{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=422F4129-9E7C-4D15-BA5D-2A617139ECBD", "Thune to Schumer\u2019s Shutdown Senators: This Isn\u2019t a Political Game, It\u2019s People\u2019s Livelihoods", "2025-10-29", "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 delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, thank you.\n\n\u201cReserving the right to object.\n\n\u201cLet me just point out, if I might, that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd the senator from New Mexico is absolutely right; SNAP recipients shouldn\u2019t go without food.\n\n\u201cPeople should be getting paid in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve tried to do that 13 times!\n\n\u201cAnd you voted no 13 times!\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t a political game.\n\n\u201cThese are real people\u2019s lives that we\u2019re talking about.\n\n\u201cAnd you all just figured out \u2013 29 days in \u2013 that, oh, there might be some consequences!\n\n\u201cThere are people running out of money.\n\n\u201cYeah, we\u2019re 29 days in, and [the Trump administration has] done their best to make sure that a lot of these programs are funded.\n\n\u201cBut at some point the government runs out of money.\n\n\u201cThirteen times, people over here voted to fund SNAP.\n\n\u201cThirteen times they voted to fund WIC.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cFinally realized this thing has consequences.\n\n\u201cWell, you know what?\n\n\u201cWhat Democrats are doing here, they\u2019re making plans to keep the shutdown going, and they realize all of a sudden, 29 days in, that this is a real consequence, real-life pain for American families.\n\n\u201cSomething that results from their shutdown.\n\n\u201cSo, are they making plans to end the shutdown and reopen the government?\n\n\u201cNope.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this request is a transparent admission that Democrats want to keep the shutdown \u2013 for what, another month?\n\n\u201cLonger?\n\n\u201cThis bill is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown for the long term!\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019ll point out: We did 13 short-term, clean CRs when they had the majority and President Biden was in the White House.\n\n\u201cThirteen.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve now voted 13 times against a clean CR.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI have no idea where you\u2019re coming from.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader said that President Trump could end this with a stroke of his pen \u2013 and he\u2019s right!\n\n\u201cWe pass that bill, with a stroke of his pen, he\u2019ll sign it into law, and the government opens up.\n\n\u201cAnd SNAP beneficiaries, SNAP recipients, get food assistance.\n\n\u201cBut you know what else?\n\n\u201cTSA workers get paid.\n\n\u201cAir traffic controllers get paid.\n\n\u201cBorder Patrol agents get paid.\n\n\u201cTroops get paid.\n\n\u201cThese people here get paid, who are working without pay.\n\n\u201cYou want to extend that and keep that going?\n\n\u201cGive me a break.\n\n\u201cSo the people who aren\u2019t going to get the benefit of what they\u2019re trying to do today, Mr. President, are all the other programs that are affected.\n\n\u201cHead Start.\n\n\u201cGrants to law enforcement to fight fentanyl and hire more cops to protect communities.\n\n\u201cRural Development programs that are important in my state \u2013 senator from New Mexico\u2019s state, I assume as well \u2013 that support housing, utilities, infrastructure projects in rural communities.\n\n\u201cSmall business loans.\n\n\u201cCertain direct loan and emergency programs that farmers rely on.\n\n\u201cNational Guard training, critical to our nation\u2019s military readiness.\n\n\u201cVeterans transition assistance as they come out of service.\n\n\u201cVeterans cemetery services.\n\n\u201cRight now there are no headstones, memorial certificates, cemetery maintenance.\n\n\u201cPrograms that are at risk: Rental and housing assistance, delays in processing FHA-insured loans, delays in aircraft inspections and maintenance for air traffic control equipment.\n\n\u201cPeople that are currently not getting paid: I mentioned some of them, but air traffic controllers; TSA officers; Capitol Police, the people who protect us in this building; NOAA employees, who are tracking hurricanes and other potential weather disruptions, disasters; food inspectors; other food and drug safety officials; mine safety inspectors.\n\n\u201cPeople who don\u2019t have pay certainty right now: troops, Coast Guard, ICE, Border Patrol, federal law enforcement, \u2026 federal wildland \u2026 firefighters.\n\n\u201cExtenders that have lapsed: telehealth and at-home care, community health centers, teaching health centers, special diabetes programs, payments for ambulances, hospital-at-home services.\n\n\u201cOther lapsed authorizations: CISA, to prevent against cyber attacks; National Flood Insurance Program to prevent \u2026 closure \u2026 on homes in flood zones.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re leaving on the table.\n\n\u201cThe bill at the desk takes care of all of it \u2013 funds SNAP, funds WIC, and yes, with the stroke of the president\u2019s pen, he can sign it into law and everybody starts getting paid again.\n\n\u201cThis has got to stop \u2013 hostage-taking, now you want some political cover.\n\n\u201cHow long is this going to go on?\n\n\u201cHow much longer do you want to see it go on, just out of curiosity?\n\n\u201cSo you think this buys some time.\n\n\u201cYou want the shutdown to go on for another month, or?\n\n\u201cAnd then we\u2019re going to have another people come down here and, \u2018Well, let\u2019s carve this out, or carve this out.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t we just open the government?\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been here a good amount of time.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen continuing resolutions and appropriations problems and funding fights and government shutdowns.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been through a few.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\n\n\u201cThis just isn\u2019t done.\n\n\u201cYou want to have a discussion about health care?\n\n\u201cAbsolutely. Let\u2019s do it.\n\n\u201cOpen the government, let\u2019s do it.\n\n\u201cThe president will sit down with Democrats next week if you want to talk about health care.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not what this is about.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, we\u2019re not going to pick winners and losers.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to fund everybody who\u2019s experiencing the pain from this shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC?\n\n\u201cI have a bill for them sitting right there at the desk \u2013 clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire government, and all the many programs and people that the Democrats\u2019 SNAP bill completely ignores.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats have spent a month \u2013 a month, now \u2013 playing with people\u2019s livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won\u2019t let them accept a clean, nonpartisan CR.\n\n\u201cIf they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, they can end the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe bill is right here at the desk.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, I ask that the senator from New Mexico modify his request so that the Senate can proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 168, H.R. 5371, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.\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=422F4129-9E7C-4D15-BA5D-2A617139ECBD"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7844071369618177, "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"}