Majority Leader | Press Release | Press Releases | THE NE...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 NEWSROOMPress Releases10.30.25Thune Joins Squawk Box on CNBC“This government needs to be open on behalf of the American people … [I]t’s costing the economy … This is not a good thing for our country, and the longer it continues, the worse it’s going to get.” Click here to watch.WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s Squawk Box.On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government:“I’ve lived through several government shutdowns in my time here. Nobody wins. And if there’s anything about it, it’s just the stupidity of it. This is something we ought to be able to work out. It’s simply funding the government so that we can fund the rest of the government through the normal appropriations process.”On Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:“I think [Democrat] leadership is in a box. You’ve got the New York mayoral election coming up, you’ve got all these left-wing groups that are … clamoring for attention and to fight with Trump … I just think the Democrat leaders are scared and threatened by all this outside noise and afraid to open up the government.“So if this happens, I think it happens through the rank-and-file Democrats who come to the conclusion that this isn’t anybody’s best interest, and I think that’s going to happen, Becky … I’ve been through a few of these, and there isn’t anything instructive about it. Nobody wins … It needs to end, and the sooner, the better.”On Democrats’ shutdown hypocrisy:“If you take away a little bit of the … pain here, and a little bit of the pain here, but still, you’ve got … millions of federal employees who aren’t being paid, and many of whom are furloughed, but you have people who are working … I just think that you need to open it up. And the simplest way to do that is just to fund the entire government, not pick … winners and losers, or do these sort of one-off bills …“This government needs to be open on behalf of the American people … [I]t’s costing the economy … This is not a good thing for our country, and the longer it continues, the worse it’s going to get.” On President Trump’s trade agenda:“I’m obviously concerned about [China’s] role in the world and the things that they’re doing in other places, in Russia and Taiwan, etc. I do think, however, when it comes to the economy, that our economies are sort of inextricably linked together. We’re the two largest economies in the world. There’s a symbiotic relationship that exists there.“The good news … for a state like mine coming out of the announcement yesterday is that China is going to start buying soybeans again. [The] soybean market had been shut down. We had a big harvest this year. Nowhere to go with it. So … there’s an economic relationship that I think we need to continue. Obviously there’s going to be a give-and-take in relationships like this, but … I believe that the administration will do what’s in the best interest, not only of America’s economic security, but our national security as well.”PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
