Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said “there aren’t anywhere close to the votes” needed to change the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow Republican-sponsored legislation to reform voter registration requirements to pass the upper chamber with fewer than 60 votes. Thune on Tuesday dismissed the idea that Republicans might lower the procedural threshold for advancing the House-passed SAVE Act, which would require people to show passports or birth certificates as proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Thune said he supports passing federal law to require documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote, but he dismissed talk of changing...

Key Points Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday said he supported the SAVE America Act, but that there is not enough support in the Senate to change the filibuster and clear a path for the controversial bill. .The House is expected to vote this week on the legislation, which would require people to prove their citizenship to register to vote and show ID at the ballot box. .GOP hardliners have called for a return to the “standing filibuster,” which requires Congress members to be physically present and talking on the Senate floor to delay legislation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week if they do not work with Republicans and the White House.Democrats say they will not vote for a DHS spending bill when funding runs out unless there are changes at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies in the wake of the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis last month. The Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep....

Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-SD) announced yesterday that Republicans would not use a “talking” filibuster to break the Democrats’ obstruction of the SAVE Act. This makes no sense. Stopping non-citizen voting in federal elections is not only a widely popular idea, but it’s also essential to securing our nation’s future. Thune said a talking filibuster would “tie up the Senate” and take up limited floor time needed for other things. This is the worst excuse he could have made. The Senate only works two and a half days a week now, so there’s plenty of time to do what...

With the clock ticking down to a potential government shutdown this Friday, Senate Republicans are reportedly considering a move that could leave the southern border wide open to invasion.A group of Republican senators is now openly discussing whether to split the Homeland Security appropriations bill away from a six-bill funding package in order to avert a partial government shutdown that would impact the Pentagon and several other major federal departments, according to The Hill.The six-bill package includes funding for the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, State, and financial services-related agencies.DHS, the very agency responsible for...

"Minnesota Democrats hate ICE because they're deporting their voters." —Gunther Eagleman on "X". Neville Roy Singham. Isn’t it obvious by now that the seditious mischief roiling Minneapolis is some kind of a demonstration project for a China-backed overthrow of the whole country? This is not hard. And, apparently, the Democratic Party is either a willing accomplice or a hostage in thrall to its captor — like Patty Hearst, the heiress kidnapped and bamboozled by psychotic Maoist maniacs who styled themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army, until she was happily making bombs and robbing banks with them (and ended up in prison)....

U.S. senators have left town for a week-long recess, leaving themselves only five days to pass the six remaining federal government funding bills. Four of those massive bills, which are also the thorniest, have not even passed the lower chamber, though House leaders hope to advance them in a package next week while the Senate is off. If Congress fails to meet the deadline – which many, including the National Governors Association, anticipate – they face a partial government shutdown. In that instance, the only way lawmakers could prevent a shutdown would be by punting the deadline via a Continuing...

<p>Republican John Thune threw in the towel on his South Dakota Senate race yesterday, notwithstanding the suspicious circumstances under which he lost by a mere 524 votes. We think that at a minimum he owed his many supporters a recount.</p>

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday signaled an end to further Democrat shutdown shenanigans with a move to go back to what he called the "old-fashioned way" of funding the government. Speaking to members of the press, Thune said that the "path to a stronger, safer America" is getting funding bills passed through the traditional appropriations process "instead of continuing resolutions." The Schumer Shutdown, which brought chaos to American airports, cut funding to SNAP benefits, etc., ended after 43 days. 🚨NOW — Senator John Thune says government is going to operate the OLD—FASHIONED way!By passing appropriation bills instead...

The Supreme Court's decision to allow the administration to pay only partial SNAP benefits during the shutdown gives Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress a clear road to victory in the shutdown fight now entering its 39th day. SCOTUS recognized that this is not a separation of powers constitutional issue. It's a political issue, and the Supreme Court tends to avoid intervening in political disputes. The ball is now firmly in the hands of the Democrats, who have gotten themselves into a no-win situation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried a delay gambit, offering to reopen the government if...

Thune last week dismissed the possibility of nuking the filibuster as a “bad idea," but on Thursday night President Donald Trump urged the Senate to use the tactic. Senate Majority Leader John Thune's office on Friday indicated that the leader's position has not changed on whether to use the nuclear option to bypass the filibuster and end the government shutdown, despite pressure from the White House.Thune last week dismissed the possibility of nuking the filibuster as a “bad idea," but on Thursday night President Donald Trump urged the Senate to use the tactic, which would circumvent Democratic opposition to...

Leader Thune and the Republican majority deserve praise for their strategic leadership in clearing procedural roadblocks and putting an end to Senator Schumer’s unprecedented obstruction. It’s a win for the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to change Washington.

After persistent Democrats obstruction to all Trump nominees using old Senate rules, Thune got the Senate rules CHANGED today to allow confirmation of Trump's nominees in batches. Today alone, 48 Trump nominees will be confirmed in a big batch. Expect more batch confirmations in coming weeks and months. Expect more crying and gnashing of teeth from the crazy Schume who's attempt to trade confirmations for money for his crazy projects come crashing down.

As we were warned, Senator Thune is blocking President Trump from making recess appointments by conducting pro forma sessions. Is he really a Republican? We are seven months into Trump’s term, and he doesn’t have his judges and over a hundred of his key appointments. McConnell went home early, and the die was cast. What an absolute disgrace. Thune’s procedural games expose the swamp for what it is. They care about preserving their power and engaging in Senate gamesmanship while agencies are leaderless.

This week, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) "cannot cut Medicaid funding for sex changes or illegal immigrants. The eligibility of these two categories is a policy decision made by a previous president and a previous congress and cannot be changed by a simple majority vote on this reconciliation bill." Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala) asserted "the 'woke' Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid ten years ago, just struck down a provision banning illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. The Parliamentarian 'advises.' She does not 'rule.' Reducing the amounts spent is germane to...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Senate Republicans to expect to see the legislative text of the budget reconciliation package on Friday evening and then to vote at noon Saturday to begin debate on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Several GOP senators, however, refused to say whether they would vote to proceed to the bill, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he’s a hard “no” on the legislation because it includes a provision to raise the debt limit by $5 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that if he does not "make a serious proposal for an immediate ceasefire" with Ukraine, the Senate will pass new sanctions against the Russian government. -snip- "If Russia is not willing to engage in serious diplomacy, the Senate will work with the Trump administration to consider additional sanctions to force Putin to start negotiating," Thune said Thursday. This comes the same week Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned senators in a hearing that if "you start threatening sanctions, the Russians will stop talking." -snip- The bill also would set...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is blazing forward with a controversial move to repeal California's EV mandate — and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is warning it will come back to bite him.Why it matters: Schumer (D-N.Y.) all but threatened to deploy similar strategies to get around opinions by key, nonpartisan rule makers if and when he grabs back control of the chamber."What goes around comes around," Schumer said on Tuesday. He and other Democratic leaders have described the GOP move as a "nuclear option."Thune (R-S.D.) accused Democrats of "throwing a tantrum."Driving the news: The Senate will vote as soon as...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he did not want to see taxes go up on anybody when asked about President Donald Trump’s comments on taxes. On Truth Social Trump posted, “The problem with even a “TINY” tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming,“Read my lips,” the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot...

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Breitbart News exclusively he is targeting a July 4 deadline to get the big budget reconciliation plan that would extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts– adding no tax on tips, Social Security income, or overtime wages–to the president’s desk for his signature. This is welcome news for the president and his team, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also has recently said he hopes for a July 4 date for the package to be wrapped up. The package is also expected to fund more of the president’s immigration priorities, as well as...