{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=779F809B-1A25-4676-9CF6-49D56B19E37B", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 20", "2025-10-20", "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", "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\u201cMr. President, you have to give the Democrats credit for one thing, and that\u2019s a healthy dose of gall.\n\n\u201cBoth the House and the Senate Democrat leaders were out last week claiming that they can\u2019t fund the government until \u2013 get this \u2013 we solve the \u2018Republican health care crisis.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThe Republican health care crisis.\n\n\u201cIt is truly amazing how a program Democrats created and tax credits that they chose to sunset have now become the Republicans\u2019 crisis.\n\n\u201cRepublicans, in fact, never had anything to do with it.\n\n\u201cDemocrats created Obamacare \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cThey implemented the enhanced tax credits \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cAnd they chose a sunset date for those tax credits \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are solely \u2013 solely \u2013 responsible for the Obamacare tax credit cliff.\n\n\u201cAnd yet they\u2019re trying to pin this disaster on Republicans while at the very same time they\u2019re asking Republicans to bail them out.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really kind of ironic, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNow, Democrats may not win a lot of points for truthfulness, but you have to give them credit for gall.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while Democrats may have created this health care situation, I have made it clear from the beginning that Republicans are willing to have a discussion about how to address it.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I\u2019m perfectly willing to guarantee Democrats a vote.\n\n\u201cBut none of that is going to happen until Democrats reopen the government.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to negotiate on anything until Democrats stop holding government funding hostage.\n\n\u201cAnd if they really want to address their Obamacare mess, they should stop running out the clock on a deal.\n\n\u201cAll they\u2019re doing by that action, Mr. President, is keeping the government shut down and enhancing \u2013 enhancing, believe it or not \u2013 the chances this situation doesn\u2019t get fixed.\n\n\u201cBecause the clock is running.\n\n\u201cMr. President, before I leave the subject of health care, I do have to mention the irony that while Democrats claim they\u2019re defending Americans\u2019 health care, their shutdown has actually suspended valuable health care services for a lot of Americans.\n\n\u201cMedicare and rural patients are currently dealing with the elimination of telehealth services thanks to the government shutdown.\n\n\u201cTelehealth, of course, increases the accessibility of care, and lets those who live far from medical treatment \u2013 or who otherwise struggle to travel \u2013 to conduct prescription refill appointments or other visits from the comfort of their home.\n\n\u201cBut that assistance is currently being denied to them thanks to the Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019m not sure why I\u2019m talking about shutdown costs.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have made it very clear that they don\u2019t care about the costs of the shutdown \u2013 to anyone.\n\n\u201cDemocrats used to care, of course \u2013 or so they claimed.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I could fill a book with Democrat quotes on how shutdowns harm hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut over the past three weeks, it\u2019s become clear that Democrats\u2019 previous concerns had more to do with politics than with principle.\n\n\u201cDemocrats were against shutdowns when it served their purposes, and now that it serves their purposes \u2013 or so they think \u2013 to keep the government closed, they\u2019re all for shutdowns.\n\n\u201cNo matter how many Americans have to suffer in the process.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve talked about health care today.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats would definitely like Americans to think that that\u2019s what this shutdown is about.\n\n\u201cBut of course the biggest driver of this shutdown is not health care or any other issue, it\u2019s the Democrats\u2019 far-left base.\n\n\u201cLeft-wing activists demanded a showdown with President Trump, and Democrats fell in line.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why you see the Democrat leader, who actually voted to fund the government in the spring, leading the shutdown brigade this time around.\n\n\u201cFar-left groups were rallying this weekend, and the Democrat leader and other Democrat senators were out paying homage.\n\n\u201cAnd if these same left-wing groups have their way, Democrats will be keeping up the shutdown for a long time to come.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t really care about a solution, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThis is about politics.\n\n\u201cFor the sake of the American people, let\u2019s hope that there are some Democrat senators who will eventually put the needs of their constituents over the demands of their far-left base, and work with Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding measure that is sitting right here in front of us today.\n\n\u201cAnd when passed, will be sent to the president and signed into law, and this government will open up again.\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": 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