Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is too out of touch and bereft of ideas to provide the leadership needed to end the government shutdown imposed on the nation. His weakness has left him and Senate Democrats under the control of left-wing interest groups, which forced Vice President Kamala Harris to take radical positions on gender and immigration that she was forced to walk back during the general election.
They care nothing about the pain the shutdown is causing the public. They care only about demonstrating unwavering opposition to President Donald Trump to maximize donations. Schumer is beholden to these groups, losing all capacity to lead as they dictate his shutdown strategy to him.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will have to step up and provide an offramp for a handful of Senate Democrats so that the government can be funded and restarted.
Republicans control 53 Senate seats, and assuming the White House can straighten out Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for a final vote, Thune needs seven Democrats to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Angus King (I-ME) are already voting with Republicans to end the shutdown. That gives Thune 56 votes. He needs four more.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is reportedly engaged in clandestine conversations with centrist Republicans on a compromise to end the shutdown, as is Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). Giving Democrats half a trillion dollars and new healthcare spending to open the government for a few weeks is, of course, off the table. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has floated the idea of extending the House-passed continuing resolution to Dec. 19, instead of Nov. 21, to give Senate appropriators more time to strike a fuller bipartisan compromise on spending.
Another idea floated was to promise Democrats an up or down vote on extending the Affordable Care Act bonus subsidies after the shutdown ended. This would put Republican senators on record opposing the ACA subsidies, and it is how past shutdowns have ended.
With Shaheem and Coons part of a bipartisan compromise, Thune would need only two more votes. Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Gary Peters (D-MI) would be ideal recruits since both have the most bipartisan voting records in the Senate. Hassan and Shaheen hail from a purple state, and Peters is retiring, so he will never have to face the wrath of the leftists again.
TRUMP’S TRIUMPHANT GAZA PEACE DEAL
Thune and the White House must not give anything substantive, for such a loss would embolden the groups driving Schumer and Democrats. Their demands would be endless: more Medicaid spending, defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the firing of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought. Trump cannot let them dictate his administration’s policy or personnel.
If this shutdown is to end on terms that serve the country rather than the Democrats’ activist base, Thune must seize the initiative. He can reopen the government without rewarding obstruction by offering a limited, face-saving path for a few centrists to rejoin the governing majority. That would expose Schumer’s weakness, isolate the far-left factions controlling his caucus, and reassert that responsible governance requires compromise grounded in reality, not ideology. Thune’s steady leadership could restore momentum to the Senate, prove Republicans can govern, and remind voters that principled pragmatism, not political theater, ultimately delivers results.