WASHINGTON, April 21 -- Sen. John Thune issued the following press release:
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:
Thune's remarks below (as delivered):
"As you all know, the Senate this year has passed 11 of the 12 appropriations bills.
"We did that in a way, we wanted to get back to regular order, and so we worked with Democrats - actually worked with Democrats on all 12.
"And then, of course, at the last minute, the Democrats decided they didn't want to fund DHS.
"And so we've now had two long shutdowns of DHS - so long that the employees at DHS, DHS has been unfunded for a longer time than it's been funded.
"So those employees over there have not been p...