Thune Warns Schumer May Cave To Far Left, Push For Govt Shutdown In Coming Weeks

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.”

Both the rescissions package and the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which contained many of Trump’s spending and tax cut priorities, passed through Congress via processes that allowed the Senate to bypass the filibuster. However, other measures to come may not be able to avoid the hurdle.

When Bartiromo asked Thune if he believes Schumer would like to see a government shutdown in the coming weeks, the majority leader did not dismiss the idea.

“I think he probably thinks that it’s beneficial to their political base, the far left of the Democrat Party, and you see it on — you can kind of see what’s happening up there in New York politics,” Thune replied, alluding to socialist Zohran Mamdani winning the primary in the race for New York City major.

“This is a party struggling for an identity. This is a party that’s completely out of step with the mainstream of this country. And I think, frankly, although it’s not going to be in their interest in the long term to do it, we’re going to be waiting to see anxiously what Chuck Schumer and other leaders on the Democrat side decide to do,” he added. “Because, ultimately, keeping the government funded is good for the country, and hopefully we will have bipartisan cooperation to do that. But if their recent track record is any indication, they’re under a tremendous amount of pressure from that far left wing of the Democrat Party to shut the government down.”