Thune accuses Dems of ‘running scared’ from their base as shutdown rages on

FIRST ON FOX: The Senate’s top Republican argued that Senate Democrats may be the ones voting against reopening the government, but they are not the ones calling the shots.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) said in an interview with Fox News Digital that Democratic voters are voting as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown continues. forcing them to continue blocking funding for the agency.

“Democrats here on the Hill are very afraid of their far-left base,” Thune said. “And I think the current demand on the far left is to defund ICE, defund law enforcement, which is not a reasonable position at all.”

The agency was shut down for 35 days, making the latest closure a record-breaking one. Senate Democrats have so far blocked four attempts to reopen the agency over their demands for tough reform of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the way agencies operate in that area.

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Negotiations ground to a halt for several weeks as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) and the board remained silent on the latest offer from the White House.

That miscommunication began to unravel this week, when Democrats responded to a proposal the White House said was not serious. There were further signs of a deal Thursday when a handful of Democratic negotiators sat down with Senate Republicans and border czar Tom Homan for the first time.

It also comes at a time when queues at airports are stretching several blocks long due to workers’ unpaid wages and fears of terrorist attacks are growing in the wake of the Iran war. Thune will reintroduce a bill to reopen the agency on Friday, and Democrats are expected to block it once again.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DY and Senate Democrats are trying to fund everything at DHS except immigration operations. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Still, Thune said the meeting “suggested even more action” to address the funding logjam, but remained cautious about Democrats actually wanting to make a deal to end the shutdown.

He also noted that until Thursday, Democrats had consistently rejected Republican offers to get into a room and stir the issue, and suggested that it was likely the White House’s public presentation of its proposals to Democrats that spurred the latest conversation.

“My impression, at least so far, is that there’s been an edict from paternalistic Democratic fathers that none of their children should be talking to Republicans about how to fix this problem in a way that enacts real reforms,” ​​Thune said, “and it’s funding an important department that has a number of agencies that are really critical not just to national security but to emergency management and other things.” he said.

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Democrats’ demands for closure are growing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“It seems to me that at least they – these guys – are afraid,” he continued. “I think they believe they’re benefiting politically from this.”

Several Democrats, Homan and Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Katie Britt, R-Ala. He left the meeting and refused to comment on the discussion. Asked if lawmakers were any closer to a deal, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said, “No.”

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Still, Republicans were hopeful the impasse would be resolved soon.

“Unfortunately, Democrats’ list of demands continues to grow, and that makes things difficult,” Collins said. “But the group that is there is working in good faith and I hope we can meet again very soon.”