Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Newsmax on Friday that the government shutdown is being fueled by Democrat "theatrics" under Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"I'm afraid the far left has captured that now, and I'm not as optimistic as I was last night," Daines said on "Newsline." "I've not seen such political theater here in Washington since 'Hamilton.' I mean, this really is all about theatrics. It's about the far left side of the Democrat Party taking hostages with Democrat senators."
Daines, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Finance Committees, said negotiations briefly showed promise but collapsed under pressure from progressives.
He pointed to polling that shows Democrats are divided on the shutdown while national surveys reveal widespread public frustration.
A poll released by the New York Times found 65% of Americans believe the government should not be shut down, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has cited data showing 71% want to see subsidies under the Affordable Care Act extended.
Daines argued those results show voters want solutions, not brinkmanship.
"These shutdowns, as I've seen in the past, they start with a big bang, they end with a whimper," he said. "At some point, they're going to realize there's not a political objective or policy objective to be obtained."
Daines added that the solution is straightforward and requires five Democrat senators crossing the aisle to join Republicans in passing a clean continuing resolution. That would allow negotiations on spending bills to proceed until Nov. 21.
But he claimed that Schumer is prioritizing his own political standing over governing.
"This is a very easy problem to solve," Daines said. "Except for one thing has changed: Chuck Schumer is afraid of his political future. That's why this truly is a Schumer shutdown."
Daines added that House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans have made their case clearly to the public, and that Americans are increasingly viewing the standoff as partisan gamesmanship.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.