10.15.25

Thune Joins The Brian Kilmeade Show

“This is going to be an opportunity for the Democrats to show whether or not they’re serious about what they say about wanting to have a regular appropriations process where we fund the government through what we call regular order …”

Click here to listen to The Brian Kilmeade Show.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio.

On Democrats’ shutdown hypocrisy:

“[Democrats have] got to vote to open up the government … this hostage-taking has to stop … They’re asking for … $1.5 trillion in new spending … [and] all kinds of … provisions in there that would allow illegals to have free health care. Those are all just non-starters, and that’s where their leadership is …

“I think a real solution and the way out of this is going to come from rank-and-file Democrats who are tired of sort of following their leadership over the cliff and are ready to make a deal to get the government back open again and get us actually doing the work we need to be doing on behalf of the American people.”

[…]

“What the Democrats are doing here is entirely wrong … nobody benefits from a shutdown … Chuck Schumer described it a few years ago as ‘political idiocy’ to shut down the government, to take it hostage to try and achieve other political objectives, and that’s essentially what they’ve done here.”

On how the shutdown is impacting national security:

“Getting the defense authorization bill … [is] something we have to do every year, and then the defense appropriation bill actually writes the check that enables all those priorities to be funded …

“This is going to be an opportunity for the Democrats to show whether or not they’re serious about what they say about wanting to have a regular appropriations process where we fund the government through what we call regular order – which is … allowing the committees to work, putting bills on the floor, opening up the amendment process.

“The Democrats are going to have a chance to vote to get on that bill. That vote will … happen tomorrow – but we’ll see where they go.”

[…]

“The Democrats are reluctant to do much of anything until that group gets here [on Saturday] and has their day and they can all … celebrate that they’re fighting Trump, but at some point we have to govern the country, and that starts with national security.

“I’ve always said that if you don’t get national security right, the rest is conversation. You’ve got to be able to defend the country. And so moving the defense authorization bill last week was really important.

“The defense appropriations bill, which funds all those things, is what we’re trying to tee up this week. So we’ll see … where the Democrats are, but I think in the end … if they’re sincere about wanting to actually fund the government the old-fashioned way, this is a chance to do it.”

On the consequences of Democrats’ shutdown:

“Nobody wants to see anybody lose a job, which is why it’s so important that we open up the government. But I also understand that the administration, in the case of a shutdown, has a job to do. They’ve got to try and figure out how to move money around. They’ve moved some money around to help pay the troops at least for another couple of weeks …

“They have to make decisions about which departments and agencies get prioritized, which employees are essential, which aren’t – and that happens when you get into a shutdown posture. So the administration is acting in a way that former presidencies – and I’ve been through a number of these shutdowns and administrations – have acted, and that is, they’re going to take care as much as they can of their priorities and those might in some cases … be at odds with what the Democrats want to see happen …

“[The administration is] being put into this position because of the shutdown, and that’s why … it’s so important that five Democrats cross the aisle, show a little backbone and some courage, and vote with us to get the government open.”