John Thune Shuts Down Democratic Offer to End Shutdown as ‘Non-Starter’: ‘Doesn’t Even Get Close’

AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) shut down Democrats’ offer to end the shutdown on Friday as a “non-starter” that “doesn’t even get close” after a proposal to extend Obamacare tax credits in exchange for reopening the government.

Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said that they “would like to offer a simple proposal that would reopen the government and extend the [Affordable Care Act] premium tax credits simultaneously. And then have the opportunity to start negotiating longer-term solutions to health care costs.”

But Thune insisted, in return, that Republicans would only talk about health care after the shuttered federal agencies were switched back on.

“I think everybody who follows this knows that’s a nonstarter. There is no way. The Obamacare extension is the negotiation. That’s what we’re going to negotiate once the government opens up,” Thune told CBS News.

He continued: “But you know, a one-year extension along the lines of what they’re suggesting, I think everybody knows they’re – and without Hyde protections – it doesn’t even get close.”

The senator was alluding to the Hyde amendment, the decade-old restriction on federal funds for abortion services that Republicans say Democrats want to water down.

“We need to vote to open the government. And there is a proposal out there to do that, and then we can have this whole conversation about health care,” Thune added.

Thune said the Democratic reversal was merely evidence that the political heat had finally found them.

“I think it’s an indication that they’re feeling the heat, and they know that their last proposal was unserious and unrealistic,” he said. “So I guess you could characterize that as progress, but I just don’t think that it gets anywhere close to what we need to do here. And they know it. And I think anybody who’s been following this debate knows it too.”

Republicans also rolled out surrogates. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the Democratic gambit “terrible” and “political terrorism.”