clear Tuesday that he doesn’t want a shutdown.
"We won't shut down,” he told reporters. “I think we'll get there, and certainly nobody should be concerned about a government shutdown.”
Congress must pass a government funding measure by the end of Friday or risk a shutdown Saturday.