09.30.25

Thune: Democrats Choose a Shutdown

“We simply asked Democrats to extend existing funding levels to allow the Senate to continue the bipartisan appropriations work that we started. And Senate Democrats said no.”

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference after Senate Democrats voted to shut down the government.

Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):

“The Democrat caucus here in town, in the Senate, has chosen to shut down the government over a clean, nonpartisan funding bill.

“That’s right – a clean, nonpartisan funding bill.

“We didn’t ask Democrats to swallow any new Republican policies.

“We didn’t add partisan riders.

“We simply asked Democrats to extend existing funding levels to allow the Senate to continue the bipartisan appropriations work that we started.

“And Senate Democrats said no.

“Why? Because far-left interest groups and far-left Democrat members wanted a showdown with the president.

“And so Senate Democrats have sacrificed the American people to Democrats’ partisan interests.

“I hope it will be some comfort for Americans dealing with shuttered government services to know that MoveOn.org and other far-left organizations are happy with this vote.

“Democrats may have chosen to shut down the government tonight, but we can reopen it tomorrow.

“All it takes is a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding bill that’s in front of us.

“And I hope – I really hope – that some of them will join us to reopen the government, resume bipartisan appropriations work, and get back to the business of the American people.

“And I think that’s evidenced by [what] the American people would like to have us do.

“Great irony in this discussion tonight that the Democrat leader was characterizing The New York Times as a biased poll, but I think it’s where the majority of the American people are.

“They don’t want all the side shows.

“They don’t want hostage-taking.

“They want their elected representatives to get down and do the work that they sent us here to do, and part of that is getting this appropriations process back on track – something that we should have done a long time ago.”