Thune described Senate Republicans’ meeting with the president to reporters at the White House. He called it a “great opportunity to meet with the president and talk about something that unifies all Republicans,” pointing to the effort to reopen the government with the House-passed measure that the GOP has tried 11 times to advance.
“We’re hopeful that this will be the week when we break out of this, and the Democrats come to their senses and decide to open up the government,” Thune said.
The South Dakota Republican said the Senate would vote again Wednesday on the House-passed measure, along with a vote this week on a resolution that “essentially would pay anybody who’s currently working.”
“So, we’ll see how the Democrats react to that, but the truth of the matter is, you have a bunch of people here, a united team that believes profoundly that we need to get our government open,” Thune said. “If the Democrats want to talk about subjects unrelated to getting the government open again, we’re happy to have those conversations, but we’ve repeatedly now gone through this, and at some point the Democrats are going to have to say ‘yes’ for an answer.”
Thune said “the president, obviously, is very interested in getting the government open.” He added that Mr. Trump is “prepared to sit down and have conversations with the Democrats,” but he said the president knows that can’t happen until the government is reopened.Â
Asked whether the president needs to get more involved in negotiations, Thune said, “At some point, but open up the government first.”Â
“I think the president is willing to sit down,” Thune reiterated. “But as we said, open up the government and that can happen.”
