Northeast South Dakota News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) addressed the media in Washington, raising concerns about a potential government shutdown. Thune spoke alongside other Senate Republican leaders and focused on the role of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democrats in ongoing budget negotiations.

Thune questioned whether there would be a "Schumer shutdown," referencing previous statements by Schumer on the negative impact of such actions. He said, “I’m sure you’re all asking the question, are we or are we not going to have a Schumer shutdown? And it sounds like, from what he is indicating, that very well may happen.”

Thune noted that Republicans plan to give Democrats the chance to vote for a clean continuing resolution (CR), which he said Democrats had supported in the past. He cited Schumer’s comments from the prior year: “In fact, just as recently as last year, about this time, he made the statement that shutdowns cause pain and needless harm and chaos for the American people. That was his exact quote about this time last year when we were considering a CR.”

He also pointed out that during President Biden’s administration there were 13 short-term CRs and said nearly all Democrats voted for them. “Now, interestingly enough, during the Biden presidency, when Schumer was the leader, the majority leader, there were 13 short-term CRs. Thirteen. 96 percent of all Democrats voted for all 13 of those short-term CRs,” Thune stated.

According to Thune, Republicans are proposing another short-term CR to extend funding until November 21 to allow more time for appropriations bills to be processed through regular order in Congress. He explained, “So we’re suggesting right now a short-term CR to get us to November the 21st, to give us time to process and consider appropriation bills, which is the way we ought to be funding the government.”

The senator emphasized that passing such a measure will require bipartisan support in the Senate: “And it’s going to take 60 votes to do that here in the United States Senate.” Thune expressed hope that some Democrats would join Republicans in supporting efforts to keep federal operations running.

Thune described recent legislative developments in the House and noted upcoming opportunities for both chambers of Congress to act on funding measures: “As you know, the House has posted their legislation. They will send it to us later this week and we’ll have an opportunity to consider it and process it over here.”

He contrasted current Republican efforts with past Democratic practices regarding appropriations bills: “When Democrats had the majority around here and Chuck Schumer was running the Senate, we didn’t do appropriation bills. Just didn’t do them. They wrote them back there in his office.” He argued for an open amendment process involving senators from both parties.

Concluding his remarks, Thune urged Democrats not to heed advice from online activists but instead work together with Republicans: “So that’s where things stand today... I’m hopeful that … they’ll come to their senses and there’ll be enough Democrats out there who consider Senator Schumer’s advice – which I think he’s getting from online trolls and activist groups, which he shouldn’t be listening to – that they’ll conclude that that’s really bad advice and work with us to keep the government open.”