John Thune: “So what I just heard was that they are willing to sit down, and yet we have tried repeatedly to sit down with the…”

“So what I just heard was that they are willing to sit down, and yet we have tried repeatedly to sit down with the Senator from Washington and other Democrat leaders to negotiate a solution here. And we have even gone so far as to say that, until we get that sort of a negotiation--and hopefully a solution--that we would fund the government under a continuing resolution, which is done fairly routinely around here, to make sure that these important Agencies get funded, these employees get paid, and these functions of our government that deal with national security and homeland security actually get performed. And so I guess I am at a loss as to why we continue to have an attempt--a one-sided attempt, it is--to actually sit down and solve this deal, and why we can't then at least fund these Agencies with a continuing resolution until such time as we can. Now, again, I would point out that the latest offer on the table is from the White House. It is 13 days old. The Democrats have not responded to that, nor have they indicated any willingness whatsoever to sit down with our side and actually talk about how to resolve this. So you have two things here. You have a White House offer and a willingness by the White House to sit down and talk--an offer on paper with significant changes in the direction that the Senator from Washington and others are asking for. And yet we are just being rebuffed at every turn, even to have a discussion and conversation.”