Rushmore State News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared on CNN's Inside Politics to discuss ongoing negotiations over government funding and the potential for a government shutdown.

Thune criticized Democratic lawmakers’ current proposals, saying, “The Democrats’ requests are completely unhinged and unreasonable and unserious, and if they want to have a serious conversation … I’m sure the president … would be happy to do that. But at least right now, what they’re asking for to keep the government open for seven weeks is over a trillion dollars in new spending and all kinds of policy riders that never go on continuing resolutions …”

He noted that during previous periods when Democrats held both the White House and Senate majority, Republicans cooperated in passing clean continuing resolutions (CRs) to maintain government operations. Thune stated, “When the Democrats had the majority and Joe Biden was in the White House, they passed [a CR] 13 times, and Republicans worked with them to deliver the votes. Those are clean spending, continuing resolutions to fund the government for a foreseeable time in order to allow something else to happen. In this case, we’re trying to do this to allow the normal appropriations process to get underway so that we can pass bills the old-fashioned way, which is through the Appropriations Committee, on the floor in the Senate, where every senator has an opportunity to make their voices heard.”

He emphasized that current Republican efforts focus on extending existing funding temporarily: “This is a short-term extension of existing funding, current funding. The Democrats are trying to hijack it to get a trillion dollars in new spending. And I don’t think that’s a very good deal for the American taxpayer …”

Addressing concerns about threats of a government shutdown linked with health care programs such as Obamacare, Thune said: “[Obamacare] is a program that costs $365 billion, and so if we’re going to have that conversation … it ought to be in a place and time where we can work through some of these issues and look at some of the reforms that would come with that to make that program work in a way that is a better deal for the American taxpayer.”

Thune also highlighted proposed changes affecting rural healthcare support: “[The Democrats are] asking for hundreds of billions of dollars of additional spending. They are literally wiping out the rural hospital fund that we put together, $50 billion that’s available to help support rural hospitals, and that’s wiped out in their proposal as well … This is a program that needs reform, but I think everybody is willing to sit down and talk about how to make that happen – in a context where it should be discussed, not as a hostage to keep the government open. I mean, right now, as I said, we’ve got a bill sitting on the desk in the Senate that could keep the government open.”

On concerns regarding benefits under premium tax credits expiring soon amid budget debates he added: “People aren’t going to lose their benefits. [The premium tax credits] expire at the end of the calendar year, and what we’re talking about here is a seven-week continuing resolution to fund the government until November 21, and I assume in that time period there will be plenty of opportunities for us to negotiate and discuss what the future of the premium tax credit program looks like, but it ought to be done in the light of day.”