Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats. Thune stated that there has been little progress in resolving the stalemate.
“There is not a lot to negotiate, Maria. The Democrats just need to open up the government. Right now, we are at a stalemate. They’ve now voted four times. We’ve given them the opportunity, a clean, non-partisan, short-term funding resolution that continues government funding for the next seven weeks, and on four occasions now, they have voted against it,” Thune said.
Thune accused Senate Democrats of blocking efforts to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that would temporarily fund the government while lawmakers work through appropriations.
“What’s happening here is the Democrats are trying to hijack a short-term, non-partisan continuing resolution to fund the government merely for seven weeks to give us an opportunity to get the appropriations process done to try and get one and a half trillion dollars of new spending, make healthcare in this country, free healthcare available to non-citizens in this country,” Thune said of the Democrats.
He argued that reopening the government should come before further policy discussions: “The Democrats need to come to that realization and understand their option in front of them here is to open up the government and then we can talk about all of these other things they want to have a conversation about.”
Bartiromo asked how long Thune expected the shutdown might last. He responded by saying its duration depends on whether enough Democratic Senators join Republicans.
“I think it’s just as long as the Democrats want it go to on. I mean, they are the ones, they have the controlling card right now,” Thune said.
“All we need is another five Democrat Senators to join us to get the 60 votes that are necessary to pass legislation in the Senate,” he continued.
Thune attributed responsibility for the shutdown to Democratic leadership: “This is a Schumer shutdown. Chuck Schumer instigated this at the behest of a bunch of far-left, liberal interest groups, but there are Democrats who are reaching out to Republicans, having conversations about how we might be able to get the government opened up again.”
He warned about consequences for Americans if no agreement is reached: “This is a very costly endeavor for the Democrats to take because it really does hurt people across this country.”
When asked if any additional Democratic senators might support reopening efforts with Republicans, Thune said discussions were ongoing: “There are conversations ongoing Maria, where Democrats who I think realize this is a losing strategy for them and it really ends in a dead end, want to find an offramp here and are talking to Republicans.”
He concluded by linking Democratic opposition with outside influence: “I think right now their leadership is stuck because these left-wing special interest groups are so adamant in their desire to fight President Trump,” Thune explained.
