Majority Leader | Research | The Leader Board | THE NEWSR...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMThe Leader Board09.19.25Democrats’ Unserious, Filthy Funding BillInstead of Supporting a Clean, Nonpartisan, Short-Term Continuing Resolution to Fund the Government and Continue the Regular Appropriations Process, Democrats Are Holding Government Funding Hostage to Put Noncitizens Back on Medicaid and Repeal Funding for Rural Hospitals SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE SUPPORTING A CLEAN CONTINUING RESOLUTION THAT WILL GIVE CONGRESS MORE TIME TO PASS BIPARTISAN APPROPRIATIONS BILLS“For years the Democrat leader talked about the importance of passing clean continuing resolutions. In fact, we did 13 of them while the Democrats had the majority the past four years with a Democrat in the White House. Well, Democrats’ CR proposal this time is the exact opposite. It’s not clean – it’s filthy. It’s packed full of partisan policies and measures designed to appeal to Democrats’ leftist base.” – Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.)Republicans’ continuing resolution (CR) “would keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21 to buy appropriators more time to negotiate and pass fiscal 2026 spending bills. It does not include partisan policy riders or cut funding.” (E&E News: Republican push for funding patch hits Democratic wall – 9/17/25)“The measure is relatively clean, meaning it doesn’t have partisan policy riders. Democrats seem to agree, because they’re attacking what’s not in the bill — health care provisions — rather than what is.” (Punchbowl News: AM: Fed Day hits different this time – 9/17/25)“Interestingly, [Democrats] don’t make the case about anything they don’t like in the bill.” (Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman: post on X – 9/16/25)“The Daily Caller News Foundation spoke to 10 Democrats on Wednesday who railed against the seven-week funding bill — despite a majority of their caucus voting to extend government funding levels through… continuing resolutions (CRs) more than a dozen times when former President Joe Biden was in office. None could point to a specific provision within the 91-page bill they oppose.” (The Daily Caller: Democrats Can’t Name Single Thing They Dislike About GOP Bill To Avoid Government Shutdown – 9/17/25)“Democrats, under pressure to fight President Donald Trump with any leverage they have, appear to be ready to take the plunge into a shutdown.” (Bloomberg Government: Democrats Adopt Shutdown Tactics They Decried: Congress Tracker – 9/17/25)By opposing a clean CR, Democrats seem intent on undoing progress made on the regular appropriations process. The Senate passed three bipartisan appropriations bills before the August state work period, the first time the Senate has done so since 2018. (U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations: Senate Passes FY 2026 Agriculture Appropriations Bill – 8/1/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations: Senate Passes FY 2026 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill – 8/1/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations: Senate Passes FY 2026 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill – 8/1/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations: Senate Passes Appropriations Bills with Significant Wins for Maine – 8/1/25)“Republicans are comfortable saying that they’ve proposed a clean CR, which is what Democrats usually ask for, to buy time for bipartisan full-year FY2026 funding talks.” (Punchbowl News: AM: Dems, GOP dig in as shutdown nears – 9/18/25)“For years, Democrats argued that both parties should support ‘clean’ funding bills that support basic government functions without attaching partisan poison pills or additional policy demands.” (Bloomberg Government: Democrats Adopt Shutdown Tactics They Decried: Congress Tracker – 9/17/25)“Democrats have warned we can’t have poison pills, and this bill has no poison pills.” – Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (12/18/24)CAPITULATING TO THEIR PROGRESSIVE BASE, SENATE DEMOCRATS UNVEILED A PARTISAN BILL THAT, AMONG OTHER THINGS, REPEALS REPUBLICANS’ HISTORIC INVESTMENTS IN RURAL HOSPITALS“House and Senate Democrats introduced a month-long funding proposal Wednesday night that would keep the federal government open until Oct. 31… Democrats are calling for the permanent extension of enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits, in addition to the reversal of… the One Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats also want to bar any future rescissions and restore public-broadcasting funding.” (Punchbowl News: AM: Dems, GOP dig in as shutdown nears – 9/18/25)“The price tag for these provisions is hundreds of billions of dollars, a massive amount on a short-term stopgap funding bill. And nearly every provision in this package is a non-starter for Republicans.” (Punchbowl News: AM: Dems, GOP dig in as shutdown nears – 9/18/25)By rolling back Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Democrats are fighting to eliminate a $50 billion rural hospital fund. (Politico: GOP boosts rural hospital fund – 7/1/25; Paragon Health Institute: Championing Senate Reforms and Countering Rural Hospital Hysteria in the Fight Against Medicaid Money Laundering – 6/27/25)“This unprecedented investment is designed to empower states to transform the existing rural health care infrastructure and build sustainable health care systems that expand access, enhance quality of care, and improve outcomes for patients.” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: CMS Launches Landmark $50 Billion Rural Health Transformation Program – 9/15/25)“The program has five broad goals — promoting preventive care and addressing chronic disease management, improving rural providers’ financial sustainability and efficiency, retaining and recruiting rural healthcare workers for at least five years, developing and implementing innovative payment models, and improving access to innovative technologies, including remote care and digital health tools.” (Healthcare Dive: CMS opens applications for Rural Health Transformation Fund – 9/16/25)“This program is a historic investment that will catalyze needed change in rural health systems and improve lives for generations to come. For too long, when it comes to health care access and infrastructure, we've left behind the backbone of America. That stops now with this program that will spark real change for rural health care.” – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet OzSENATE DEMOCRATS WOULD ALSO INCREASE WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE IN MEDICAID AND PROVIDE BENEFITS TO NONCITIZENSBy repealing the health care provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Democrats’ CR reverses important eligibility check requirements and reforms that crack down on Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse. (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance: Crapo Highlights Tax Wins for Hardworking Americans and Main Street – 6/28/25)Democrats want a return to massive waste at the federal and state level:On the federal Medicaid rolls, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) found that 1.2 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in two or more states. (The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Medicaid Double-Dippers – 7/21/25)CMS also found that another 1.6 million individuals were enrolled in both Medicaid and Obamacare in 2024. (The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Medicaid Double-Dippers – 7/21/25)“CMS estimates that the duplicate enrollment problem is costing as much as $14 billion a year.” (The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Medicaid Double-Dippers – 7/21/25)By pushing for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s repeal, Democrats want to give noncitizens a better health care deal than Americans receive and have taxpayers pay for their Obamacare subsidies, Medicaid, and Medicare. (U.S. Congress: H.R.1 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act – accessed 9/19/25)The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ensures that noncitizens do not receive federal Medicaid benefits by strengthening Medicaid eligibility checks and prohibits parolee noncitizens and others from being eligible for Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare subsidies. (U.S. Congress: H.R.1 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act – accessed 9/19/25)Under the Biden administration, Democrats allowed 10.5 million people to pour across the southwest border. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Southwest Land Border Encounters – accessed 9/19/25; Fox News’ Bill Melugin: post on X – 8/20/24; The Washington Post: Trump vs. Biden on immigration: 12 charts comparing U.S. border security – 7/28/24)Democrats’ CR would allow unemployed, able-bodied individuals without dependents under 14 years old to receive taxpayer-funded Medicaid. A May 2025 American Enterprise Institute study found, “[f]or Medicaid recipients who do not report working, the most common activity after sleeping is watching television and playing video games. They spend 4.2 hours per day watching television and playing video games, or 125 hours during a 30-day month.” (American Enterprise Institute: How Nondisabled Medicaid Recipients Without Children Spend Their Time – 5/29/25)The One Big Beautiful Bill Act established work requirements for able-bodied adults who don’t have dependent children younger than 14 years of age or a disabled individual in their care. (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance: Crapo Highlights Tax Wins for Hardworking Americans and MainStreet – 6/28/25)According to a March poll, 62% of Americans support Medicaid work requirements, including 82% of Republicans and 60% of independents. (Kaiser Family Foundation: KFF Health Tracking Poll February 2025: The Public’s Views on Potential Changes to Medicaid – 3/7/25)PrintEmailTweetNextPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
