Thune told reporters that the administration has already made significant concessions in an effort to reopen the department and restore pay for Transportation Security Administration agents and other critical personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI was going over last night some of the gives that the White House had made that went above and beyond any initial offers that they put out there, and there\u2019s a lot of stuff in there,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Among those concessions, Thune said, is a proposal to increase funding for body cameras for federal immigration enforcement officials from $20 million to $100 million. He also noted that the White House has \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u043b\u043e\u0436ed additional oversight measures, including audits by the inspector general to identify \u201cnoncompliance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a whole bunch of stuff that have been significant gives on the part of the White House,\u201d Thune added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Despite those offers, Thune criticized Democrats for prolonging the negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cBut the Democrats seem intent on dragging out this political issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Thune also pointed to the 18-day gap between the White House\u2019s last offer and the Democratic response as evidence of a lack of urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat they want to do is they want to defund law enforcement. They want to defund ICE, and they want to defund CBP,\u201d he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. We got to have a meaningful conversation where we sit down at the table and actually work these issues out,\u201d Thune added. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t get there if you\u2019re not sitting down at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n