Thune: Democrats Are Full Speed Ahead in the Wrong Direction

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, here we are.

"Democrats have bowed to the far left, and they've shut down the federal government.

"As of this morning, critical federal employees - including members of the military, Border Patrol agents, and air traffic controllers - are working without pay.

"And a number of government services are unavailable or at risk.

"Mr. President, Democrats are well aware of the damage of a government shutdown.

"We've heard it from them time and again.

"But apparently none of that matters to Democrats today.

"All that seems to matter is that their far-left base sees them 'fighting' against President Trump.

"And the American people just have to suffer the consequences.

"Mr. President, we can end this today.

"There is a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution at the desk.

"It has no partisan policy riders.

"No new Republican policies.

"It just keeps the government running until November the 21st.

"The House passed it.

"The president is ready to sign it into law.

"And the only thing standing in the way is Senate Democrats, who are demanding $1.5 trillion in partisan spending to keep the government open to keep the government open for seven weeks.

"That's right.

"They are demanding more than the defense budget, in their resolution, to keep the government open for four weeks.

"Mr. President, that's not how this works.

"We were in [this] situation 13 times when Democrats had the majority under President Biden.

"And 13 times, Republicans provided more than enough votes to keep the government open.

"And that's what needs to happen here.

"We are one - just one - Senate roll call vote away from ending this shutdown.

"We need a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to reopen the government.

"And once we do that, then we can talk about the issues that Democrats are raising.

"But we're not going to engage in bipartisan discussions while Democrats are holding the federal government hostage to their partisan demands.

"Mr. President, this Democrat shutdown is actually delaying progress on the issues that Democrats claim to be interested in.

"It's also delaying important work on appropriations bills.

"Now, I've said throughout this year that my goal is to do appropriations through regular order.

"Regular order, which allows members of both parties to give voice to their priorities and to help shape appropriations bills.

"And we've made good progress already this year.

"Thanks to the work of Chair Collins and the Appropriations Committee, we passed three bipartisan bills before the August recess for the first time since 2018.

"And there are a number of additional bills ready for floor consideration.

"But that work is now delayed because we have to deal with the Democrats' shutdown mess.

"Mr. President, how long this shutdown lasts depends entirely on Democrats.

"Republicans are united around a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.

"A few Democrats joined us last night and voted to keep the government open.

"They'll have another opportunity to vote today, and I hope more of our Democrat colleagues will agree to end this shutdown.

"Real people are suffering right now because of Democrats' temper tantrum.

"And it needs to stop.

"Mr. President, I want to close with this.

"In 2019, in the midst of another shutdown, the Democrat leader urged reopening the government before negotiating on the one point of disagreement.

"He said then, and I quote, 'Why must we hold millions of Americans who depend on the services of these Agencies that are closed-hundreds of thousands of workers who get paid by these Agencies-why must we hold them hostage? Why must a temper tantrum determine how we vote and what happens in this government? Everyone can shut down the government on anything-any leader, any President. It is not the way to do things.'

"Mr. President, I hope that the Democrat leader will heed his own words.

"Democrats need to reopen the government.

"And we need to get back to work for the American people."

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