Posted on 01/11/2026 10:35:04 AM PST by Twotone
Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy knelt on the Senate floor on Thursday to urge Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring up another reconciliation bill.
The Republican Party is weighing another reconciliation bill, with Thune saying a potential option could be related to alleged Minnesota fraud, Fox News reported on Thursday. Kennedy made the plea during a speech addressing the alleged fraud.
“We need to do another reconciliation bill to fix the welfare system and stop the stealing. Stop the stealing. And we can do it with all Republican votes,” Kennedy said. “So please, Senator Thune, pretty please. As I’ve said before. I’m shameless. I’ll beg. I’ll get down on my knees. John, please bring another reconciliation bill. We can do so much, but we can start with fixing welfare fraud. Please, John, please let us do the bill.”
Thune said the reconciliation process, which would enable Republicans to bypass a Democratic filibuster, was not ideal, according to Fox News.
“I always think the best solution, if possible, is to try and do things through regular order,” he said.
However, Speaker Mike Johnson said on “The Scott Jennings Show” on Wednesday that he was “working right now very methodically, carefully to determine what of our priorities we can squeeze into a second reconciliation bill with the idea we’d move that early in the year.”
Republican Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said in December that he did not “see a path of a second reconciliation ever passing.” President Donald Trump also said in December that Republicans “don’t need” another major reconciliation bill “because we got everything” in the significant tax cut and spending package enacted in July.
YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a viral video on Dec. 26, featuring visits to day care centers in Minnesota participating in taxpayer-funded programs that appeared to be non-operational. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson asserted on Dec. 18 that fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid program could exceed $9 billion.
If the Democrats shut down the government, so be it.
Where is the firearm reciprocity bill?
One-quarter-trillion-dollars in fraud is the current learned estimate of fraud levels. That seems to be worth a little extra and irregular action as suggested by Kennedy.
“If the Democrats shut down the government, so be it.”
It sure seems the government being open doesn’t do Americans any good.
Instead of begging Thune, who doesn’t care what conservative voters want, has Kennedy thought about leading a movement in the Senate GOP to oust Thune and replace him with someone who isn’t a complete and utter fraud?
This is all theater. He voted to continue the fraud.
"Because I know that will stop it cold", he didn't say, but meant.
Does anyone know even the ballpark of WFA Waste FRAUD Abuse?
I say WFA because when is it fraud and when is it happy coincidence?
There is WFA in all depts. But HHS has the most. Deloitte is one of the biggest frauds with GOVERNMENT money. Do we even know the amount of WFA with Deloitte?
Gainwell has a lot of WFA. But the single biggest WFA of Gainwell is cleaning up the garbage data it receives from Deloitte. So how do we even measure the WFA? Has any think tank or Inspector General even attempted to measure the WFA in HHS? or other Fed agencies? or the matching money from the states?
It is my personal opinion (shared with some others such as Elon Musk) that overall, this country is having $1-1.5 Trillion stolen annually.
IIRC-—THUNE’S NAME IS ON THE LIST OF 39 POLITICIANS WHO HAVE TAKEN VENEZUELA BRIBE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
>> It is my personal opinion (shared with some others such as Elon Musk) that overall, this country is having $1-1.5 Trillion stolen annually.
That kind of money doesn’t go directly from the government to thieves.
Most of it first goes to NGOs, so the NGO “workers” can extract salaries and perks out of it. Then THEY give it to the thieves. :-)
“I always think the best solution, if possible, is to try and do things through regular order,”
Regular order???
John McCain II
The wuss Thune also has the power to replace the Senate parliamentarian who was appointed by Harry Reid. But as a wuss he has chosen to do nothing. He wouldn’t want to offend his democrat friends.
There would not be a point to such an effort.
Republican voters would not support him(Kennedy) anyways.
Another nail in the party’s coffin the sooner the better.
If the Democrats shutting down the government leads to Republicans ending the filibuster, I’m all for it.
Where did you see a list of 39 names?
While that is a great question, it’s not the most important issue to resolve today. If it’s in the top 10, it’s in the lower half below illegal immigrant round up, treasury theft through fraud, election integrity, the ignorance indoctrination of the education system, and judicial tyranny. And this is from a pro-2nd supporter and gun enthusiast.
Congress has not passed a budget since 1996. They are required to do so by the US Constitution.
Forget these illegal “Continuing Resolutions”.
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