GOP senators dread pre-election shutdown fight

Senate Republicans are anxious to avoid giving Democrats another opening to force a government shutdown weeks before the midterm elections.

Why it matters: The appropriations process is a slog, Sen. Mitch McConnell's absence adds a complication, and election season raises the stakes. Add to that the Senate is haunted by three shutdowns in the past year.

• The annual, nuts-and-bolts funding process used to be more bipartisan, but it has become increasingly politicized.
• It's only July, and senators are already talking about kicking the can down the road.

What we're hearing: During multiple closed-door lunches before the Fourth of July break, senators raised fears about Democrats forcing another shutdown fight, multiple sources familiar with the discussions tell us.

• In the meetings, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has stressed the need to ensure the Senate is not trapped in another funding emergency right before the election.
• Some senators are pushing for a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, to get them through the midterms.

Zoom in: Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) still wants to stick with the normal funding process to avoid a CR.

• But Collins has been vocal about her frustration with Democrats' unwillingness to vote for the funding bills in committee.
• Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) "threat to vote against all of the appropriations bills, including those Democrats have helped draft, is contrary to the way I always operated with her when our roles were reversed," Collins told reporters last month.

Democrats, meanwhile, have blamed the Trump administration's hefty budget requests, including $1.5 trillion for defense spending. They accuse Republicans of being unwilling to negotiate on the top-line defense and non-defense spending.

• "We made it clear to the Republicans that we are not going to accept a gigantic war budget offer, that they have to be reasonable," Murray told reporters last month.
• The Trump administration also asked Congress last month for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, most of it to cover costs related to the Iran war.

The intrigue: McConnell's (R-Ky.) medical absence from the Senate could make the hard job of fully funding government agencies even harder.

• The Appropriations Committee already had to delay markups of spending bills in part due to McConnell's hospitalization.
• There is only a one-seat margin on the Appropriations panel, and Republicans worry they can't count on Democratic votes as they have in the past.
• McConnell also chairs the subcommittee for defense appropriations — putting him in charge of one of the most pivotal spending bills and playing a key role in the requested supplemental package for Iran.

The details: The deadline to fund the government next fiscal year is Sept. 30, about a month before the midterm elections.

• The Senate is scheduled to be in recess all of October, to allow those up for reelection to focus on campaigning in their states.
• All that could be derailed if the government does not get funded.

Catch up quick: Last October, the government began a 10-plus-week shutdown as Democrats demanded an extension to expiring Obamacare tax credits.

• At the start of the year, there was another brief shutdown because of disputes over Homeland Security funding after fatal ICE shootings.
• DHS was then left unfunded for months. Now the department has been funded through the rest of President Trump's term. If a shutdown occurs in the fall, DHS would not be affected.