{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=3DDD1E44-7F67-48C2-809F-EE8382F7F894", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 38", "2025-11-07", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, the junior senator from Connecticut certainly believes in saying the quiet part out loud.\n\n\u201cThis is what he said, and I quote:\n\n\u201c\u2018I think there will be some pretty substantial damage done to a Democratic brand that has been rehabilitated, if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop fighting.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe said on a podcast yesterday.\n\n\u201cHe went on to say that, \u2018The 2026 election is just 12 months away. And if we surrender without having gotten anything, and we cause a lot of folks in this country who had started to believe in the Democratic Party to retreat again, I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet me repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThis is what he said: \u2018I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet that sink in for a minute, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a secret to anybody that the Democrats shut down the government for political reasons.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been plenty of news coverage of the incredible pressure that their far-left base has been exerting.\n\n\u201cBut in case anyone was still under the impression that Democrats were driving this shutdown toward its 40th day out of concern for the American people \u2013 well, the junior Democrat from Connecticut pretty handily dispelled that notion.\n\n\u201cAgain, this is what he said: \u2018I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd just in case anyone needed any additional testimony, Axios reported on Wednesday, and I quote, \u2018A set of post-election talking points circulated among Democratic congressional offices warned: \u201cCaving without concessions would sap Democrats\u2019 momentum and undercut the party\u2019s support from its base.\u201d \u2026 \u201cDemocrats throwing [Republicans] a rope in exchange for nothing would be political self-sabotage,\u201d it added.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Political self-sabotage,\u2019 Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNow, there are two very striking things about these quotes.\n\n\u201cOne, of course, is the focus not on the American people, but on how to ensure Democrats win the next election.\n\n\u201cAnd two is the fact that progressive Democrats apparently want to keep this shutdown going forever.\n\n\u201cWe are on day 38 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown \u2013 day 38.\n\n\u201cFederal workers have gone more than a month, now, without pay.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to pay their mortgage or buy food thanks to Democrats.\n\n\u201cA lot of them are supposed to get another paycheck today \u2013 instead, they\u2019ll see a deposit of exactly zero dollars in their bank account.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg.\n\n\u201cHead Start preschools have closed. Veterans help programs have shuttered. Many Medicare recipients can\u2019t get access to telehealth. National Guard troops aren\u2019t training. SNAP benefits are in profound jeopardy.\n\n\u201cThere are people going hungry right now because Democrats refuse to agree to a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.\n\n\u201cAnd, of course, then there\u2019s air travel.\n\n\u201cBecause of staffing shortages caused by Democrats\u2019 shutdown, the Department of Transportation had to issue a mandatory reduction in air travel beginning today.\n\n\u201cHundreds of thousands of people will be affected every day, to say nothing of disruptions to the movement of packages and goods.\n\n\u201cBut nothing seems to move Democrats.\n\n\u201cNothing.\n\n\u201cNot hungry Americans. Not massive disruptions to our economy.\n\n\u201cNothing.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if I were a Democrat I would be embarrassed \u2013 I mean, flat-out embarrassed \u2013 to walk into this building every day.\n\n\u201cTo walk past the men and women of the Capitol Police, who are not getting paid thanks to Democrats.\n\n\u201cTo walk past junior staffers, many of whom are undoubtedly frantic by this point as they wonder how they\u2019re going to pay their rent and continue to buy food.\n\n\u201cHow can Democrats look any of these people in the eyes?\n\n\u201cPlease don\u2019t tell me they\u2019re fighting for some greater good for the American people.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats can be said to be fighting for anyone at all besides themselves, they are fighting for a fraction of a fraction \u2013 for a tiny percentage of the small percentage of Americans who are on Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThe number of people they\u2019re supposedly fighting for is dwarfed \u2013 and I say dwarfed, Mr. President \u2013 by the number of people whose lives and livelihoods they are damaging.\n\n\u201cAnd as for the claim that Democrats got some kind of mandate from the American people on Tuesday to continue jeopardizing food stamps for 40 million Americans in need \u2013 give me a break.\n\n\u201cDemocrats performed well in three states where Democrats \u2026 often perform well.\n\n\u201cCongratulations.\n\n\u201cI really don\u2019t think that means that the American people have all signed up to be democratic socialists.\n\n\u201cAnd it sure as heck doesn\u2019t provide a good reason for making 40 million Americans go hungry.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I would like to think that the junior senator from Connecticut doesn\u2019t represent all Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut if there are Senate Democrats out there who do still care about hardworking Americans and not just Democrats\u2019 election prospects, the time to act is now.\n\n\u201cNot when the far left decides this exercise can be over.\n\n\u201cNot when federal workers are lining up at food banks for their Thanksgiving meal.\n\n\u201cNow.\n\n\u201cToday.\n\n\u201cI hope \u2013 I hope, Mr. President, \u2013 there are at least five more Democrats out there with a backbone who will vote with us to reopen the government and end these weeks of misery for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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=3DDD1E44-7F67-48C2-809F-EE8382F7F894"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0749269276857376, "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"}