In his strongest words to date, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, tried to quash talk that he would allow another government shutdown if he becomes Senate majority leader next year.

“Of course not. Remember me? I am the guy that gets us out of shutdowns,” McConnell told CNN in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

“It’s a failed policy,” he said of shutdowns.

Earlier this month, Politico reported that, if selected majority leader, McConnell plans to tell the president to accept bills reining in the administration’s policies or veto them and risk a government shutdown.