From the office on Senator John Thune, “We did get the president’s Cabinet in place, the fastest rate in 20 years. We were in session for 10 consecutive weeks, for the first time in 15 years. And today, we have cast more votes than any Senate going back to the Reagan administration.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Sean Hannity on Fox News.
On the Senate’s first 100 days of the 119th Congress:
“We did get the president’s Cabinet in place, the fastest rate in 20 years. We were in session for 10 consecutive weeks, for the first time in 15 years. And today, we have cast more votes than any Senate going back to the Reagan administration. So people are showing up, they’re doing the work, and we’ve got a lot more work ahead of us. But if you look at what’s at stake, the stakes are high, as you pointed out. We don’t get this opportunity very often, and when it comes along, sometimes it doesn’t last very long.
“So we’ve got to make the most of these two years where we’ve got President Trump’s leadership in the White House – and boy, isn’t that a welcome relief from the past four years? – working with a Republican Senate and a Republican House to do the things the president campaigned on. And that’s to secure the border, make a generational investment in doing that; make sure that we’re investing in our national security so we’re prepared for whatever threats exist around the world; avoiding a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of this year, preventing that from happening; and then restoring American energy dominance. Those are all priorities the president campaigned on, and I would add: deficit reduction. We have got to cut spending, and that’s a priority for this Senate.”
On budget reconciliation:
“[W]e believe and in the Senate, at least, when you have unified control of government – House, Senate, and White House – which, as you pointed out, we’ve had a half a dozen, less than that, times in the last century, you can do things at 51 votes in the Senate that would otherwise require 60. But you’ve got to have maximum cooperation, you’ve got to have 51 Senate Republicans to hang together, you’ve got to have 218 members of the House, and you’ve got to have a president who’s willing to sign a bill into law.
“We have all those things in place. And Lindsey [Graham] has done a great job as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we believe the law is very clear that he has the authority to set what that baseline is. And there’s a lot of conversation around which baseline you use, but the simple fact of the matter is, we believe that extending the tax relief that was passed in 2017 under President Trump ought to be able to be continued, and that isn’t something that we ought to have to offset or pay for … these are policies that are in place.
“Tax rates should stay the same on January 1 of next year as they are on December 31. And as you pointed out in your in your leadoff to this, some of the other things that the president’s trying to achieve to provide the American people with tax relief so they can keep more of their hard-earned dollars and spend them the way they want to spend them and instead of sending them to Washington, D.C.”
On making President Trump’s tax cuts permanent:
“This is historic in terms of the opportunity. And I think what’s going to motivate all those people, both in the House and the Senate, Republicans, I can’t think of a Republican that would abide a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people. And you’re talking about 2.6 trillion of that tax increase falling on families that make less than $400,000 a year. A $600 billion increase, tax increase, on small businesses.
“Those are the people that are out there working every day, Sean, and we need to make sure that we keep taxes low, and as we move through this process – and it is, it’s very complicated, especially in the Senate, the rules are very prescriptive, we have to thread a needle in order to get this done – but we have to have maximum cooperation and support from every Senate Republican, every House Republican. The stakes are too high, and this opportunity isn’t going to come along very often.”
On fair trade:
“[T]he president … he won 77 million votes, and there wasn’t a day on the campaign trail where he didn’t talk about tariffs. It’s something he believes in. He deserves the opportunity to go get the deals he can get, and to get the reciprocity that we need with some of these countries that have been taking advantage of us.
“I think most of us up here believe that he deserves that opportunity. And he … and his administration are working very aggressively, as you know, and have already announced … so many countries have come to the table, are looking for deals. So let’s give this president some space to see what he can get done.
“And obviously we’re all paying close attention to it, but we think that he campaigned on it, he made it very clear to the American people what he wanted to achieve in doing it, and I think when it comes to creating better-paying jobs in this country and growing our economy, making America stronger, and getting investment in this country, you’re already seeing some of that. Some of these supply chains are coming back home. Let’s give this president an opportunity to see what he can get done.”
