Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t mince words at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. If a government shutdown happens, the South Dakota Republican said, it “will be entirely on the Democrats.”
Thune reaffirmed that Senate Republicans are prepared to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open. Nevertheless, some Democrats would have to join their GOP colleagues to overcome the 60-vote cloture threshold to bring the bill to the floor. If Democrats refuse to vote for the clean continuing resolution that would keep the government open beyond Friday and until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 and appropriations at previously negotiated levels, the shutdown will fall squarely on their shoulders.
Thune indicated that it remained an open question about whether enough of his Democratic colleagues would join with Republicans in the Senate to keep…
