Senate Majority Leader John Thune struck a cautionary note Thursday as bipartisan talks that could end the 30-day government shutdown kick into a higher gear, warning that a deal to advance full-year spending bills would move forward only after Democrats agree to a stopgap measure reopening federal agencies.
Thune told reporters it would likely take days, if not weeks, for the Senate to pass a package of larger spending bills.
“Even if you’ve got consent, it’s still going to take a while to move those bills across the floor, so we’ve got to reopen the government, and then we’ll have a normal appropriations process,” he said.
The comments come amid a new flurry of rank-and-file talks aimed at breaking the monthlong impasse. Part of those bipartisan discussions have focused on how to move fiscal 2026 spending bills, with some appropriators suggesting that a package of full-year-bills could advance as a show of good faith before the Senate passes a shutdown-ending stopgap.
