Thune Erupts in Rare Anger, Blasts Dems for ‘Holding Government Hostage’ Amid Shutdown
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), typically known for his calm, measured demeanor, erupted in frustration on the Senate floor Wednesday, accusing Democrats of prolonging the government shutdown and using social welfare programs as political leverage.
Thune’s rare display of anger came during a heated exchange over legislation to temporarily fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food aid to low-income families.
Democrats, led by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), pushed for a standalone bill to keep SNAP benefits flowing as the shutdown approached its 30th day.
Thune fired back, noting that Republicans had already voted 13 times to reopen the government, only to be blocked by Senate Democrats.
“Let me just point out, if I might, that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown,” Thune said, his voice rising. “SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food. People should be getting paid in this country. And we’ve tried to do that 13 times. You voted no 13 times.”
As Democrats pressed for an immediate vote, Thune grew visibly exasperated, turning toward the Democratic side of the chamber.
“You all just figured out, 29 days in, that, oh, there might be some consequences? There are people who’ll run out of money? Yeah, we’re 29 days in,” he said, slapping the lectern for emphasis. “At some point, the government runs out of money. My aching back. You finally realize this thing has consequences.”
The exchange underscored the deepening frustration among Senate Republicans, who argue that Democrats are deliberately stalling a reopening of the government to extract concessions on unrelated spending priorities, including renewed subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
“This isn’t a political game,” Thune said. “These are real people’s lives that we’re talking about.”
The impasse comes as millions of SNAP recipients face the prospect of missing benefits at the end of the month.
Both parties have introduced competing bills to address the program’s funding lapse. Luján’s Democratic-backed measure focuses solely on SNAP, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has proposed a broader Republican bill that includes funding for both food aid and military pay.
Thune, however, dismissed both standalone efforts as distractions from the larger issue — Democrats’ refusal to approve a continuing resolution that would reopen the government in full.
“We don’t need one-off fixes,” Thune told reporters after his floor speech.
“We need to pass a clean, bipartisan bill and get people back to work.”
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have insisted they will not back the GOP’s proposed continuing resolution unless it includes a long-term extension of healthcare subsidies. Republicans have accused them of holding the government “hostage” to force through a partisan health care agenda.
Behind the scenes, there are signs of movement. Thune told reporters earlier Wednesday that bipartisan talks had “ticked up significantly” and that discussions with key Democrats were “constructive.” Asked when he would personally step into negotiations, Thune replied, “It will happen pretty soon.”
Still, Thune’s eruption on the floor reflects mounting impatience within the GOP. Normally even-tempered, the senator apologized afterward for his outburst but said Democrats’ tactics had left him no choice.
“Sorry, I channeled a little bit of anger there,” he told reporters. “But it’s a high level of frustration. They realize this is a losing argument. They’re trying to buy time — and every day they delay makes things worse.”
The government shutdown, now nearing its fifth week, has furloughed hundreds of thousands of federal workers and frozen pay for millions more. Essential programs such as food assistance and housing vouchers are operating on borrowed funds.
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The White House has also applied pressure, with President Donald Trump declaring earlier this week that “Schumer and Senate Democrats are holding the entire government hostage.”
“You can call it the Schumer shutdown or the Democrats’ shutdown,” Trump said during a Rose Garden event on Tuesday. “They’re doing the wrong thing, and the public knows it.”
Obama Accuses JD Vance Of Promoting ‘Blood And Soil’ Politics
Former President Barack Obama rarely mentions Vice President JD Vance by name, but that changed this week with one of his sharpest public attacks since Vance took office.
The comments immediately fueled speculation that Democrats are beginning to focus more attention on the vice president as Republicans look ahead to the post-Trump era.
Speaking Thursday during a conversation with author Malcolm Gladwell, Obama accused Vance of promoting what he described as a “blood and soil” vision of America, despite being married to Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama made the remarks while discussing the Reconstruction era and arguing that many of the same debates over citizenship, voting rights and national identity continue today.
“We have a politics now that at least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that ‘We the people’ means a certain kind of people,” Obama said.
“When you have the vice president, current vice president, making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of ‘We the people,’ that it matters who your parents were and how long they’ve been here despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself.”
The phrase “blood and soil” is historically associated with Nazi Germany and white nationalist ideology.
Obama went on to argue that debates over who belongs in America remain central to the nation’s politics.
“That echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions,” he said.
Gladwell followed by accusing Vance of hypocrisy, arguing that the vice president was making what he called a nativist argument despite his own family’s immigrant background.
Obama agreed.
“That is progress,” Obama said.
“Listen, hypocrisy is progress. It is, because it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others.”
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Obama did not identify the specific speech he was criticizing, but Vance’s most recent nationally televised remarks came during Independence Day celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
In that speech, Vance encouraged Americans to reject what he called a “two-dimensional view” of the country focused only on its historical failures.
“So what I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” Vance said.
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”
He also emphasized that America’s accomplishments were achieved by “a common people working towards a common future.”
Obama has generally avoided making Vance a regular target since the vice president took office.
One notable exception came during the 2024 presidential campaign when then-Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Without naming Vance directly, Obama contrasted Harris’ choice with the Republican ticket.
“When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they’ll be,” Obama said at the time, Fox News reported.
Political observers have increasingly discussed Vance as a potential frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, though he has not announced any plans to run.
Against that backdrop, Obama’s unusually direct criticism is likely to fuel speculation that some Democrats are beginning to sharpen their message against a politician they view as a likely future standard-bearer for the Republican Party. While no Democratic leaders have publicly described their strategy in those terms, prominent figures often begin drawing contrasts with potential future rivals well before a presidential campaign officially begins.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, but Obama’s remarks marked one of his most pointed critiques of Vance to date and ensured the vice president once again found himself at the center of the national political conversation.
