WASHINGTON – On the second day of the closure, Senate majority leader John Tune (Rs.D.) called it “silly,” saying that negotiations with his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Chuck Schumer “we don’t intend to achieve much.”
In an interview with NBC’s Tom Llamas, which airs Thursday night, Thune said Friday afternoon there is another opportunity to join Republicans to vote for a clean, short-term bill to reopen the government.
“I suspect we’re probably going to cross the road on the floor. We’re both often on the floor. Our office isn’t that far apart. So if he wants to chat, he knows where to find me,” Thune said of Schumer, a New York Democrat who serves as a minority leader. “But at this point, I think the problem is very simple for now. I don’t know that negotiations will get a lot done.”
For more information about this story, please coordinate “Top Stories with Tom Llamas” on NBC News at 7pm.
“This is a seven-week funding solution just to maintain government funding, so we can continue the budget work that we started earlier this year,” he added.
Negotiations between Republicans and Democrat leaders have been stagnating without dealing since leaving their meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. Trump tracked the meeting by posting a humiliating AI video for Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), and personal jabs have been coming and going ever since.
The government closed on Wednesday for the first time in six years, with no signs of reopening.
Schumer and Democrats are calling for the funding bill to include an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidy, which is due to expire at the end of the year. But Thune argues that Democrats will not negotiate these tax credits until Republicans help reopen the government.
“I’m all about opening it again. I think shutdowns are. No one wins. Honestly, I think most of the time they’re stupid,” Thune said in an interview. “We shouldn’t really shut down governments, we shouldn’t be held hostage to implement other policies that have absolutely nothing to do with funding the government.”
In a statement Thursday, Schumer suggested that Americans are opposed to Republicans who now control all powers in Washington.
“Americans see it clearly. They know that Trump rules through chaos and welcomes this closure. And Republicans follow his orders to maximize the pain. “The longer Americans blame Trump and Republicans for the closure, and the longer they drag it out, the deeper the pain and the more responsibility it grows.”
At the thrust of Lamas, Tune defended Trump and his top aides, not only said he plans to move forward with a permanent federal layoff for the closure this week, but also removed federal funds for projects in blue states like New York, a home state for both Schumer and Jeffrey. Thune said that nothing of these things would happen if Democrats helped reopen the government.
“Tom, let’s go back to the basic premise. This is avoidable,” Thune added that Democrats are “playing on fire by doing this.”
He added that Trump’s Budget Director Russell Vought, and other executives, will make spending decisions based on “where their political priorities are” during the closure.
“It’s very easy. Just vote to keep the government open and avoid this,” he said.
The Senate did not win a vote on Thursday in honor of Yom Kipur’s public holiday, but is scheduled for a duel Republican and Democrat plan to reopen the government at 1:30pm on Friday. However, these same funding bills have already failed three times before.
If the proposal is defeated in the fourth time, Thune said earlier Thursday that the Senate would not vote over the weekend. That means the closure continues until at least Monday, with the house planning to return to town after a two-week break.
“They will have a fourth chance to vote to open government tomorrow,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol. “And if it fails, we have a weekend to think about it. We’ll be back. We’ll vote again on Monday.”
