John Thune is on the verge of going down in history as the SPINELESS Senate Leader who refused to...

Thune: Republicans to Build on Record of Results in 2026

Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor: Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): “Mr. President, 2025 was a historically busy year here in the United States Senate. “The longest session period in more than 15 years. The greatest number of votes in half a century. Many, many, many hours in session – substantially exceeding the average of the past 78 years. “And what do we have to show for all of that? “More than 400 presidential nominees confirmed – far exceeding the totals for the first year of President Trump’s first term and of President Biden’s. “Repeal of a number of burdensome Biden rules and regulations, including multiple rules that would have driven up prices for American families and businesses. “Legislation to combat … the fentanyl epidemic. “To keep criminal illegal immigrants off our streets. “To create the first U.S. federal framework for stablecoins and ensure U.S. leadership in financial innovation. “And, first and foremost, of course, Mr. President, we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts and the rest of our landmark legislation. “Mr. President, January 1 was this past Thursday. “And if Democrats had had their way, Americans would have been facing a big tax hike at the start of this year. “Instead, thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, Americans will continue to pay the lower tax rates Republicans passed in 2017. “And that’s not all. “Because in addition to making permanent the tax relief we passed in 2017, Republicans have added a number of new tax relief measures to ensure that Americans can keep more of their hard-earned money. “We further increased the standard deduction. “We further increased the child tax credit – and indexed it to inflation, so that its value will never go down. “We added a new bonus deduction for seniors. “No tax on tips and overtime. “And the list goes on. “Thanks to our legislation, Americans will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money – permanently. “And that’s not all our legislation did. “Our once-in-a-generation legislation also invested in our national security. “In a more secure border and safer streets. “We repealed Democrats’ natural gas tax and took steps to unleash American energy production to ensure that Americans have a stable and affordable energy supply. “And more. “Our goal for 2025 was more money in Americans’ pockets, new opportunities, and safer streets. “We’re accomplishing that with the Working Families Tax Cuts and the rest of our landmark legislation. “And we will continue to expand on that work in 2026. “There are a number of bills that I’d like the Senate to take up, including ROAD to Housing – legislation that addresses housing affordability and availability – and market-structure legislation that builds on the success of the GENIUS Act and provides long-overdue clarity on digital asset regulation. “Our first item of business, though, is appropriations. “We still have work to do to get as many full-year appropriations bills as possible across the finish line for fiscal year 2026. “I made it very clear when I became majority leader that I wanted to get the Senate back to regular-order appropriations. “And we made a strong start last year, passing three appropriations bills with robust bipartisan margins before the August work period – the first time that we’ve passed an appropriations bill that early since 2018. “Unfortunately, Democrats then chose to shut down the government, which seriously delayed our appropriations work. “But we got right back to it after Democrats finally agreed to reopen the government, and we were able to get those three appropriations bills signed into law by the president this fall. “Now we have another bipartisan, bicameral package of three bills that was released today and is ready to move through the House and Senate. “That will be the priority as soon as this package comes over from the House, and senators can expect continued work on appropriations for the remainder of January. “We have a January 30 deadline to fund the government, and nobody should want a repeat of the recent Democrat shutdown at the end of this month. “So, Mr. President, let’s get the rest of this year’s appropriations bills done, so we can turn our attention to our other responsibilities – and to getting the next fiscal year’s appropriations bills done in a timely fashion.”

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