Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that Democrats had “sacrificed the American people” for partisan interests by torpedoing a stopgap continuing resolution to avert a partial government shutdown.
The Senate voted 55-45 to advance the House-passed funding bill, short of the 60 votes required.
Democrat Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, along with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined most Republicans in support of the bill. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote no.
The House on Sept. 19 approved its continuing resolution 217-212, with only one Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine — joining Republicans.
“The Democrat caucus here in town, in the Senate, has chosen to shut down the government over a clean, nonpartisan funding bill,” Thune told reporters after the vote. “That’s right: a clean, nonpartisan funding bill.
“We didn’t ask Democrats to swallow any new Republican policies. We didn’t add partisan riders.
“We simply asked Democrats to extend existing funding levels to allow the Senate to continue the bipartisan appropriations work that we started. And Senate Democrats said no,” he said.
“Why? Because far-left interest groups and far-left Democrat members wanted a showdown with the president. Senate Democrats have sacrificed the American people to Democrats’ partisan interest.
“I hope it will be some comfort for Americans dealing with shuttered government services to know that MoveOn.org and other far-left organizations are happy with this vote,” Thune said.
He added that although Democrats voted for a shutdown, “we can reopen it tomorrow.”
“All it takes is a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding bill that’s in front of us. I hope, I really hope that some of them will join us in reopening the government, resume bipartisan appropriations work, and get back to the business of the American people,” Thune said.
Thune pointed to a recent New York Times poll that showed 65% of Americans said Democrats should not shut down the government if their demands are not met. Just 27% favored a government shutdown and 7% said they did not know or refused to answer.
“Great irony in this discussion tonight that the Democrat leader was characterizing the New York Times as a biased poll,” Thune said, referencing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “But I think it’s where the majority of the American people are.
“They don’t want all the sideshows. They don’t want hostage-taking.
“They want their elected representatives to get down and do the work they sent us here to do. Part of that is getting this appropriations process back on track, something we should have done a long time ago,” he said.
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