John Thune Criticizes Democrats for Using Government Shutdown 'Suffering' as Leverage

Government Shutdown and Democratic Tactics

• 🏛️ Senator John Thune criticizes Democrats for prolonging the government shutdown, now in its fourth week, by rejecting multiple opportunities to reopen it.
• 🚫 Democrats have blocked a clean, non-partisan continuing resolution 12 times, despite it containing no new Republican policies and simply extending current funding.
• 💸 Thune highlights that Democrats also rejected a bill to pay federal employees working during the shutdown and a proposal to begin bipartisan appropriations for defense.

Democratic Leverage and Public Impact

• 📉 The shutdown is causing hardworking Americans to live in uncertainty, with programs like nutrition assistance running out of money and federal workers seeking aid at food banks.
• 🗣️ Thune quotes the number two Democrat in the House, who stated that shutdowns are terrible and families will suffer, but it's one of the few leverage times they have.
• 🎯 This statement is used to illustrate that Democrats appear more interested in partisan games and gaining leverage than in resolving the shutdown.

Republican Proposals and Process

• ✅ Republicans have proposed a clean continuing resolution that would reopen the government immediately and allow for continued debate on larger issues.
• 📈 This proposal has passed the House and is ready to be signed by the President, contrasting with Democratic proposals that Thune deems partisan and unlikely to pass or be signed.
• 🤝 Thune expresses a desire to restore regular order in the Senate, pointing to progress made earlier in the year with bipartisan appropriations bills before Democrats derailed the process.

Union Support for Reopening

• 📢 Thune cites the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a labor union often aligned with Democrats, who called for a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown immediately.
• 💡 This quote is used to emphasize that even a Democrat-aligned union agrees with the Republican approach to reopening the government.