Rushmore State News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) addressed the media at a bicameral press conference alongside Republican congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., on the first day of a federal government shutdown.

Thune criticized Senate Democrats for what he described as their role in causing the shutdown. He stated, "Unfortunately, we are here this morning in a government shutdown that Democrats wanted." Thune attributed the impasse to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and said, "Chuck Schumer, at the behest of a bunch of liberal, far-left activist groups, has walked his Democrat colleagues into a boxed canyon."

He emphasized that House Republicans had sent a "clean continuing resolution" to fund the government and argued that ending the shutdown was straightforward: "Well, it ends when the Senate Democrats pick this bill up, passed by the House of Representatives, and vote for it." Thune pointed out that similar measures had been adopted previously under Democratic majorities and President Joe Biden.

Thune called attention to bipartisan support for resolving the situation: "Our vote last night was a bipartisan vote. There were three Democrats that came over and voted with us because they know this strategy is a losing one, and it hurts the American people." He urged Senate Democrats to act quickly: "This can all end today, folks. It needs to end today."

He concluded by reiterating his commitment to reopening the government: "We will continue to work together with our House counterparts, with the president of the United States, to get this government open again on behalf of the American people."