(Daily Wire)—Fresh off the passage of a $9 billion rescissions package and other legislative victories during the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says Republicans are “anxiously” waiting to see whether Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats will eschew bipartisanship and push the government toward a shutdown at the beginning of October.
During an interview on Fox News, Thune spoke to “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo about the dozen 2026 fiscal year appropriations bills which lawmakers on Capitol Hill are putting together ahead of a September 30 deadline.
“We have got a couple, three or four of them now reported out of the Appropriations Committee. We’re going to try and get one up on the floor next week. And I hope we will find that the Democrats want to work with us,” Thune said. “They haven’t demonstrated much of a willingness on anything so far. I mean, they are making it extremely difficult to get any of the president’s nominees through the process here. It’s obstruct, it’s delay, it’s block. That’s been the pattern. And it’s Trump Derangement Syndrome on full display here in the United States Senate.”
Schumer suggested earlier this month that Democrats would not be willing to cooperate if the GOP-led House and Senate chose to claw back $9 billion in funds allocated to foreign aid and public broadcasting for programs that Republicans deemed to be wasteful and idealogical driven.
“If Republicans cave to Donald Trump and gut these investments agreed to by both parties, that would be an affront — a huge affront — to the bipartisan appropriations process,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “It is absurd to expect Democrats to play along with funding the government if Republicans are just going to renege on a bipartisan agreement by concocting rescissions packages behind closed doors that can pass with only their votes, not the customary 60 votes required in the appropriation process.”
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