{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=108CC075-263E-42F8-AE71-FA6EE549E509", "Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Hugh Hewitt Show.\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cRepublicans want our troops to get paid. We want the men and women of the Border Patrol getting paid. We want TSA agents, ATC, air traffic control, every federal employee to get their paychecks \u2026\n\n\u201cThey want \u2013 the Democrats, that is \u2013 far-left progressive activists to be less mad at them. I mean, that\u2019s really what we\u2019re talking about here. So I just think in the end, Hugh, that it\u2019s a simple choice for them, and they can get the government back open, or they can choose to keep letting the far left call the shots. I think the majority of the country is starting to see through this, and is going to continue to move against them, but it doesn\u2019t seem like they care.\n\n\u201cI think they are so fearful, so afraid, so running scared, from that far-left base, which is where, you know, the money in Democrat politics is, you know, the small donor stuff, it\u2019s where the activists, it\u2019s where the energy is, and frankly, that\u2019s where a lot of people end up getting primaried. And I think these Democrats here in the Senate are afraid of that.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear. I\u2019ve been willing to sit down with Democrats. They want to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare, and I\u2019ve said I\u2019m willing to give them a vote. But it\u2019s under one condition: They\u2019ve got to end the Schumer shutdown, open up the government \u2026\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t negotiate under hostage conditions, and that\u2019s where we are right now. As you know, we have a bill to fund the government passed the House, sitting on the desk at the Senate, the president\u2019s ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cThe government could open up today. We just need a handful of Democrats to join us, because \u2026 it takes a supermajority, 60 votes in the Senate, to pass anything consequential. And Democrats continue to resist.\n\n\u201cThey just voted for the 11th time to keep the government shut down. [The shutdown] has a lot of impacts on a lot of people, including federal employees who aren\u2019t getting paid.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThey want \u2013 the Democrats, that is \u2013 far-left progressive activists to be less mad at them. I mean, that\u2019s really what we\u2019re talking about here \u2026 It\u2019s a simple choice for them \u2026 they can get the government back open, or they can choose to keep letting the far left call the shots.\n\n\u201cI think the majority of the country is starting to see through this, and is going to continue to move against them, but it doesn\u2019t seem like [Democrats] care. I think they are so fearful, so afraid, so running scared, from that far-left base, which is where \u2026 the money in Democrat politics is \u2026 the small donor stuff, it\u2019s where the activists, it\u2019s where the energy is, and frankly, that\u2019s where a lot of people end up getting primaried \u2026 I think these Democrats here in the Senate are afraid of that.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Johnson\u2019s Shutdown Fairness Act:\n\n\u201cRon Johnson has a proposal \u2026 it pays everybody who is, \u2018excepted,\u2019 in other words, everybody who is an essential employee that\u2019s still working. So if you\u2019re working \u2013 it doesn\u2019t cover furloughed employees, they\u2019ll get back pay \u2013 but if you\u2019re working, you should get paid \u2026 We\u2019re gonna see what the Democrats do with that one.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=108CC075-263E-42F8-AE71-FA6EE549E509"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9838519617915154, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}