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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined America’s Newsroom on Fox News.

On Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:

“The Democrats continue to play political games. They are afraid, just absolutely desperately afraid, of their base and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in. So it’s going to take five Democrats, probably not going to come out of their leadership … they’re a lost cause. I think it’s going to have to be rank-and-file Democrats who end this.”

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“[Democrats] don’t care if people suffer … this is a political game to them.”

On the consequences of Democrats’ government shutdown:

“[Y]ou’ve got a whole lot of other programs out there, including the SNAP program that’s available to people who really need food assistance in this country, is going to go away here soon, too. So we’re getting to where the consequences of this are very real. “

On Democrats’ shutdown hypocrisy:

“This is a routine thing, to continue to fund the government until we get the other appropriations bills done. This is a clean CR. It is nonpartisan, it is short-term, and it’s passed the House. It’s sitting at the desk at the Senate. We could pick it up, pass it today if we get five Democrats, put it on the president’s desk, he signs it into law, and the government opens up again …”

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“We need to open up the government. The other things that they want to talk about, I've told them we’re willing to do that, but [it] can’t be done while the federal employees are being held hostage …

“[The] night before last, the Democrats had this drone-a-thon that went on all night. We had one Democrat senator who read the same poem four times, [while] 335 federal employees in the Capitol had to sit there all night and not get paid … and listen to these Democrats drone on endlessly.

“[The government shutdown] … has to end … [I]t’s in [the Democrats’] hands right now. It’s up to them to end it.”

On Senator Johnson’s Shutdown Fairness Act:

“I think this vote today is a really challenging one for the Democrats. It’s very hard to defend voting against. Ron Johnson is offering a counter proposal … that … would pay everybody who’s working …

“The Democrats are going to try and counter it with a political gimmick which would pay federal employees once, but then continue the shutdown. They’re trying to have it both ways … this is all about politics for them.

“If [Democrats] … open up the government, their left-wing base goes nuts. If they don’t vote for Ron Johnson’s [bill] or something else, then a lot of the federal employees are going to be without pay.”