{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C262E313-91E0-4E55-A7CA-7CB1D529B571", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day Nine", "2025-10-09", "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, we are now nine days into the Democrats\u2019 government shutdown.\n\n\u201cNine days in which Democrats have had multiple opportunities to support a clean, nonpartisan CR, sitting right here at the Senate desk, to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cSomething that\u2019s been passed by our colleagues in the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cThat has achieved 55 senators \u2013 a senate majority.\n\n\u201cOut of 100 senators, 55 senators support this 24-page resolution sitting at the desk, which could open up the government today \u2013 because as soon as the Senate passes it, the president will sign it into law.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, this is the same nonpartisan measure that, as I said, passed the House three weeks ago.\n\n\u201cNo partisan riders, no gimmicks, no \u2026 partisan policies, Republican policies, anything like that.\n\n\u201cA simple resolution \u2013 24 pages long \u2013 to open up our government and make sure that the federal employees and the American people who depend upon them get paid.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the president\u2019s ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cAll it takes is a handful of Democrats.\n\n\u201cThere are three Democrats who have already supported this clean continuing resolution.\n\n\u201cJust a handful more, and we can end this shutdown in a matter of hours.\n\n\u201cFifty-five senators \u2013 a Senate majority, a majority of the 100 United States senators.\n\n\u201cA majority in the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cThe president of the United States is prepared to sign it.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s how straightforward this proposition is.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen, Mr. President, plenty of negative impacts from the Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut a whole new wave of pain begins tomorrow if Democrats don\u2019t act.\n\n\u201cBecause if we fail to fund the government by the end of the day today, American servicemembers will begin going without their paychecks starting tomorrow.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats can\u2019t bring themselves to reopen the government by the end of the day, our troops \u2013 the people who protect and defend this country \u2013 will start missing their paychecks.\n\n\u201cTo say that that\u2019s unacceptable is an understatement.\n\n\u201cMany of our service members are serving in harm\u2019s way at this very moment.\n\n\u201cAll of them stand ready to rush into danger at a moment\u2019s notice to protect the rest of us.\n\n\u201cThey and their families make numerous sacrifices to serve our country.\n\n\u201cThe idea \u2013 the very idea, Mr. President \u2013 that they won\u2019t get a paycheck because Democrats can\u2019t bring themselves to accept a clean, nonpartisan CR is beyond the pale.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if the government remains shut down after today, instead of getting our troops paid, they\u2019re going to have to continue stretching what money they have saved.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, Mr. President, sometimes that\u2019s not very much.\n\n\u201cAs one advocate for military families put it, and I quote, \u2018This isn\u2019t just a financial hardship \u2013 it\u2019s destabilizing for households and military readiness alike.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Military readiness.\u2019\n\n\u201cMany families have already begun to visit food banks near bases.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s even harder on families with a loved one who\u2019s deployed.\n\n\u201cAmy Palmer, who runs an organization that helps military families in Colorado, said families of the deployed, and I quote, \u2018are having to navigate this alone. They\u2019re used to getting the paycheck \u2026 and paying bills on behalf of their entire family, and with that service member deployed and not really having that support system from them \u2026 it is really hard.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s not just our troops who are going to be missing a paycheck.\n\n\u201cCivilian workers will also be missing part of their pay starting this Friday \u2013 including law enforcement officers like the members of our very own Capitol Police.\n\n\u201cFood banks and other nonprofits around the country are bracing for increased demand from federal employees \u2013 especially here in the national capital region.\n\n\u201cI remember when the Democrat leader was a passionate opponent of government shutdowns because of their impact on federal workers.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that was just about six months ago.\n\n\u201cOther Democrats used to be concerned about the impact on federal workers as well.\n\n\u201cA few years ago, our Democrat colleague from New Jersey \u2013 himself a former career federal worker \u2013 had this to say, and I quote, \u2018I worked through multiple shutdowns including, you know, having to work and show up every day without getting paid \u2026 I mean, it\u2019s just so scary to think of the fact that this is going to hurt people.\u2019\n\n\u201cYet Democrats aren\u2019t showing the slightest interest in reopening the government to ensure our troops and federal employees get paid.\n\n\u201cMr. President, later today we\u2019re going to have another vote on the clean continuing resolution to open up the government.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we are a handful of Democrats away from passing this continuing resolution and reopening the government.\n\n\u201cA handful of votes away from paying our troops.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re going to see if that matters to Democrats.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll see if Democrats choose to pay America\u2019s troops, or if they once again bow to the demands of their far-left base, which is telling them to hold out, or to their strategists who tell them they\u2019re \u2018winning\u2019 the shutdown.\n\n\u201cWell, based on the reporting this morning, Democrats couldn\u2019t care less whether military families miss a paycheck tomorrow.\n\n\u201cIn an interview posted this morning, the Democrat leader said, \u2018Every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, this isn\u2019t a political game.\n\n\u201cDemocrats might feel that way, but I don\u2019t know of anybody else that does.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the longer this goes on, the more the American people realize that Democrats own this shutdown.\n\n\u201cA Morning Consult poll finds that, and I quote, \u2018Voters Increasingly Blame Democrats for the Government Shutdown.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn the latest Harvard-Harris poll, 65 percent of voters think Democrats should reopen the government instead of holding out for their partisan demands.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats are apparently being told to hold the line by their far-left base, and so this shutdown drags on.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we can solve the issue of troop pay \u2013 and every other problem we\u2019re seeing \u2013 today, today, by passing this clean, nonpartisan CR and sending it to the president.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats would only agree, we could reopen the government in just a few hours. Literally.\n\n\u201cPay our troops.\n\n\u201cPay federal workers.\n\n\u201cAnd stop this madness \u2013 and this notion that somehow, in this political game, the Democrats believe, according to their leader, that \u2018every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is not the experience of the American people.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to end this shutdown, reopen this government \u2013 let\u2019s pass this CR today.\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=C262E313-91E0-4E55-A7CA-7CB1D529B571"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8198979776352644, "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"}