Senate Majority Leader John Thune talks to reporters while standing in the doorway of his office at the US Capitol on October 29, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said talks with centrist Democrats have increased and he’s hopeful they could lead eventually to a breakthrough to end the government shutdown.

“It’s ticked up significantly and hopefully that’ll be a precursor of things to come,” he told reporters in the Capitol Wednesday when asked about the status of talks with rank-and-file Democrats. “But yeah, there’s a lot of higher level of conversation.”

Democratic leaders, Thune said, are not involved in the negotiating. Asked whether he thought there would be enough moderate Democrats in the mix to reach a deal that would reopen the government,

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