McConnell, however, has sent a much different message about the Senate’s 2018 agenda. After a year of almost entirely party-line voting on judicial nominations, health care, and taxes, the majority leader says he want to pursue more bipartisan legislation in the midterm election year. McConnell has been talking up a potential two-party deal on immigration and a consensus bill to change the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law of 2010. He’s even indulging President Trump’s desire for a major push on infrastructure—a pricey priority that likely would attract Democratic support only if it greatly exceeds the $200 billion that the administration wants to fund.

What isn’t on McConnell’s list is welfare or entitlement reform. “I think the Democrats are not going to be interested in entitlement reform, so I would not expect to see that on the agenda,” he told Mike Allen of Axios last week. During a year-end press conference the next day, he told reporters that “the sensitivity of entitlements is such that you almost have to have a bipartisan agreement in order to achieve a result.”