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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he will not allow another government shutdown as part of a strategy to repeal ObamaCare.

McConnell (Ky.) told The Hill in an interview Thursday afternoon that his party learned a painful political lesson over the past 16 days, as its approval rating dropped while the government was shuttered.

He said there’s no reason to go through the political wringer again in January, when the stopgap Congress passed late Wednesday expires.

“One of my favorite old Kentucky sayings is there’s no education in the second kick of a mule. The first kick of a mule was when we shut the government down in the mid 1990s and the second kick was over the last 16 days,” he said. “There is no education in the second kick of a mule. There will not be a government shutdown.

“I think we have fully now acquainted our new members with what a losing strategy that is,” he added. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/329145-leader-mcconnell-no-more-shu
tdowns-over-obamacare]

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday that Republicans lost the government shutdown budget battle because some members of his own party in Congress turned on their colleagues, but that he doesn't think they will make the same mistake during another political impasse.

"I am hopeful that in the future the Senate will listen," Cruz, the tea party favorite and freshman senator from Texas, told a convention in Austin of the Texas Medical Association.

The deal sets up the potential for another budget showdown in January. Senate GOP leaders, however, have suggested that there won't be a repeat of the shutdown or a potential default crisis like in recent weeks.

But addressing reporters after his speech, Cruz would not say that another fight won't be coming.

"There will be plenty of time to consider the particular practical or strategic decisions," he said. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/19/cruz-senate-won
t-make-same-mistake-in-next-fight/3057121/]