{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "is_view": false, "human_description_en": "where party = \"Republican\", state = \"SD\" and year = 2025 sorted by date descending", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-announces-2025-congressional-app-challenge-winner", "Johnson Announces 2025 Congressional App Challenge Winner", "2025-12-23", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) congratulated Congressional App Challenge winner Nana Kwame Dwomoh from Brookings, South Dakota. Nana Kwame coded an app called \u201cWorkWellness.\u201d\n\n\u201cCongratulations to Nana Kwame on being selected as this year\u2019s Congressional App Challenge Winner from South Dakota,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cHe overcame several obstacles in developing his product and learned more about coding in the process. Technology is increasingly important in career fields, and the App Challenge is a great opportunity for students to test and improve their skills.\u201d\n\nNana Kwame created \u201cWorkWellness\u201d to boost productivity and health by running timed work sessions, prompting stretch breaks, and suggesting targeted exercises for areas of discomfort. It also tracks total work time and includes an AI wellness assistant that provides quick, practical advice on posture, ergonomics, and healthy routines.\n\nNana Kwame says, \u201cAs a high school student who spends long hours at a desk and on a computer, I\u2019ve felt back pain myself. Millions of students and office workers share this same discomfort from ignoring what their bodies need during work sessions. I created WorkWellness to help solve that problem, allowing people to stay focused and productive while also reminding them to take care of their health through consistent stretching.\u201d\n\nAnnually, students from each congressional district compete in the App Challenge. This year, Nana Kwame\u2019s app will be displayed in the Capitol and featured online, and he will have the chance to participate in #HouseofCode, a gathering of all the current year\u2019s winners.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/president-trump-signs-rounds-wounded-knee-bill-into-law", "President Trump Signs Rounds\u2019 Wounded Knee Bill into Law", "2025-12-20", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, today issued the following statement after President Trump signed Rounds\u2019 bill, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, into law.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump has officially signed the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act into law,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cThe land at this symbolic and sacred site will now be held in possession of both the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes to be preserved for future generations. I\u2019m pleased that our work on this legislation over the past three years has paid off. We will continue to tell the story of Wounded Knee and the events that occurred at this location 135 years ago this month.\u201d\n\nThe Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act would place 40 acres of land at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre into restricted fee status, making certain that the land is held by both the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes for generations to come.\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nRounds first introduced the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act in June 2023. Ryman LeBeau, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Frank Star Comes Out, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, testified on the legislation in a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing. The committee later unanimously passed legislation, but was blocked from passing the full Senate.\n\nRounds later reintroduced the bill to the 119th Congress in January 2025. The Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in March 2025, and unanimously passed the full Senate on December 11, 2025. This legislation is cosponsored by Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced companion legislation in the House.\n\nClick HERE to read full bill text.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/president-trump-signs-johnsons-wounded-knee-memorial-bill-law", "President Trump Signs Johnson\u2019s Wounded Knee Memorial Bill into Law", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), was signed into law by President Trump.\n\n\u201cIt has been almost 135 years to the day of the tragedy that unfolded at Wounded Knee and today, the president signed my bill into law to preserve the land where hundreds of lives were lost,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI am grateful the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes will be able to hold this land in perpetuity as a way to honor and memorialize the lost.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs we approach the 135th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, we are pleased that the United States has recognized the legacy and sacrifice of our ancestors and that it has finally pledged federal protection for our hallowed land at the massacre site,\u201d said Frank Star Comes Out, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe. \u201cThis bill is an important step in the healing process for our Lakota people.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe President signed the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act,\u201d said Ryman LeBeau, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. \u201cThe Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and our Wounded Knee Survivor Association, acting in consultation with our Oglala Sioux relatives, believed that it was very important that our Wounded Knee Massacre Sacred Site is in the name of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe, subject to the protections of our 1868 Treaty. The House, Senate and the President have agreed, so that we may remember and honor our relatives we lost at Wounded Knee, now and in future generations. The Act and the Report also acknowledge the history of the Wounded Knee Massacre and America\u2019s Apology. On behalf of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, we say Wopila, with special thanks to Representative Johnson, Senator Rounds and Senator Thune. This is a good day for our Lakota oy\u00e1t\u00e9 (people)!\u201d\n\nAfter months of working in coordination with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Johnson introduced the legislation last Congress which passed the House unanimously but was not voted on by the U.S. Senate. Johnson reintroduced the bill in January 2025 and it passed the House later that month. The Senate passed Johnson\u2019s legislation in December.\n\nThe Senate companion bill is led by U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).\n\nWounded Knee Massacre Background:\n\nIn the late 1880s, a movement called the Ghost Dance swept across the nation. Indians believed that this dance would give stolen land back to the Indians, bringing about a renewal of Native society. Indians would join together, wearing shirts they believed would protect them from bullets, to dance for this renewal, all at the protest of the federal government.\n\nOn December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians led by Chief Spotted Elk had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, U.S. Army 7th Calvary troops were sent to disarm the Lakota. A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted Elk\u2019s band \u2013 a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group, massacring an estimated up to 350-375 Lakota Indians. Twenty-five U.S. soldiers also died.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-votes-lower-health-insurance-premiums-11", "Johnson Votes to Lower Health Insurance Premiums by 11%", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "December 18, 2025\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) voted to pass the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, which makes targeted reforms to health care costs.\n\n\u201cThe Affordable Care Act made health care unaffordable for the American family. Many families are paying more for their health insurance than they pay for their mortgage or rent,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThe program has become riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, which only drives prices higher for those trying to do right. The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act will fix a broken system and provide more options for people who are struggling to make ends meet.\u201d\n\nThe Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act:\n\nLowers premium costs through cost-sharing reduction payments.\n\nAppropriates cost-sharing reduction payments to stabilize the broken system and individual market.\n\nLowers premium costs by 11 percent and reduces out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copays.\n\nBrings pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) transparency and removes hidden costs of prescription drugs.\n\nRequires PBMs to provide employers with clear, detailed reporting on prescription drug spending, including rebates, pricing, and formulary decisions.\n\nProvides employers and employees with the transparency they deserve to help lower premium costs and improve access to prescription medications.\n\nAllows small business owners and independent workers to form association health plans.\n\nExpands access to Association Health Plans (AHPs) by allowing small employers and self-employed workers to band together across industries to access more options for more affordable, higher quality plans.\n\nStrengthens bargaining power for small business owners and independent workers by giving them access to group rates, more provider networks, and alternatives to costly small-group or individual marketplace plans.\n\nProvides more choices for employees to customize their health care plans.\n\nProtects small businesses from costly regulatory overreach.\n\nBackground:\n\nIn 2025, the average family paid $27,000 in health insurance premiums. These premiums are increasing 26% in 2026.\n\nBig insurance is making record profits. Their profits are 600% higher than when Obamacare became law.\n\nWaste, Fraud, and Abuse in Obamacare:\n\nA recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) showed significant risk of fraud exists with the premium tax credit.\n\nIn the course of GAO\u2019s investigation, 100% of fake applicants were approved in late 2024.\n\n18 out of 20 fake applicants are still receiving subsidized coverage for 2025.\n\nCMS approved coverage with no documents or with fake ones, including fake citizenship papers.\n\nOne Social Security Number was used on applications totaling over 125 insurance policies\u2014the equivalent of 71 years of subsidized coverage.\n\nIn 2024, 66,000 Social Security Numbers had more than one year\u2019s worth of subsidized coverage in a single year.\n\nIn 2024, health insurers received $94 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies for deceased individuals.\n\nIssues:Health", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/president-trump-signs-johnson-provisions-law", "President Trump Signs Johnson Provisions into Law", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, two provisions led by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) were signed into law by President Trump. The provisions would strengthen America\u2019s deterrence against China and prohibit men from competing in women\u2019s sports at military academies.\n\n\u201cMy provisions will keep our military focused on what matters \u2013 military readiness and combatting our greatest threat, China,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cAmerica\u2019s military is the strongest in the world and I\u2019m grateful this year\u2019s annual defense bill prioritizes our fighting force.\u201d\n\nStrengthening Deterrence against China:\n\nJohnson\u2019s amendment directs the Department of War to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to strengthen defense industrial cooperation with U.S. allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific region. It aims to move beyond limited prior directives by identifying concrete actions and priority systems to enable deeper joint development, production, and sustainment.\n\nIt is important to both reinforce ongoing efforts with Taiwan while expanding the scope of cooperation to encompass the broader region. China\u2019s sphere of influence does not stop with Taiwan, and the U.S. must pursue a more comprehensive, region-wide strategy in response.\n\nJohnson introduced this provision as an amendment to the NDAA, which was adopted and included.\n\nProhibiting Men from Competing in Women\u2019s Sports at Military Academies:\n\nTitle IX was established to ensure equal opportunities for women in sports, and allowing biological males to compete in these categories directly undermines the intent of the law. While the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has failed to implement policies that adequately protect female college athletes, Congress has direct oversight of our nation\u2019s military academies. This issue is not hypothetical\u2014just last year, women\u2019s volleyball teams were forced to either forfeit matches or compete under unfair conditions against teams that included biological males on their rosters.\n\nJohnson\u2019s Protection of Women in Sports at Military Academies Act prohibits biological males from competing in women\u2019s sports at United States military service academies.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-leads-legislation-to-increase-transparency-and-accountability-for-financial-regulators", "Rounds Leads Legislation to Increase Transparency and Accountability for Financial Regulators", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced legislation to increase transparency and accountability within the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). The FSOC Improvement Act would enhance transparency and procedural fairness of the systemically important financial institutions (SIFI) designation process.\n\nSpecifically, this legislation would codify 2019 guidance that requires FSOC to determine whether systemic risks could be better addressed through means other than designating a financial institution as a SIFI. It would also require them to consult with the primary regulator and the company on other means to address potential threats to financial stability.\n\n\u201cI believe the FSOC Improvement Act is a crucial step towards enhancing the effectiveness and transparency of our financial regulatory system,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cSIFI designation is a blunt tool that comes with a significant increase in regulatory burden for individual companies. By allowing an affected institution to modify its business, structure or operations prior to the SIFI designation, we are creating a more resilient financial environment for the American people, fostering economic growth and stability.\u201d\n\n\u201cI fought tooth-and-nail to pass Dodd Frank to hold financial institutions accountable and prevent another economic catastrophe that devastated countless Michiganders,\u201d said Peters. \u201cThis commonsense bill would build on that landmark law nearly two decades later by granting the Financial Stability Oversight Council the authority to better tailor regulatory oversight of certain financial institutions without compromising its core mission of maintaining the stability of the U.S. financial system. Doing so will ensure that our nation\u2019s financial institutions can continue to meet the needs of all communities.\u201d\n\nRounds first introduced the FSOC Improvement Act in 2018 during the 115th Congress. Representatives Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) lead the House companion, which passed out of the Financial Services Committee on September 16, 2025 by a vote of 47-4.\n\nThe FSOC Improvement Act is supported by the American Council of Life Insurers, APCIA, the Investment Company Institute, Managed Funds Association (MFA), Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), Reinsurance Association of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.\n\n\"The Chamber commends Senator Mike Rounds and Senator Gary Peters for sponsoring the FSOC Improvement Act, which will bring much needed stability and predictability to the Financial Stability Oversight Council\u2019s authority regarding nonbank financial companies. This legislation ensures that the designation of a nonbank financial company as a Systemically Important Financial Institution by FSOC would be a tool of last resort, instilling a commonsense reform that will protect American financial stability and support a competitive system that benefits the entire economy,\" said Mike Flood, Senior Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.\n\n\u201cThe National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies commends Senator Rounds for his continued leadership to protect the state-based system of insurance regulation. This legislation makes a needed change to the Financial Stability Oversight Council\u2019s (FSOC) guidance by incorporating state insurance regulators as part of the process. By making this change, it affirms the primacy of state insurance regulation, which is a tried-and-true system that focuses on what is best for consumers. State regulators know their states, communities, laws, and markets best,\u201d said Jimi Grande, Senior Vice President \u2013 Federal & Political Affairs, NAMIC\n\n\u201cThe Mortgage Bankers Association and its members support this important bill because it brings needed stability to FSOC\u2019s approach to systemic risk and would ensure predictability and transparency governing the designation of nonbanks without the risk of reducing consumers\u2019 access to mortgage credit.,\u201d said Bill Killmer, Senior Vice President, Legislative & Political Affairs, MBA.\n\n\u201cMFA supports the Senate\u2019s introduction of commonsense, bipartisan legislation to bring transparency and accountability to the FSOC designation process. The bill will require FSOC to first consider targeted regulatory alternatives to address activities creating potential stability risk before turning to misguided and potentially damaging designations. This much-needed clarity will strengthen market stability and reduce uncertainty for investors, including pensions, foundations, and endowments.\u201d said Bryan Corbett, MFA President and CEO\n\n\u201cThe FSOC Improvement Act brings meaningful changes for consumers by strengthening financial stability with transparency and predictability, while also preserving healthy competition,\u201d said American Council of Life Insurers President and CEO David Chavern. \u201cIt does this with clear guardrails around the designation process\u2014establishing an activities-based approach, requiring real consultation with primary regulators, and making SIFI designation a tool of last resort.\u201d\n\n\u201cICI applauds Senators Rounds and Peters for introducing this significant legislation to bring more accountability and transparency to FSOC. The Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act will allow American businesses to operate free from the fear of draconian governmental overreach. As ICI has previously demonstrated, SIFI designation for fund managers would entail sweeping negative consequences and should only ever be used where proven necessary by robust data and cost-benefit analysis. ICI encourages the Senate to pass this legislation and bring more transparency to government, as well as greater certainty to investment funds and the millions of investors they serve,\u201d said Tom Quaadman, ICI Chief Government Affairs and Public Policy Officer.\n\nClick HERE for full bill text.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A737023B-FC5E-4574-B8C6-5608B7AA3474", "Thune Joins Bret Baier on Fox News", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the interview.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Bret Baier on Fox News.\n\nOn Senate Republicans\u2019 accomplishments:\n\n\u201cThe things that we did in the \u2026 [Working] Family Tax Cuts Act that was passed earlier this year are \u2026 really unprecedented and historic. You think about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reducing taxes for seniors on Social Security, locking in lower rates, the doubling of the child tax credit, near doubling of the standard deduction \u2026\n\n\u201cI think you\u2019re going to see a remarkable 2026. I mean, we\u2019re excited about the prospects for the economy, and you look at the things we did and the other things in the One Big Beautiful Bill \u2026 the school choice, child care tax credits, the newborn tax credits, or these accounts that are going to be created for people in this country. These are all pro-family initiatives that we think are going to start to yield big dividends.\u201d\n\nOn Republicans\u2019 pro-growth policies:\n\n\u201c[T]he president \u2026 he inherited this mess \u2013 [from] the Biden administration with \u2026 all the spending that they did, trillions and trillions of dollars of spending, which flooded our economy with more dollars, which drove inflation up.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[T]hose steps that we took last summer, you\u2019re going to start to see that, and the American people are going to start to feel that. When you start seeing the impact of what we did on taxes and regulations and energy, and you\u2019re already seeing the cost of gasoline going down. You\u2019re going to see that in other areas \u2026\n\n\u201cInflation, which \u2026 in the month of October was \u2026 down to 2.7 percent \u2026 down from what was expected. You\u2019re starting to see that already. But I also think you\u2019re going to see more growth in the economy because of the policy changes that we made.\n\n\u201cAnd when economy is growing and expanding, it\u2019s throwing off better-paying jobs, people are doing better \u2026 I think what you\u2019re going to see in 2026 is safer streets, you\u2019re going to see more money in people\u2019s pockets, and you\u2019re going to see new opportunities to get ahead for the American people.\u201d\n\nOn Republicans\u2019 plan to lower health care costs:\n\n\u201cThe Democrats are going to have to come to the table and realize that a straight extension of Obamacare subsidies is not a sustainable future for the American people \u2026 Democrats talk about affordability. The least affordable thing that the American people have \u2026 in front of them today is the cost of health care \u2026\n\n\u201c[Republicans are] open to fixing and addressing this, but you\u2019ve got to do it in a way \u2026 that actually solves the problem and lowers costs. If you stay on this path right now, with all the waste, fraud, and abuse, the same thing is true today that I said last September \u2013 and that is that there are no income caps, there are zero-dollar premiums, there are literally millions of people in the exchange who don\u2019t even know they\u2019re covered because the payments go directly from the federal government to the insurance companies, and so people are automatically, they\u2019re auto-enrolled by the insurance companies, and there\u2019s no accountability in this program.\n\n\u201cThe Government Accountability Office just did an audit of this program, and of the 20 fake claims they submitted, 19 of them got approved. That\u2019s a 95 percent failure rate. So it\u2019s got to be reformed, and we\u2019re open to that, and if the Democrats want to work with us, we won\u2019t get it done before the Christmas holiday, but when we come back in January, there are discussions that are going on right now. We have folks who are interested in fixing it.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D91B9F94-ABFD-4E88-90C0-C1E97CE5F98F", "Thune on Senate Republicans\u2019 Record-Breaking Year", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, as \u2026 we\u2019re about to wrap up \u2026 our legislative work for 2025, I would say it\u2019s been quite a busy year here in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cThe longest session period in 15 years to kick off the year.\n\n\u201cAn historic number of votes \u2013 the most, literally, in half a century.\n\n\u201cIn fact, Mr. President, if you can see on this chart, the number of votes, you go back, the first date on there is [1983].\n\n\u201cObviously, this is pretty small, difficult to see, perhaps, unless you\u2019re standing right over it.\n\n\u201cBut if you look at the red line here, that\u2019s this year \u2013 so, 653 votes cast so far this year.\n\n\u201cWhich dwarfs any year going back to 1989, which is what we had data going back to.\n\n\u201cWe have since researched farther back; turns out there was one year, 1976 \u2013 we went back eight decades \u2013 there was one year, 1976, where the Senate cast more votes than we did this year.\n\n\u201cBut if you go back to [1983], the closest one is right here, 1995, which for those of us who were actually following it back then, that was the Contract with America year, and so that was a record number of votes cast in both, I think, the House and the Senate.\n\n\u201cBut we have eclipsed that.\n\n\u201cThere were 613 votes cast in 1995; this year in the United States Senate, we have already cast 653 \u2013 and we are not quite done yet.\n\n\u201cSo, historic just in terms of the number of votes cast, the number of hours in session, and the number of days in session \u2013 also historic just in terms of the amount of time that we\u2019ve been around here, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019ve put in a lot of time here this year.\n\n\u201cNow, I have always said that you can\u2019t equate volume of activity or busyness with productivity \u2013 I think you have to, those are sometimes separate metrics.\n\n\u201cBut I would argue, Mr. President, that what really matters is not the number of votes or the number of hours that we\u2019ve worked \u2013 it is what we accomplished with those hours.\n\n\u201cAnd this has been an incredibly productive Senate, and I\u2019m proud to say that we\u2019ve accomplished a lot this year in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cOur flagship bill \u2026 for the year, of course, was the One Big Beautiful Bill \u2013 the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.\n\n\u201cAnd the largest part of that was, in fact, the tax cuts that were enacted that are going to benefit American families, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBack in 2017, the Republicans delivered substantial tax relief for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut that tax relief was scheduled to expire at the end of this month.\n\n\u201cAnd so one of our main priorities for this year was extending that tax relief.\n\n\u201cAnd extend it we did.\n\n\u201cBut we didn\u2019t just extend it \u2013 we made it permanent, and we added to it additional tax relief on top.\n\n\u201cSo now hardworking Americans can enjoy permanently lower rates, plus an increased standard deduction, a further increase in the child tax credit, a new bonus deduction for seniors, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and Mr. President, that list goes on and on.\n\n\u201cIn addition to new and permanent tax relief for individuals and families, we also made permanent important tax relief for businesses of all sizes, to help our growth and expand jobs and opportunities for American workers.\n\n\u201cSo, I would just say again, Mr. President, if you look at that map, this measures \u2013 and again, it\u2019s too far away for people to see \u2013 but the color coding represents the amount of tax relief that people in these individual states or even within a state will receive based upon the filings and what we expect they\u2019ll be filing for next year.\n\n\u201cBut if you can see at the top of that, the U.S. average is $3,752 in savings as a result of what we did to prevent what would have been the largest tax increase in American history.\n\n\u201cAnd so American families this next year, American businesses, are going to have more money in their pockets as a result of what we did.\n\n\u201cHad we not taken those actions, the average [filer] across this country would\u2019ve seen a $3,752 increase in their taxes.\n\n\u201cAnd so that\u2019s sort of representative of the chart across the country, and the darker ones means you\u2019re probably getting more tax relief relative to the lighter colors,.\n\n\u201cBut nevertheless everyone in this country who files a tax return is going to see a much lower tax bill, tax liability, this next year as a result of what we did.\n\n\u201cSo, that\u2019s a lot right there, Mr. President, in and of itself.\n\n\u201cBut the One Big Beautiful Bill didn\u2019t end with the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cWe also invested in a more secure border and safer streets.\n\n\u201cWe made a historic investment in our national security.\n\n\u201cAnd we repealed the Democrats\u2019 natural gas tax and took steps to unleash American energy production, to ensure that Americans have stable, plentiful, and affordable supply of energy.\n\n\u201cWe took measures to modernize the farm safety net, something very important in my state of South Dakota.\n\n\u201cTo address housing costs.\n\n\u201cTo repair and upgrade our air traffic control system.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, I could keep going.\n\n\u201cThe Working Families Tax Cuts and the rest of the One Big Beautiful Bill accomplished a lot for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not all that we\u2019ve done in the Senate this year.\n\n\u201cThe American people elected President Trump last November.\n\n\u201cAnd one of our priorities this year has been ensuring that the president has his team in place so that he can do the job the American people elected him to do.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m proud to report that by the end of this week, we will have confirmed 417 nominees \u2013 far more than were confirmed by this point in either President Trump\u2019s first term or in President Biden\u2019s term.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s even more remarkable, Mr. President \u2013 and again, you can see this in real form here.\n\n\u201cThis was President Trump\u2019s first term in office \u2013 at the end of his first year, which would be the end of 2017, there were 323 of his nominees that had been confirmed.\n\n\u201cUnder President Biden, at the end of the first year, 2021, there were 365 of his nominees who had been confirmed by the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd as of today, that number here in 2025, in President Trump\u2019s second term, will be 417 nominees.\n\n\u201cAnd that is important, Mr. President, because every president needs to have his team in place to do the job that the American people elected him to do.\n\n\u201cSo, as we think about, and [I] discussed on the floor yesterday, you look at the president\u2019s [second] term, what makes this even more remarkable was the fact that there was a historic level of obstruction by the Democrats to getting the president\u2019s nominees in place.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m talking about something unlike we\u2019ve ever seen in American history for any president of any political party.\n\n\u201cAnd if you look at his [second] term, Mr. President, President Trump remains the only president on record not to have had a single civilian nomination confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cThe only president on record.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have dragged out the process on almost every single one of the president\u2019s nominations.\n\n\u201cNot out of principle, but out of petty partisanship.\n\n\u201cAny president going back in history, Mr. President, when they get elected, get a mandate from the American people, generally both political parties \u2013 and I\u2019ve been here through multiple administrations, both Republican and Democrat, and I\u2019ve been here in multiple Congresses and Senates, both Republican and Democrat, and in every case, a lot of, particularly when you get past the Cabinet, which we all take very seriously, obviously, and there is a process in place and some of the changes that we made to expedite nominations didn\u2019t affect Cabinet-level nominees \u2013 but when you get to the sub-Cabinet level, in many cases, particularly noncontroversial nominees have been approved by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cIt is a way of recognizing that a president needs to get his team in place in order to accomplish the work and the agenda that the American people elected, in this case President Trump, to do.\n\n\u201cAnd so what happened this year was historic and unprecedented.\n\n\u201cBecause most of those lower-level Cabinet nominees are done by unanimous consent \u2013 that\u2019s just been the practice, that has been the precedent, that has been the tradition, that has been the history of the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd for President Trump, the first president in American history.\n\n\u201cBut as I said, Mr. President, we as Republicans haven\u2019t let that stop us, and so when we close out this year with a total of 417 nominees [confirmed], we will have the backlog of nominees essentially cleared.\n\n\u201cMr. President, considering nominations is one responsibility of the government.\n\n\u201cFunding the government \u2013 together with the House of Representatives \u2013 is another.\n\n\u201cAnd one thing that I was determined on when I became leader was to make sure that the Senate went about considering the yearly appropriations bills through regular order \u2013 a process that gives senators from both parties the greatest chance to make their voices (and the voices of their constituents, I might add) heard.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve done a lot to return the Senate to a regular order process this year.\n\n\u201cAppropriations work was unnecessarily delayed by Democrats\u2019 decision to shut down the government for six weeks.\n\n\u201cBut despite that, we\u2019ve had multiple individual appropriations bills signed into law, and the Senate is well on its way to passing five additional bills.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, there\u2019s a lot more I could talk about when it comes to Senate accomplishments in 2025.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve taken action to repeal a number of burdensome rules and regulations, including the Biden electric vehicle mandate, appliance rules that would have driven up prices for hardworking Americans and businesses, and energy mandates that would have driven up energy prices for American families.\n\n\u201cWe passed the HALT Fentanyl Act to permanently schedule fentanyl analogues as the most deadly type of drugs.\n\n\u201cWe passed the Laken Riley Act to keep criminal illegal aliens off our streets.\n\n\u201cWe passed the GENIUS Act \u2013 a landmark bill to create the first U.S. federal framework for stablecoins and ensure \u2026 U.S. leadership in financial innovation.\n\n\u201cWe passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act to combat nonconsensual explicit images being shared online.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, so much more that I could talk about.\n\n\u201cAnd we even tried to do things that ultimately were blocked by Democrats, like legislation that would prevent biological males from hijacking opportunities for women and girls in sports.\n\n\u201cI guess my point, Mr. President: It\u2019s been a long and a challenging year here in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd I thank all of my colleagues \u2013 both Republican and Democrat \u2013 and all the staff, including the folks here on the floor, who put in long days and long hours in this last year.\n\n\u201cAnd I think, Mr. President, there is a lot to show for it.\n\n\u201cIn fact, if I put up this last chart, you\u2019ll have a hard time, nobody\u2019s going to be able to read this, for sure.\n\n\u201cBut I do this only simply to illustrate, this is the list of things that we have accomplished in this last year.\n\n\u201cAnd it runs the gamut from all the things, some of which I just mentioned \u2013 a lot of which I didn\u2019t mention \u2013 that were included in the Working Families Tax Cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill that passed last summer.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, it is, I think, an example of what we all came here to do.\n\n\u201cAnd thanks to our work this year, Americans are going to be looking at, one, safer streets; two, more money in their pockets; and three, new opportunities \u2013 new opportunities to get ahead and new opportunities on the way for American people and American families.\n\n\u201cAnd so Mr. President, we\u2019re going to keep advancing those priorities here in the United States Senate in 2026 \u2013 and build on the record of accomplishment and successes that we have had here in 2025.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E421C422-FADB-429D-86DC-C870AD92463D", "Thune: Democrats Delay Bipartisan Appropriations Bills", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, when I became majority leader, I made it very clear that I was committed to funding the government through the regular-order consideration of appropriations bills \u2013 not through an omnibus or long-term CR often times written behind closed doors.\n\n\u201cThe regular-order process gives senators from both parties the fullest chance to make their voices \u2013 and the voices of their constituents \u2013 heard.\n\n\u201cWhich is why I am disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight.\n\n\u201cRepublicans were ready to go.\n\n\u201cBut unfortunately my Democrat colleagues are not there yet.\n\n\u201cHopefully they will get there.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans have worked hard all year to get us back to taking up appropriations bills through regular order.\n\n\u201cWe had a positive start, with the Senate passing three appropriations bills before the August state work period \u2013 something that hadn\u2019t been done here since 2018.\n\n\u201cBut then we had a setback when Democrats decided to shut the government down for six weeks.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, was disappointing.\n\n\u201cBut I want this body to know that I remain as committed as ever to funding the government through the regular-order process.\n\n\u201cAnd when we come back after the holidays, we are going to redouble our efforts to get this government funded and prevent any repeat of the Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cI hope, Mr. President, that my Democrat colleagues will join us.\n\n\u201cSpeaking to that effect, and I will take them at face value.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope that we can work together to fund the government in the way it should be funded, through regular order and the appropriations process.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-secures-south-dakota-wins-in-final-ndaa", "Rounds Secures South Dakota Wins in Final NDAA", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, released the following statement on the Senate\u2019s passage of the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026. This is the 11th NDAA that Rounds has helped author as a member of SASC and the 65th consecutive NDAA passed by the full Senate.\n\n\u201cThe NDAA is an important piece of legislation passed annually to authorize funding for national security programs, as well as support for our servicemembers and their families,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cThis year\u2019s NDAA authorizes funding for construction projects at Ellsworth Air Force Base and funding for a facility for the Watertown Army National Guard. It also authorizes a 3.8 percent pay raise for troops and has a total topline of $900.6 billion in defense spending. This keeps our military ahead of the curve, making certain they never enter a fair fight and always have the advantage over our adversaries.\n\n\u201cThe NDAA is a great example of what we can accomplish when we work together. I\u2019m grateful to have worked on this legislation from beginning to end for the 11th year in a row. I look forward to President Trump signing the NDAA into law.\u201d\n\nIn March, Rounds was named as the 6th most effective member of the United States Senate on defense and national security issues for the 118th Congress. Read a list of his provisions in this year\u2019s NDAA below.\n\nRounds\u2019 South Dakota Victories:\n\nFully authorizes the B-21 Raider program, including over $2.59 billion for procurement and $862 million in advanced procurement.\n\nAuthorizes $378 million in military construction projects to support the B-21 Raider housed at Ellsworth.\n\n$63 million for B-21 Flight Simulator 2.\n\n$71 million for B-21 Alert Facility.\n\n$75 million for B-21 Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\n$88 million for B-21 South Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\n$81 million for B-21 West Alert Apron & Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\nAuthorizes $28 million for Watertown Army National Guard Vehicle Maintenance Shop.\n\nRequires the Department of Defense (DOD) to find ways to partner with communities, universities, and industry to establish Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF). This has been a major priority for many South Dakota universities and defense companies seeking to establish or deepen their relationship with DOD.\n\nUpdates the State Partnership Program so that the number of states a partner has is factored into decision-making for additional, new partners. This will directly benefit the South Dakota National Guard.\n\nModifies the Defense Community Infrastructure Program in order to make South Dakota schools more competitive in receiving grants.\n\nRequires the DOD to give military families clear, timely information about relocation resources when they receive orders to relocate.\n\nRounds\u2019 Major National Defense Victories:\n\nAuthorizes $10 million for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for hypersonic weapons.\n\nAuthorizes $5 million for Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.\n\nRequires Cyber Command to develop a roadmap and brief Congress on their industry collaboration for developing A.I.-enabled cyber capabilities. The roadmap will include: new collaborative R&D opportunities with industry, strategies for industry engagement, how to implement objectives and milestones, how to transition technology from development to operation, infrastructure requirements and assessment of organizational structures.\n\nCreates an Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee. This establishes an Artificial General Intelligence Steering Committee in the DOD to analyze AI trajectories and develop DOD adoption strategies with Deputy Secretary of Defense and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as co-chairs.\n\nProtects the dual-hat leadership arrangement between U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.\n\nProvides authority to the Department of Defense and military to conduct military operations in defense of critical infrastructure.\n\nRequires a bomber aircraft force structure and transition roadmap, to include training packages and other measures, to make sure our bomber crews are as well-trained and equipped as possible.\n\nAs part of the major acquisition reforms, enables the military to acquire technology-supported consumption-based purchases and contracts (e.g. using Uber rather than buying a car; using cloud services, etc.).\n\nModifies the reporting requirements of the Senior Military Advisor for Cyber Policy now that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy had been established.\n\nEstablishes a Chaplain Corps and Chief of Chaplains for the Central Intelligence Agency.\n\nEstablishes criminal penalties for \u201cgate-crashing\u201d intelligence community (IC) facilities and establishes criminal penalties for individuals trying to unlawfully enter IC facilities.\n\nRequires the Department to provide a report and briefing to Congress on cyber and network security policies regarding full content inspection, to include A.I. capabilities to be included in the program.\n\nRequires budget coordination of the Cyber Mission Force to increase mutual support between U.S. Cyber Command and cyber elements of the reserve component.\n\nImplements significant DOD cyber personnel related reforms to include establishing a Cyber Excepted Workforce (CEW) Interchange Agreement and increased flexibility regarding the pay and benefits for cyber personnel.\n\nRounds-Supported Victories:\n\nAuthorizes funding to support a 3.8 percent pay raise for military members\n\n$1.5 billion for new construction of barracks and family housing\n\n$50 million in Impact Aid assistance\n\n$147.7 billion for tech innovation, including hypersonics, AI, quantum computing and new space-based capabilities.\n\nProhibits men in women\u2019s sports at all military academies.\n\nRequires all military promotions to be based entirely on merit and demonstrated performance rather than race, ethnicity or sex.\n\nPermanently repeals all existing DEI offices, programs, training, activities and authorities in the Department of Defense.\n\nProvides conservative wins by cutting programs that hamper/don\u2019t increase lethality:\n\n$40.5 million from eliminating DEI activities\n\n$1.6 billion in cuts to climate change-related spending\n\n$6.8 billion from reductions in unnecessary Pentagon bureaucracy\n\n$5.5 billion in cuts to consulting and service contracts\n\nSupports President Trump\u2019s Golden Dome for America initiative by updating our homeland missile defense policy and funding air and missile defense development and testing.\n\nAuthorizes full funding of our modernization of the nuclear triad, which includes the B-21 Raider, and is the foundation of our deterrence.\n\nRequires the Navy to implement a strategy to address cost and schedule problems with our ship and submarine industrial base, to include the use of A.I. to optimize maintenance and supply chains.\n\nRequires the DOD to establish an AI Task Force to develop an A.I. sandbox environment to support A.I. experimentation, training and model development for users of all technical levels.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2B4B7642-50D6-4C07-947F-2F0ED6F03989", "Thune, Smith Introduce Legislation to Support U.S. Honey Producers", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today introduced the Trade Cheating Restitution Act of 2025, legislation that would support American honey producers and producers of other commodities, like crawfish, garlic, and mushrooms, who have been harmed by unfair trade practices, primarily by China. Specifically, the bill would direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to distribute interest realized on certain anti-dumping and countervailing duties since 2000 to qualifying U.S. producers harmed by decades of trade distortions that continue to undercut these domestic industries.\n\nThe legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).\n\n\u201cSouth Dakota is one of the top honey-producing states in the country,\u201d said Thune. \u201cThe unfair practice of circumventing U.S. trade laws, which jeopardizes honey producers\u2019 financial security, should be met with strict enforcement and increased protections. South Dakota honey producers deserve a level playing field. This bipartisan legislation helps ensure fair treatment for affected domestic producers and strengthens their ability to compete globally.\u201d\n\n\u201cMinnesota farmers produce some of the highest quality honey in the world, and they shouldn\u2019t be unfairly harmed because China doesn\u2019t play by the rules and engages in illegal dumping,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI\u2019m proud to lead this bipartisan bill to give Minnesota apiaries the relief they are owed so they can remain competitive and strong for years to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cSouth Dakotan beekeepers are fortunate to have a stalwart champion in Senator Thune, who has never faltered in his support of our industry,\u201d said Kelvin Adee, of Adee Honey Farms, based in Bruce, South Dakota. \u201cThe much-needed funds that will be released to us through the bill he introduces today along with Senator Grassley and Senator Smith will help us compete with illegally traded honey and protect the health of our hives. Thank you, Senator Thune, for your leadership and standing up for us.\u201d\n\n\u201cU.S. beekeepers, as both honey producers and crop pollinators, are a critical component of American food security and the U.S. agriculture economy, supporting workers and communities around the country and right here in Minnesota,\u201d said Ryan Lamb, a beekeeper from Minnesota. \u201cOn behalf of Minnesotan beekeepers, we want to thank Senator Smith for joining Senators Thune and Grassley in introducing the Trade Cheating Restitution Act of 2025 that will once and for all ensure we receive payments to which we are entitled that will help us compete in what has become a very challenging landscape for beekeepers.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerican honey producers were severely harmed by unfairly traded imports,\u201d said Steven Coy, president of the American Honey Producers Association. \u201cThe Trade Cheating Restitution Act of 2025 finally provides producers the funds taken from duties related to interest on unfairly traded imports that they are entitled to in order to help our members reinvest and rebuild. We thank Senators Thune, Grassley, and Smith for introducing this important legislation that will finally get American honey producers what they deserve.\u201d\n\nThe Trade Cheating Restitution Act of 2025 builds on a Thune-Grassley provision that was signed into law in 2015 as part of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act that required CBP to distribute the interest realized on duties collected since 2014.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=9FB9CF90-106C-41E5-B60D-A72C72D35984", "Thune Applauds Passage of Annual Defense Policy Bill, Ellsworth Air Force Base Priorities", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today issued the following statement after the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which includes significant provisions for Ellsworth Air Force Base, the forthcoming B-21 bomber mission, and the South Dakota Army National Guard in Watertown. The legislation also makes the most significant transformation of defense acquisition in decades to restock munitions, ensure warfighters have access to the best technology available, and advance the Golden Dome for America missile defense system to protect the United States. The bill now heads to the president\u2019s desk to be signed into law.\n\n\u201cThis year\u2019s NDAA builds on the historic investments that Republicans delivered in the One Big Beautiful Bill to support our service members and ensure our country has the fighting force necessary to deter our adversaries and promote peace and stability,\u201d said Thune.\n\n\u201cIn addition to authorizing a well-deserved pay raise for our service members, this bill strengthens the important role that South Dakota plays in keeping our nation safe by continuing to prepare Ellsworth Air Force Base for the arrival of the B-21 Raider and authorizing a new facility for the South Dakota Army National Guard in Watertown,\u201d Thune continued. \u201cI\u2019m pleased the Senate gave this important legislation the time and attention it deserves this year, and I\u2019m glad we were able to get it across the finish line.\u201d\n\nThe NDAA includes key priorities that will benefit South Dakota:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F0FCB4E8-8859-46D1-B0D5-CB2C9B746CD7", "Thune: Senate Republicans Break Confirmation Records Amid Historic Obstruction", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, either today or tomorrow, we will confirm another nominations package, bringing the total number of the president\u2019s nominees confirmed this year to more than 400.\n\n\u201cThat number far exceeds total confirmations in the first year of both President Trump\u2019s previous term and President Biden\u2019s.\n\n\u201cSo it\u2019s an impressive number all on its own.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s particularly impressive when you consider the obstacles Democrats have put up.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019m not exaggerating when I say that President Trump\u2019s nominees have faced a historic level of obstruction from Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cWhen you look at this term, President Trump remains the only president on record not to have had a single civilian nomination confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cLet me repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump remains the only president on record not to have had a single civilian nomination confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have required a roll call vote on every single one of the president\u2019s nominations \u2013 an unprecedented level of obstruction in modern times.\n\n\u201cNow, of course Democrats would like you to believe that they\u2019ve engaged in this historic level of obstruction because the president has put up, in the words of the Democrat leader, \u2018historically bad nominees.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe only problem, Mr. President, is that a lot of these nominees have gotten Democrat votes on final passage.\n\n\u201cSo either Democrats are voting for historically bad nominees, or else something else has been going on here.\n\n\u201cSomething else that looks a lot like petty partisanship.\n\n\u201cIt became abundantly clear a while ago that the real reason Democrats have been dragging out nominations for assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is nothing more than petty politics.\n\n\u201cDemocrats cannot deal with the fact that the American people elected President Trump.\n\n\u201cAnd so they\u2019ve engaged in this pointless political obstruction in revenge.\n\n\u201cRepublicans, however, have not been daunted.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve just kept plowing through confirmations, racking up an impressive number of hours in session \u2013 and a historic number of votes \u2013 in the process.\n\n\u201cAnd in September we took steps to restore Senate precedent on largely noncontroversial presidential nominees to ensure that no other president has to face the kind of petty partisanship that President Trump has encountered.\n\n\u201cWhen the American people elect a president, they expect that president to be able to get his or her team in place.\n\n\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that senators should never oppose nominations, but it does mean that nominations should not be held up for purely partisan reasons.\n\n\u201cOr in the words of the Democrat leader just a few short years ago, and I quote: \u2018That doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t disagree. But it does mean when nominees are held up, opposed, or blocked\u2014it\u2019s for a legitimate purpose, not for leverage in partisan games, to score political points at the expense of public safety.\u2019\n\n\u201cDemocrats have engaged in a lot of partisan games this year, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans have just kept doing our jobs.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m proud of just how much we\u2019ve accomplished on nominations.\n\n\u201cAnd I look forward to continuing to get the president\u2019s team in place in the new year.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F7F786BB-5FEE-4E1D-8F44-FECB299CCECA", "Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto listen the interview.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined the Hugh Hewitt show.\n\nOn confirming President Trump\u2019s nominees:\n\n\u201cDemocrats took unprecedented steps to basically blow up the nominations process. President Trump is the first president in history who didn\u2019t have one of his nominees to a position in his administration confirmed either by voice vote or unanimous consent in the Senate, which is a way of taking noncontroversial nominees and being able to move them to get them in their position.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats were so dug-in fighting President Trump that even the most noncontroversial positions in his administration, they forced us to do the long way. So we spent the first six months doing it the long way. And it just got to a point where \u2026 the president is sitting there, he\u2019s got all these vacant positions, [and] he can\u2019t \u2026 run the government because he doesn\u2019t have his people in place. And I think when people vote for a president, that\u2019s what they\u2019re voting for. They want him to be able to assemble his team and get them in place. So we made some tweaks and changes in the rules that enable us to move them now in stacks, and we\u2019ve got a big stack today.\u201d\n\nOn Senate Republicans\u2019 accomplishments:\n\n\u201cThe president\u2019s agenda, for the most part, was all accomplished in that One Big Beautiful Bill. Whether it\u2019s national security or the border, energy, tax policy \u2026 school choice has been a priority for the movement for a long time. Newborn accounts, childcare \u2026 we basically threw the farm bill in the One Big Beautiful Bill too, so.\n\n\u201cIt actually included the biggest spending reduction, literally, in history, and something that if you\u2019re a fiscal conservative like I am, we\u2019re really proud to be able to point to \u2026 It packs so much into one big piece of legislation, and \u2026 getting that across the finish line was a Herculean task.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve processed the president\u2019s noms, and we\u2019ve done 24 \u2026 Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval, which undoes a lot of the Biden damage by repealing a lot of the burdensome Biden regulations, and frees up energy production in this country and a whole range of other things.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had some bipartisan accomplishments too. So it\u2019s been busy \u2026 in terms of volume of votes and time in session, all that too. But [it\u2019s been] very productive \u2026 doing it all in one big \u2026 package \u2026\u201d\n\nOn the Working Families Tax Cuts:\n\n\u201cI always tell people, if you don\u2019t get national security right, the rest is conversation. So we really made up for the Biden years, when they weren\u2019t funding the military. We put money in there to build a wall at the border and to close the border, which the president has effectively and successfully done \u2026 We needed to make sure that we had not only border wall money, but we had personnel for Border Patrol agents, detention facilities, all the things that we needed to do that were backed up \u2026\n\n\u201cAnd then it\u2019s about making the country more prosperous, and I think the tax policy will be really key to that. I would argue that not only extending the policies from 2017, which included lower rates for families and doubling the child tax credit, and near doubling the standard deduction, and there\u2019s a 199A deduction for small businesses in there \u2026 We also did no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reduced taxes, you know, for seniors on Social Security.\n\n\u201cI think the tax policy in and of itself is going to be enormously stimulative to the economy. You look at \u2026 bonus depreciation, interest deductibility \u2026 R&D expensing, those are all things that, on the business side, I think it\u2019s going to lead to growth in the economy and better-paying jobs. So I think that people are going to see a better future as a result of the economic pieces of it.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s a whole \u2026 bunch of other things \u2026 in there \u2026 having to do with \u2026 policies that we think are consistent with a conservative view of how this country ought to be run \u2026 The school choice policies have been something that\u2019ve been a part of our agenda for a long time. You look at these newborn accounts and what a difference that will make in the lives of families and young people who are being born today, to be able to put money aside for their futures. Those are all incentives in this bill that I think are just going to lead to a better quality of life for a lot of the American people.\u201d\n\nOn cutting waste, fraud, and abuse:\n\n\u201cWe did do some of this in the One Big Beautiful Bill \u2026 rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. We did that in the Medicaid program, we put work requirements in \u2026 And then there were states [that] figured out how to game the program and so we clamped down on some of that. We achieved a significant amount of savings there. And then we put in this Rural Hospital Transformation Fund, which if you \u2026 represent rural hospitals like I do, I think the states are going to take full advantage of that in trying to ensure that we\u2019ve got health care that\u2019s accessible to people all across the country, including in rural areas.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=64131D05-E904-4A61-A9C9-90989478B440", "Thune on a Year of Results: Safer Streets, More Money in Americans\u2019 Pockets, New Opportunities", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWe are, as you all know, wrapping up what I think has been an incredibly historic and consequential legislative session.\n\n\u201cAnd if you look at just in terms \u2013 we talk a lot about the number of votes cast, which is historic, largest number going back to 1976, and then also just the number of days we\u2019ve been in \u2013 all those things add up.\n\n\u201cBut I would argue that it\u2019s not just that, because I think volume doesn\u2019t necessarily equate with productivity.\n\n\u201cBut I think we\u2019ve had an incredibly productive session of this Congress as well, in terms of the things that we\u2019ve accomplished to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.\n\n\u201cOf course, as you all know, the One Big Beautiful Bill had a number of things in it on the tax side, things that [the] American people are going to benefit from, whether it\u2019s no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reduced taxes for seniors on Social Security.\n\n\u201cWhether it deals with the taxes on the expanded child tax credit, standard deduction, making permanent the rate structure on the business side, all the business tax provisions that are going to incentivize investment in this country and create those good-paying jobs that keep our economy growing and expanding.\n\n\u201cSo, we\u2019re very pleased with things that were accomplished as a result of that, and I would also say when it comes to keeping the country safer.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t had, in this last year, a single illegal immigrant admitted into the country, and we made a big investment in the border wall, fully funding the border wall.\n\n\u201cWe made a big investment in national security at a time when we live in a very dangerous world.\n\n\u201cEnergy independence was a priority, as you know, in the One Big Beautiful Bill.\n\n\u201cAnd obviously newborn accounts, you can go right down the list of what I think are very consequential accomplishments and things that are going to benefit the American people for years and years to come.\n\n\u201cSo, we are very pleased about how things have gone.\n\n\u201cYou add on top of that, we\u2019re going to have over 400 nominees confirmed by the end of the year, which is way ahead of the previous two administrations.\n\n\u201cAnd if you look at the number of Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval, repealing burdensome \u2026 Biden regulations.\n\n\u201cWe have, I think now, passed 24 of those and 22 have been signed into law.\n\n\u201cSo a lot accomplished, but we aren\u2019t going to rest on our laurels around here, we\u2019re going to keep our foot on the gas.\n\n\u201cAnd as we think about next year already, we\u2019re working to put together an agenda that we think will continue to build on the success of this last year, but also set us up for success in 2026 and make sure \u2026 that we are doing everything we can to deliver on our promise to make this country safer, stronger, and more prosperous.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s all about safer streets; it\u2019s all about more money in your pocket, the pockets of the American people; and it\u2019s all about new opportunities for the American people to get ahead.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7DD27A96-86ED-4CEB-A60B-4C34C368CBCE", "Thune: NDAA Prioritizes Readiness, Deterrence, and Safety", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click hereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, this week the Senate will be taking up the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026.\n\n\u201cFor the 65th consecutive year, the NDAA is the product of a bipartisan process in both chambers.\n\n\u201cThis bill reflects the input, expertise, and tireless efforts of many of our colleagues.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m especially grateful for the work of our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee and for the leadership of Chairman Wicker on this year\u2019s bill.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this annual defense bill is critical to ensuring the United States military is prepared for any threat that we face.\n\n\u201cAnd not just the threats that may come in the next year.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about putting us on a path that will ensure our military can deter \u2013 and if necessary, defeat \u2013 any threat that may arise in the future.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, this long view has not always prevailed, and we continue to see the consequences of underinvestment in our military.\n\n\u201cIn the last few years, we\u2019ve had repeated reminders that the world remains a dangerous place.\n\n\u201cThat there are evil people in the world bent on aggression.\n\n\u201cAnd that there are those who wish Americans and our allies harm.\n\n\u201cSadly, that was clear this weekend.\n\n\u201cAnd my prayers today are with the families of the three Americans \u2013 two soldiers and an interpreter \u2013 who were killed in Syria on Saturday in an apparent ISIS attack.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the surest way of securing peace and keeping it is through strength.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s a long-held tenet of American national security.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s a view that the American people widely share.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have made it a priority to restore peace through strength.\n\n\u201cAnd we know we have no time to waste.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s why we made a generational investment in our armed forces in the One Big Beautiful Bill this summer.\n\n\u201cAnd the NDAA before us this week builds upon that important work.\n\n\u201cIt aims to grow our Navy fleet to deliver more ships capable of deploying American power anywhere in the world \u2013 and help narrow the gap between China\u2019s shipbuilding and our own.\n\n\u201cIt supports the construction of the Golden Dome missile defense system to keep our country safe from missile, drone, or other airborne attacks.\n\n\u201cIt proposes to ramp up munitions production, to ensure that we have sufficient munitions for whatever may come our way \u2013 with the added benefit of helping to revitalize the industrial base and support industries in South Dakota and across the country.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s our air power.\n\n\u201cThe National Defense Authorization Act supports delivery of next-generation aircraft.\n\n\u201cThat includes the B-21 Raider, the sixth-generation stealth bomber that will soon be making its home at South Dakota\u2019s Ellsworth Air Force Base.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m proud that this bill fully authorizes the B-21 program and procurement of these aircraft, which will be the backbone of our future bomber force \u2013 as well as the military construction efforts underway at Ellsworth to support the new mission.\n\n\u201cMr. President, investing in weapons and technology is important, but strengthening our military also means supporting the men and women who wear the uniform.\n\n\u201cAnd this bill has their back.\n\n\u201cFor one, it authorizes the first increase in active-duty end strength in several years.\n\n\u201cAnd it will help ensure that we can sustain the record recruitment levels that we\u2019ve seen this year.\n\n\u201cIt also supports critical investments in service-member quality of life.\n\n\u201cThat includes a 3.8 percent pay raise for our troops.\n\n\u201cAnd it includes investments in on-base housing, education opportunities, child care, and other support for military members and their families.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this bill will help rebuild our military.\n\n\u201cBut what makes this year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act exceptional is not how it rebuilds, but how it reforms.\n\n\u201cThanks to Chairman Wicker\u2019s leadership, this NDAA will make the most significant reforms to the way the Pentagon does business in a generation.\n\n\u201cIt takes dozens of burdensome rules and laws off the books.\n\n\u201cStreamlines the buying and innovation processes.\n\n\u201cAnd ensures more American businesses will be able to contribute to America\u2019s arsenal, including small businesses and start-ups.\n\n\u201cThis bill will harness the full strength of American innovation to get America\u2019s men and women in uniform the very best capabilities that our country has to offer.\n\n\u201cAnd not just get it to them, but get it to them faster and at a lower cost to the taxpayer.\n\n\u201cMr. President, these reforms will make our military stronger, more agile, and more ready for whatever the mission may be.\n\n\u201cAnd that needs to be our mission here \u2013 to do whatever it takes to support American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians.\n\n\u201cWe ask a lot of the brave Americans serving in uniform.\n\n\u201cAnd they give a lot.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m proud that this year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act will help ensure that they have what they need to keep America safe in a dangerous world.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/us-house-passes-johnsons-bill-strengthen-supply-chains-and-counter-china", "U.S. House Passes Johnson\u2019s Bill to Strengthen Supply Chains and Counter China", "2025-12-15", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the U.S. House unanimously passed the Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act of 2025, led by U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and John Garamendi (D-CA). Johnson introduced this legislation in June to reauthorize the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the independent federal agency responsible for regulating the U.S. international ocean transportation system. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passedthe bill in September.\n\nThe Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act strengthens the FMC\u2019s authority to crack down on China\u2019s shipping malpractice and includes Johnson\u2019s provisions to reform ocean shipping, ensuring American imports and exports compete on a level playing field in the global market.\n\nClick here for Johnson\u2019s remarks.\n\n\u201cOcean shipping is the backbone of international trade, allowing American products to be sold in other countries while giving American businesses and consumers access to goods we don\u2019t make. Even in America\u2019s heartland, ocean shipping is an integral part of our economy,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cMy bill will ensure the FMC can continue doing its job to protect American businesses, producers, and consumers from China\u2019s abuse of America\u2019s ocean shipping laws. Passing the House today is a big step in the right direction and I hope the Senate passes it soon.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s economy relies on a resilient maritime supply chain. That\u2019s why I\u2019m proud that Congress has passed the bipartisan Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act,\u201dsaid Garamendi. \u201cThis legislation builds on my Ocean Shipping Reform Act to deliver critical investments through 2027, strengthen the Commission\u2019s independence, and ensure U.S. businesses will compete on a fair and level playing field. I\u2019m grateful to Reps. Johnson, Ezell, and Carbajal for their partnership on this critical work.\u201d\n\nThe Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act of 2025 is:\n\nTough on China\n\nEstablishes a formal process to report complaints against shipping exchanges, like the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, to the FMC for investigation.\n\nDirects the FMC to report on anticompetitive business practices or nonreciprocal trade practices.\n\nCodifies the definition of \u201ccontrolled carrier\u201d under the Shipping Act to encompass state-controlled enterprises in non-market economies like the People\u2019s Republic of China.\n\nGood Government\n\nUpdates and improves the purposes of the Shipping Act to better reflect current federal policy governing international ocean shipping.\n\nProhibits the FMC from requiring ocean carriers to report information already reported to other federal agencies.\n\nSustains the FMC Mission\n\nReauthorizes the FMC through fiscal year 2027.\n\nExpands FMC Advisory Committees, ensuring non-government stakeholders have the opportunity to provide their insight and expertise to the Commission.\n\nReinforces the FMC\u2019s independent nature by requiring a majority vote of the Commission to disclose FMC investigation efforts to outside parties.\n\nThe Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act of 2025 is cosponsored by Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee leadership, Chairman Mike Ezell (R-MS), and Ranking Member Salud O. Carbajal (D-CA).", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C5DBA023-7A8C-4166-8E75-534E5A16EFFC", "Thune: Republicans Are Delivering for South Dakota", "2025-12-15", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s been a busy year here in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cThe new Republican majority has been working hard to deliver on our promises to the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd while there is still more to accomplish, we\u2019ve gotten a lot done in just one year.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re putting more money in Americans\u2019 pockets.\n\n\u201cSupporting farmers, ranchers, and small businesses, and helping them grow.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re making America safer and stronger.\n\n\u201cInvesting in law and order here at home and a strong military to safeguard our national security.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re creating a brighter future with new opportunities for Americans wherever they live and whatever their American Dream may be.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I want to take some time today to talk about how Republicans\u2019 agenda is at work in my home state of South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd I want to begin with the tax relief Republicans have delivered.\n\n\u201cWhether I\u2019m visiting a small business in Isabel, South Dakota, or talking to farmers at Dakotafest, higher prices are a concern for South Dakotans, as they are for many Americans.\n\n\u201cAnd affordability begins with more money in your pocket, which is exactly what Republicans have delivered with the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if Congress failed to act this year, a typical family in South Dakota would have had less money in their budget.\n\n\u201cThey would have been looking at a $2,500 tax hike next year.\n\n\u201cA typical farm would have seen a $5,000 tax hike.\n\n\u201cAnd tens of thousands of small businesses would have seen their taxes go up as well.\n\n\u201cRepublicans were determined not to let that happen.\n\n\u201cAnd thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, which we passed in July as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, South Dakotans won\u2019t see a tax hike next year.\n\n\u201cInstead they\u2019ll start seeing tax relief in the new year when the new tax law takes effect.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll be able to take advantage of a larger child tax credit, a bigger standard deduction, and a bonus deduction for seniors this tax season.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll see larger tax refunds come April.\n\n\u201cAnd they can expect that to be the new normal \u2013 because the Working Families Tax Cuts deliver permanent, Mr. President \u2013 permanent \u2013 tax relief.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cNo tax hike next year. No tax hike ever.\n\n\u201cAnd working families aren\u2019t the only ones who will be benefiting from tax permanence.\n\n\u201cThanks to Republicans\u2019 tax cuts, farmers, ranchers, and small business owners can also look forward to having more breathing room in their budgets next year.\n\n\u201cThey will benefit from permanently lower tax rates.\n\n\u201cThe 199A deduction \u2013 now also made permanent.\n\n\u201cThe full expensing provision, also now permanent, which makes it easier to replace a piece of equipment and upgrade your operations.\n\n\u201cAnd the now-permanent research and development expensing provision, which is already helping South Dakota businesses innovate.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the death tax relief.\n\n\u201cMr. President, South Dakotans have long believed that the death tax is fundamentally flawed.\n\n\u201cIt threatens too many family farms and ranches and family businesses.\n\n\u201cRepublicans agree.\n\n\u201cAnd so in the Working Families Tax Cuts, Republicans permanently raised the death tax exemption threshold and protected a lot more family farms, ranches, and businesses from this unfair tax.\n\n\u201cMr. President, South Dakota\u2019s farmers and ranchers are always at the top of my priority list.\n\n\u201cAnd these hardworking South Dakotans are seeing more than just tax relief.\n\n\u201cThe One Big Beautiful Bill also made significant updates to the farm safety net to support farmers and ranchers through the economic headwinds that they continue to face.\n\n\u201cOur bill increases reference prices for every covered commodity and makes these prices more responsive to market conditions in the coming years.\n\n\u201cIt increases crop insurance coverage and affordability.\n\n\u201cIt supports livestock producers by making existing programs more responsive to drought and by funding prevention of animal diseases that can devastate livestock.\n\n\u201cAnd it invests in critical conservation programs, including programs that support South Dakota\u2019s wild bird populations \u2013 something that matters a lot this time of year as hunters flock to our state for pheasant season.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans also made the agriculture appropriations bill a priority.\n\n\u201cThis year\u2019s bill, which was signed into law in November, supports agricultural research programs and facilitates marketing U.S. ag products both domestically and internationally.\n\n\u201cAnd it also provides robust funding for the Farm Service Agency, which producers depend on to access the programs that keep their operations running smoothly.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019re not just strengthening farms and ranches; we\u2019re also working to support rural communities in South Dakota and across the country.\n\n\u201cThe needs of rural areas look a little different from other places\u2019 needs.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019ve received due attention from the new Republican majority this year.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we prioritized the ag appropriations bill, which delivered significant funding for rural broadband.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve worked with the Trump administration to deliver internet access to unserved areas.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s health care.\n\n\u201cMr. President, folks whose home [is] in a rural area know simply accessing a doctor or emergency room can be challenging.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s all the more true with the troubling trend of rural hospital closures over the last several years.\n\n\u201cAnd with the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans have taken action to support rural hospitals.\n\n\u201cAll 50 states have now applied for funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill\u2019s Rural Health Transformation Program, including South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd South Dakota intends to address some key priorities with this funding.\n\n\u201cThe state is looking to recruit health care professionals to rural areas and to train professionals for rural needs.\n\n\u201cIncentivize regional hubs for emergency services and maternal health.\n\n\u201cAnd bolster health care facilities that serve rural parts of our state.\n\n\u201cThis fund will truly be transformative for health care providers in South Dakota, and in other rural areas across the country.\n\n\u201cWe also used the One Big Beautiful Bill to repeal a burdensome staffing regulation that would have threatened the viability of a number of South Dakota nursing homes.\n\n\u201cThe Biden staffing mandate for nursing homes was unworkable in my state \u2013 and in many others.\n\n\u201cAnd the One Big Beautiful Bill rescinded it, ensuring South Dakota nursing homes can continue serving our residents.\n\n\u201cMr. President, there\u2019s a lot more I could talk about that we\u2019ve accomplished for South Dakota this year.\n\n\u201cThere are the investments in Ellsworth Air Force Base \u2013 including full funding for the B-21 mission and supporting infrastructure.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s the support for local law enforcement in the One Big Beautiful Bill, and new border security resources to help stop illegal immigration and the flow of drugs across our southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd Ron Parsons is confirmed and back on the job as South Dakota\u2019s U.S. attorney.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve repealed electric vehicle mandates that were simply not realistic for a state like ours, where long distances and cold weather are a fact of life.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s WOTUS rule has been repealed as well, saving farmers and ranchers from massive compliance costs.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re even doing our part, Mr. President, to keep the pheasant population in our state strong.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I come here every day to work for South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve done a lot this year that South Dakotans can be happy about.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not just my state, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cRepublicans\u2019 agenda is supporting Americans in all 50 states.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re working to make America safer and more secure.\n\n\u201cPut more money in Americans\u2019 pockets.\n\n\u201cAnd create new opportunities for a brighter future.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, we\u2019re keeping our foot on the gas.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-wounded-knee-memorial-bill-passes-us-senate", "Johnson\u2019s Wounded Knee Memorial Bill Passes U.S. Senate", "2025-12-12", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), passed the United States Senate by unanimous consent. The bill now heads to the president\u2019s desk.\n\n\u201cNearly 135 years after hundreds of lives were lost in the Wounded Knee Massacre, the time is now here to properly memorialize the lost and preserve the land,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI look forward to seeing the president sign this into law to ensure the land remains sacred for generations to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe thank the Senators Thune and Rounds and Congressman Dusty Johnson for their leadership and support in helping us protect our sacred site through the passage of the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act,\u201d said Ryman LeBeau, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. \u201cThe U.S. Cavalry shot at and murdered more than 350 unarmed Lakota babies, girls, boys, women, men, and elders at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The U.S. Cavalry stopped our people out on the high plains as they were seeking peace, surrounded them with guns and cannons, disarmed them, opened fire, and murdered them. Today, we stand to acknowledge the atrocities committed against the Lakota people to continue to heal, to protect, to educate, and most importantly, to ensure that we never forget the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn behalf of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, I am pleased that today the Senate passed the Wounded Knee Massacre site bill, a bill that passed the House earlier this year,\u201d said Frank Star Comes Out, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe. \u201cIt is now poised to become an Act of Congress: an important Act that will preserve the memory of the Wounded Knee Massacre and the legacy and sacrifice of our ancestors. Significantly, it also promotes tribal self-determination and allows us to protect our Wounded Knee site in perpetuity. We thank Representative Dusty Johnson as well as Senator Rounds and Majority Leader Thune for getting this bill through both chambers of Congress. It is fitting that this action comes as we prepare to commemorate the 135th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29th.\u201d\n\nAfter months of working in coordination with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Johnson introduced the legislation last Congress, which passed the House unanimously but was not voted on by the U.S. Senate. Johnson reintroduced the bill in January 2025 and it passed the House later that month.\n\nThe identical Senate companion bill is led by U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).\n\nWounded Knee Massacre Background:\n\nIn the late 1880s, a movement called the Ghost Dance swept across the nation. Indians believed that this dance would give stolen land back to the Indians, bringing about a renewal of Native society. Indians would join together, wearing shirts they believed would protect them from bullets, to dance for this renewal, all at the protest of the federal government.\n\nOn December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians led by Chief Spotted Elk had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, U.S. Army 7th Calvary troops were sent to disarm the Lakota. A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted Elk\u2019s band \u2013 a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group, massacring an estimated up to 350-375 Lakota Indians. Twenty-five U.S. soldiers also died.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-south-dakota-womens-sports-tough-china-priorities-included-annual", "Johnson\u2019s South Dakota, Women\u2019s Sports, Tough on China Priorities Included in Annual Defense Bill", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "December 11, 2025\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the House passed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which included several of U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson\u2019s (R-S.D.) priorities. The bill includes provisions to strengthen deterrence against China, prohibit men from competing in women\u2019s sports at military academies, and robust funding for B-21 aircraft procurement. Johnson voted to pass the legislation.\n\n\u201cThis defense package ensures America\u2019s military remains the strongest in the world. It keeps our military men and women focused on military readiness and ensuring peace through strength,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for its investment in South Dakota and the B-21, which will be an incredible addition to our fighting force.\u201d\n\nJohnson priorities included in the 2026 NDAA:\n\nProvides $3.45 billion for B-21 aircraft procurement.\n\nProvides $378 million for military construction for Ellsworth Air Force Base.\n\nProvides $28 million for the Watertown Complex\u2019s National Guard Vehicle Maintenance Shop.\n\nJohnson\u2019s bill to prohibit biological men from competing in women\u2019s sports at military service academies.\n\nJohnson\u2019s provision to strengthen deterrence against China by supporting defense industrial cooperation with U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.\n\nAuthorizes $50 million in Impact Aid assistance.\n\nRaises servicemember pay by 3.8% and improves benefits for military families.\n\nFights drug trafficking.\n\nEnds $40.5 million of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the Department of Defense (DoD).\n\nProhibits funding for the teaching, training, or promotion of Critical Race Theory in the military, including at service academies and DoD schools.\n\nCuts more than $1 billion of Green New Deal programs at the DoD.\n\nProvides nearly $20 billion in savings.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-bill-to-preserve-wounded-knee-massacre-grounds-unanimously-passes-senate", "Rounds\u2019 Bill to Preserve Wounded Knee Massacre Grounds Unanimously Passes Senate", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, today issued a statement following unanimous Senate passage of his legislation, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act. The bill passed the House in January 2025 and now heads to President Trump\u2019s desk to be signed into law.\n\nRounds\u2019 bill would place 40 acres of land at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre into restricted fee status, making certain that the land is held by both the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes for generations to come.\n\n\u201cI am pleased that the Senate has passed the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working to pass this legislation for almost three years. Our persistence has paid off. The Wounded Knee Massacre represents a devastating low point in U.S.-Lakota relations. The land at this symbolic and sacred site will now be held in possession of both the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes to be preserved for future generations. We will continue to tell the story of this dark day in our nation\u2019s history.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nRounds first introduced the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act in June 2023. Ryman LeBeau, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Frank Star Comes Out, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, testified on the legislation in a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing. The committee later unanimously passed legislation, but was blocked from passing the full Senate.\n\nRounds later reintroduced the bill to the 119th Congress in January 2025. The Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in March 2025. This legislation is cosponsored by Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced companion legislation in the House.\n\nClick HERE to read full bill text.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-nominates-krause-family-of-brandt-for-angels-in-adoption-award", "Rounds Nominates Krause Family of Brandt for Angels in Adoption Award", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today announced that he has nominated Riley and Emily Krause of Brandt for the 2025 Angels in Adoption award, presented by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCAI).\n\nThe Krauses live on a farm near Brandt, with Riley running the farm and Emily working as an elementary school teacher. The Krauses fostered eight children before receiving a call on November 4, 2020, asking them to take in a baby girl who had just been born with hip dysplasia and was very premature, in Huron.\n\nLivia Catherine was officially adopted into the Krause family at just over one year old. She is now a happy, healthy five-year-old. Livia\u2019s hip dysplasia has healed completely and she is now keeping up with her peers. Emily and Riley continue to foster children and are currently working toward their second adoption.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased to nominate Riley and Emily for this year\u2019s Angels in Adoption Award,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cFoster parents and adoptive parents are a gift from God. The Krause family has opened their home to fourteen foster children, with some staying for a few days and others for months. Emily and Riley have welcomed all of these children with open arms, showing them love and care when they need it most.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are so grateful to have been nominated for this award in South Dakota,\u201d said the Krause family. \u201cWe are incredibly glad we carried out God's plan to place Livy in her forever home and eagerly await an opportunity to add more children.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nRounds is a member of the CCAI. Each year, members of Congress are invited to nominate an outstanding family or organization from their state to receive an Angels in Adoption award. CCAI is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe and loving homes through adoption. For more information, visit CCAI\u2019s website.\n\nRounds\u2019 office is currently accepting applications for the 2026 Angels in Adoption Award. For more information, please visit rounds.senate.gov/adoption.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=119DF495-7856-4A9D-9FFB-B36DDE4A408D", "Thune: Democrats\u2019 Messaging Bill Won\u2019t Fix Skyrocketing Health Care Costs", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, later today we will vote on the Democrats\u2019 partisan messaging bill \u2013 which is a clean, three-year extension of the Biden COVID bonuses.\n\n\u201cAnd when I say \u2018clean,\u2019 all I mean by that is no reforms. Straight-up extension.\n\n\u201cThree years of a program without any reforms, any revisions, any changes that would actually help drive down health care costs instead of increasing health care costs and get rid of the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in this program.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats\u2019 \u2018plan,\u2019 that the Democrat leader called it on the floor the other day, it\u2019s their \u2018plan.\u2019\n\n\u201cApparently they think that a three-year extension with no reforms, to try and disguise the real impact of Obamacare\u2019s spiraling costs, is actually a \u2018plan.\u2019\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how you can call it a plan.\n\n\u201cI came down here yesterday, Mr. President, to talk at length about some of the many problems with Obamacare and the perverse incentives it provides to move employees off of employer-provided insurance and into taxpayer-subsidized plans that have rampant year-over-year increases in premiums.\n\n\u201cThe perverse incentives that it provides to insurance companies to enroll Americans \u2013 some of whom don\u2019t even know that they\u2019ve been enrolled \u2013 so that the insurance companies can rake in even more subsidies.\n\n\u201cAnd then, this so-called plan is rampant \u2013 and I say rampant \u2013 with fraud and abuse.\n\n\u201cMr. President, a Government Accountability Office report released just last week found a whole host of problems, including the successful enrollment of fake individuals, Social Security number fraud, failure to verify or sometimes even request documentation, improper payment of subsidies, and the list goes on.\n\n\u201cAnd I want you to just take a look at this.\n\n\u201cThis is the finding that came out of that study that was done by the Government Accountability Office, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd here was the conclusion: Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90 percent of fake accounts set up by a government watchdog.\n\n\u201c90 percent.\n\n\u201cNot 10 percent. Not 5 percent.\n\n\u201cI mean, if you had a program that had 10 percent fraud in it, I think that would be a huge red flag, right?\n\n\u201cWouldn\u2019t you be alarmed by that?\n\n\u201cI think most people would.\n\n\u201cI think most people would go, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s a huge number. We need to do something to fix that.\u2019\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThink about that. My aching back, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t make this stuff up.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse on a yearly basis.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t want to do anything about it.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, that\u2019s obviously a huge problem, but I haven\u2019t even gotten to the central problem, and that is that Obamacare has utterly failed to control health care costs.\n\n\u201cSince 2013, Obamacare enrollees have seen a 221 percent increase in premiums.\n\n\u201cNow, let me just repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cSince 2013, Obamacare enrollees have seen a 221 percent increase in premiums.\n\n\u201c221 percent.\n\n\u201cThat means Obamacare premiums have grown at approximately five times the rate of inflation.\n\n\u201cSo, so much for making health care more affordable.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, this graph, I think, illustrates that.\n\n\u201cAnd actually this understates the problem, because this shows since 2014, in the first year of its inception, when the Obama exchanges went live, there was a huge increase that the insurance companies built in in their premium cost to cover all the things that they had to cover in the new program.\n\n\u201cSo since 2013, that number is 221 percent, but even since 2014 when the exchanges were fully up and operating, it\u2019s had 129 percent increase in premiums at the same time that the group market \u2013 in other words, the large and small group market, where a lot of people get their insurance coverage through their employer \u2013 was going up at about half that rate.\n\n\u201c68 percent in the small and large group market, which is where about 150 million people get their insurance.\n\n\u201cAnd frankly, the more people we could push into that market, it will not only lower their costs, but it also spreads the risk among a bigger pool, and that ultimately is the way in the long term you want to spread your costs.\n\n\u201cBut what Obamacare does, because it uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize and pay insurance companies directly, premiums go directly to insurance companies, so insurance companies are making bank. They\u2019re getting rich by this.\n\n\u201cBut what it does at the same time is there\u2019s no incentive to control costs, and it\u2019s pushing people into that market.\n\n\u201cBecause if you\u2019re an employer \u2013 or an employee, for that matter, because most people respond to incentives \u2013 and you are told that you can get into a market where the taxpayers are going to cover it, the employer is going to say, \u2018Well, why should I continue to pay for the health insurance coverage for my employees if I can have the taxpayers pay for it?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd so it\u2019s pushing more and more people out of the group market, this market right here, where there\u2019s a 68 percent increase, still way too much, over the last decade.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re pushing more and more people out of that market, into this market, which is double the rate of increase in premiums \u2013 and that doesn\u2019t include, as I said, the first year in its inception.\n\n\u201cIf you \u2026 add that first year back in there, that number is 221 percent.\n\n\u201cSo you\u2019ve got this system that is pushing more and more people into insurance coverage where the rates are skyrocketing, where the payments are going directly to the insurance companies, and where lower-income taxpayers are subsidizing higher-income taxpayers because there are no income limits.\n\n\u201cSo now you can have people making $500,000, $600,000 a year are getting subsidized by the federal taxpayer, people making $40,000 or $50,000 a year, at a cost to the federal taxpayer, in their bill alone, which is just a three-year extension, of $83 billion.\n\n\u201cYou tell me in what universe that makes sense.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s astonishing.\n\n\u201cTo have a program where 90 percent of the people who were fraudulently enrolled got approved, a program where the rate of increase is twice the rate in the group market and three times the rate of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, over the same time period.\n\n\u201cAnd the insurance companies are getting rich.\n\n\u201cLower-income taxpayers are footing the bill so more affluent Americans can have coverage.\n\n\u201cAnd the American taxpayer is paying $83 billion just for the three-year extension.\n\n\u201cWaste, fraud, and abuse, higher rates, fiscally irresponsible, and the list goes on.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, even Democrats have to be well aware of the fact that Obamacare has utterly failed to do what it promised.\n\n\u201cAs I mentioned yesterday, we had one Democrat senator come down to the floor during the shutdown, and, to his credit, he admitted the truth, and this is what he said.\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a direct quote.\n\n\u201c\u2018We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo what are Democrats proposing to do about that failure?\n\n\u201cAs I said, exactly nothing!\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 so-called \u2018plan\u2019 is a three-year extension of the status quo.\n\n\u201cNo reforms. No revisions. No rethinking of the way that Obamacare works.\n\n\u201cJust a three-year extension of the status quo \u2013 which, I might add, was put in place in response to the pandemic!\n\n\u201cWhen they extended these subsidies back in 2022 \u2013 it was in August \u2013 the pandemic was long over, long over.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t, as I said, you can\u2019t make this stuff up.\n\n\u201cSo, [Democrats\u2019 bill is] not going to do anything to address the perverse incentives that push Americans out of the employer-sponsored health care system and onto taxpayer-subsidized plans.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not going to do anything to address the perverse incentives that encourage insurance companies to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense.\n\n\u201cIt will do nothing to address the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in Obamacare.\n\n\u201cAnd most of all, Mr. President, it will do nothing to bring down health care costs.\n\n\u201cNothing.\n\n\u201cZero.\n\n\u201cNow, under Democrats\u2019 plan, insurance premiums will continue to spiral, American taxpayers will find themselves on the hook for ever-increasing subsidy payments \u2013 and don\u2019t think that all those payments are going to be going to vulnerable Americans.\n\n\u201cAs I said, the Democrats\u2019 decision to remove any income cap on the Biden COVID bonuses has Americans making as much as half a million dollars, or more, qualifying for taxpayer subsidies.\n\n\u201cHalf a million dollars.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats really think middle-class families should be subsidizing health care premiums for those making half a million dollars?\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats don\u2019t have a health care plan.\n\n\u201cThey want to extend the status quo \u2013 a failed, flawed fraud program that is increasing costs at three times the rate of inflation.\n\n\u201cNow, on the other hand, Mr. President, Republicans today will offer something that does \u2013 does \u2013 actually lower costs.\n\n\u201cEarlier this week we introduced legislation \u2013 drafted by the chairmen of the relevant committees, Senators Crapo and Cassidy \u2013 to make structural reforms to the individual health insurance market.\n\n\u201cIn contrast to the Democrat bill, our bill would actually lower, as I said, Obamacare premium costs.\n\n\u201cAnd it would redirect government savings from the bill into health savings accounts for eligible Obamacare enrollees earning less than 700 percent of the federal poverty level, paired with some affordable insurance plans.\n\n\u201cThese accounts would help individuals to meet their out-of-pocket costs, and \u2013 for many individuals who don\u2019t use their insurance, or who barely use it \u2013 it would allow them to save for health care expenses down the road.\n\n\u201cSo we have two paths here, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cOne, a plan to start addressing the spiraling health care costs in Obamacare and make structural reforms that would drive down premium prices.\n\n\u201cAnd two, a proposal for a three-year extension of the status quo.\n\n\u201cSo you tell me who\u2019s serious about actually addressing the affordability of health care.\n\n\u201cDemocrats may talk about helping Americans.\n\n\u201cBut their bill is nothing more than a political messaging exercise that they hope they can use against Republicans next November.\n\n\u201cAnd so I hope that after today, they\u2019ll feel like they\u2019ve checked the messaging box and will get serious about actually doing something about the spiraling health care costs under Obamacare.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are ready to get to work, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure yet that Democrats are interested.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=19B67675-5E46-4B83-804B-607BCCB599C8", "Thune Joins Hannity, America\u2019s Newsroom", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch Hannity andhere to watch America\u2019s Newsroom.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Hannity and America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 health care crisis:\n\n\u201cPeople [who] make $500,000, $600,000 a year are having their health insurance subsidized by people who are making $40,000 or $50,000 a year \u2013 that\u2019s what the Democrat proposal does. And there are zero-dollar premiums; a lot of people have no idea they\u2019re even covered, so the insurance companies auto-enroll them because they\u2019re incentivized to do that. And so the costs keep going up, insurance premiums keep going up in the individual marketplace on the Obama exchanges \u2013 that\u2019s got to stop.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThere are lots of flaws in Obamacare, but all the promises, none of them came to fruition. It was all a big lie, and I think the American people are onto it \u2026 [Democrats] made these promises [that] it was going to drive health care costs down \u2026 In the exchanges, from the inception of Obamacare to today, 221 percent increase in premiums. The CPI over that same time period was about 39 percent and in the individual market it was about \u2026 68 percent \u2026 It\u2019s a failure.\u201d\n\nOn Republicans\u2019 plan to lower health care costs:\n\n\u201c[Republicans] are for putting more money in the pockets of the American people so they can make their decisions about their health care coverage, instead of giving it to the insurance companies paid for by the taxpayers with no income limits.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWhat [Republicans are] going to do today, Dana, is put a proposal on the floor that the Congressional Budget Office actually has determined reduces, by double digits, insurance premiums. That\u2019s what this ought to be about. If it\u2019s really about affordability, let\u2019s focus on affordability and driving down insurance premiums. What the Democrats are doing is continuing to drive them up and giving the money to the insurance companies.\u201d\n\nOn confirming President Trump\u2019s nominees at a record pace:\n\n\u201c[T]his is something that applies just to district court judges and U.S. attorneys, and it allows individuals, the senators from those states, to be able to sign off on the people who are nominated to those positions. That doesn\u2019t apply to circuit court judges, obviously doesn\u2019t apply to Supreme Court judges, and we have moved his nominees through the process at a record rate.\n\n\u201cWe will, by the end of this year, have a record number of [President Trump\u2019s] nominees approved to the executive branch. Got his cabinet confirmed at the fastest rate possible. We\u2019ll continue to work on the judiciary, Dana, but this is a procedure that\u2019s been in place for a long time, that both Republicans and Democrats support, because it gives them some input, and particularly in those judges, the judicial appointments that are made in their individual states, some input into that decision-making process.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-requests-investigation-into-postal-service-issues-in-south-dakota", "Rounds Requests Investigation into Postal Service Issues in South Dakota", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) has formally requested an investigation into the persistent issues with United States Postal Service (USPS) delivery in South Dakota. In a letter to Tammy Hull, Inspector General of USPS, Rounds asked for Hull to determine the root cause of mail issues impacting South Dakota, as well as consider the need for a regional processing facility in South Dakota.\n\nIn September, Rounds sent a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner urging him to restore reliable mail service and requesting a meeting. Rounds and Steiner met in October. Steiner followed up on the meeting with a letter dismissing the issues raised by Rounds, claiming that the mail delays were caused by issues at processing facilities in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City despite none of these facilities handling South Dakota\u2019s intrastate mail.\n\n\u201cIn recent months, I have heard from hundreds of constituents across South Dakota voicing substantial issues with USPS service in my state,\u201d wrote Rounds. \u201cI believe these issues are caused by the flawed design of the USPS network, which all but guarantees that mail traveling across or to South Dakota must travel in a circuitous manner through locations around and outside of the state.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe people of South Dakota depend on the Postal Service for critical communication, medicine and care,\u201d continued Rounds. \u201cI request that you act swiftly to identify and resolve the causes of these failures and help return South Dakota\u2019s mail service to the standards Americans deserve.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nRounds has been a leader on USPS issues in South Dakota, leading the push to keep local processing facilities in South Dakota. In April 2024, Rounds sent a letter to USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy urging USPS to avoid downsizing or significantly reorganizing mail processing operations in South Dakota. As a result, in February 2025, USPS committed to keeping the Dakota Central processing facility in Huron open, as well as investing $3 million in improvements to the facility. Rounds also secured a commitment from former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to keep mail that originates within South Dakota from leaving the state for processing.\n\nIn addition, Rounds first introduced the Postal Processing Protection Act in June 2024, legislation that would require USPS to consider consequences for rural areas during their closure or downsizing review process in order to protect rural mail processing facilities. Rounds recently reintroduced this legislation in the 119th Congress.\n\nEarlier this year, Rounds introduced the Deliver for Democracy Act, which would protect rural newspapers and consumers from unjustified price hikes by making certain the Postal Service is held to a standard for on-time deliveries. Rounds is also the Senate lead on the Instituting Notification Formalities on Reorganizing Mail (INFORM) Act of 2025, legislation to require the USPS to post a physical notice within impacted storefronts explaining any proposed changes in service.\n\nRead the full text of the letter HERE or below.\n\n+++\n\nDear Inspector General Hull:\n\nIn recent months, I have heard from hundreds of constituents across South Dakota voicing substantial issues with United States Postal Service (USPS) service in my state.\n\nThis includes intrastate mail, package and periodicals as well poorer service compared to the district average on all classes of inbound and outbound mail. I believe these issues are caused by the flawed design of the USPS network, which all but guarantees that mail traveling across or to South Dakota must travel in a circuitous manner through locations around and outside of the state. As a result, mail delivered in South Dakota is arriving outside of acceptable service standards.\n\nUnfortunately, these systemic inefficiencies are not just inconveniences, they\u2019re directly affecting the health and well-being of South Dakotans. Delays have resulted in veterans missing Community Care Network appointments because the letter arrived after the scheduled appointment date. Furthermore, a leading private sector regional health care system has reported that by the time some delayed medications arrived, they could no longer be used. These issues have become persistent and at times reached the \u201cpoint of jeopardizing patient care.\u201d\n\nI believe USPS service performance on intrastate mail and periodicals in South Dakota has in some cases deteriorated to critical levels that impacts the lives of everyday South Dakotans and degrades my ability to communicate with constituents.\n\nI expressed my concerns about this to the Postmaster General (PMG) Steiner who downplayed such issue existed in South Dakota. PMG Steiner also noted that he believed that delays in mail sent across South Dakota were caused by issues at processing facilities in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. However, none of these facilities handle South Dakota\u2019s intrastate mail.\n\nDespite clear evidence of poor performance of USPS mail products especially intrastate mail, USPS senior leadership denies a problem exists. Therefore, I request the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of USPS investigate these concerns and make the necessary recommendations to USPS to restore reliable mail service to South Dakota.\n\nAs part of this investigation, I request that USPS OIG work to determine root causes of mail delays impacting South Dakotans; assess processes regarding handling of mail and packages, transportation schedules, facility constraints, staffing and current design of mail flows though the USPS processing network; and evaluate claims made by USPS during the Mail Processing Facility Review process that 3454 Origin/Destinating Pairs in South Dakota would \u201creceive service performance upgrades and no service performance downgrades\u201d. As you formulate recommendations for reform, I would also ask that you evaluate the need for the construction of a regional processing facility in South Dakota.\n\nThe people of South Dakota depend on the Postal Service for critical communication, medicine and care. I request that you act swiftly to identify and resolve the causes of these failures and help return South Dakota\u2019s mail service to the standards Americans deserve.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E2DD59A1-BFAB-439D-9476-BA96A35DC307", "Thune: Health Care 101: How Democrats\u2019 Policies Fail Patients and Families", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "\u201c[A] three-year extension without reforms, and furthermore, a three-year extension that actually backtracks on some of the reforms that have been made earlier \u2013 and that also is in Democrats\u2019 bill \u2013 creates more fraud, more waste, more abuse, higher prices, and a higher cost for the American taxpayer.\u201d\n\nClickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, tomorrow we\u2019re going to be voting on the Democrats\u2019 partisan messaging exercise, which is their three-year extension of the Biden COVID bonuses.\n\n\u201cNow, the Democrat leader came down here yesterday, and has a number of times now, and taken anybody who is listening here in the chamber or elsewhere around the country on a tour of fantasy land.\n\n\u201cA tour of fantasy land, narrated by the Democrat leader.\n\n\u201cBecause, Mr. President, what he is saying about a Democrat plan that will lower health care costs is a fantasy.\n\n\u201cIt just is \u2013 it\u2019s a fantasy.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m going to explain to you why in just a moment.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s not any less a fantasy today than it was yesterday, than it was the day before that.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s that \u2013 it\u2019s a fantasy.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, interestingly enough, the Democrat proposal, which is a three-year extension of the status quo, is an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare\u2019s spiraling health care costs.\n\n\u201cSo if we do this, if we extend this for three years \u2013 at a cost of $83 billion, taxpayers, $83 billion to the taxpayers \u2013 what happens after three years?\n\n\u201cAnother three-year extension or patch as Obamacare costs continue to spiral?\n\n\u201cMr. President, during the Democrats\u2019 shutdown, one Democrat senator came to the floor, and to his credit, he admitted the truth, and this is what he said.\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat was his quote, Mr. President.\n\n\u201c\u2018We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd so what is the Democrat answer to that failure, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cAn extension of the status quo, while health care costs continue to spiral for the American people.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, I\u2019m going to show you here, first off, where most people get their health insurance coverage in this country.\n\n\u201cSo you\u2019ve got, in the individual marketplace, which is the blue here, almost 50 percent of Americans \u2013 that\u2019s about 150 million Americans \u2013 who get their health care coverage through their employer.\n\n\u201cSo they\u2019re in the small group plan, the large group plan, but it\u2019s something that when they get their job, they get health care coverage.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got another almost 40 percent of the population \u2013 about 140 million Americans \u2013 who get it through Medicaid, 21 percent, as you can see; Medicare, about 15 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd then the balance here, some are uninsured, and then there are some who get it in the non-group market. There\u2019s a sliver there for the military.\n\n\u201cBut in this non-group individual market, Mr. President, that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here, we\u2019re talking about that sliver right there.\n\n\u201cSo remember again, 150 million Americans, almost 50 percent, get their coverage through their employer.\n\n\u201cAnother almost 40 percent \u2013 140 million Americans \u2013 get theirs through Medicare or Medicaid.\n\n\u201cAnd then this little sliver right here, which represents about 23 to 24 million Americans are in the Obamacare exchanges.\n\n\u201cNow I, just as a point of fact, want to show you, next slide, what\u2019s actually happened in those various markets.\n\n\u201cOf course, Medicare and Medicaid is something that the federal government, those are programs that have been in place for a really long time.\n\n\u201cBut if you look at what\u2019s happened in the Consumer Price Index since 2014, so let\u2019s take this stretch right here, that\u2019s the blue line.\n\n\u201cThe blue line is how much costs have gone up in our economy overall.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s about 39 percent over the past 10, 11, 12 years.\n\n\u201cAnd then if you look at what\u2019s happened in the employer-provided market \u2013 remember I just said that about 50 percent, almost, 150 million Americans, get their health insurance coverage in the employer-provided marketplace.\n\n\u201cIn other words, they\u2019re in a small group plan or a large group plan, and that rate of insurance increase \u2013 although way too high, I would argue \u2013 over that same 10- or 11-year period is 68 percent.\n\n\u201cSo, Consumer Price Index is 39 percent, the large group market, employer market, went up at 69 percent \u2013 so what do you think the premium cost increase was in the individual marketplace, in the Obamacare exchange?\n\n\u201cMr. President, it went up 129 percent, and that\u2019s since 2014.\n\n\u201cIf you go back to 2013, it\u2019s gone up 221 percent, because insurance companies, when this program was introduced, automatically significantly increased and boosted their rates.\n\n\u201cSo today, if you\u2019re in the individual marketplace, this is how much your insurance rates have gone up since Obamacare, since its inception a little over a decade ago.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is double \u2013 double \u2013 the rate of increase in the employer-provided marketplace, and triple \u2013 triple \u2013 the CPI, which is the cost we pay for everything else out there.\n\n\u201cSo the idea that this has made health care less costly and more affordable for people in the Obama exchanges is just a fantasy.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fantasy.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s go to the next chart here.\n\n\u201cSo, what has happened as a result of that?\n\n\u201cYou have this dramatic increase in the individual marketplace, in the Obamacare exchange \u2013 which is, like I said, double what you would get if you were getting your insurance from your employer in the marketplace.\n\n\u201cSo, what\u2019s happened?\n\n\u201cA lot of employers, particularly small employers \u2013 let\u2019s take the 25- to 49-employee small business \u2013 what is happening in that marketplace?\n\n\u201cSo, a lot of those companies used to offer their employees insurance.\n\n\u201cAnd that insurance, as I pointed out, is about half of the cost of increase over this time period that you would get in the individual marketplace, in the Obamacare exchanges.\n\n\u201cSo, what\u2019s happened is people in this market \u2013 and this is, again, 25 to 49 employees, who, up until a few years ago, actually did, in many cases, try and provide some sort of health care coverage for their employees \u2013 what they are now doing is they are dropping coverage.\n\n\u201cLook what\u2019s happened.\n\n\u201cFrom 2010 it went from 92 percent, in 2020 down to 70 percent, and then in 2025 down to 64 percent.\n\n\u201cSo the employer marketplace is shrinking.\n\n\u201cWhy is that? That\u2019s a good question, right?\n\n\u201cSo, why would people be dropping out of the employee marketplace and going into the individual exchanges?\n\n\u201cWell, I think the answer is pretty obvious.\n\n\u201cIf you are an employer or you\u2019re an employee, and you can get into a marketplace where the government is subsidizing your premiums \u2013 if you\u2019re an employer, they\u2019re just responding to, obviously, what most employers do, and that\u2019s a way to reduce their cost and to transfer that cost to the federal government.\n\n\u201cSo the employer market, particularly the small business market, is shrinking.\n\n\u201cAt the same time, the Obamacare market is expanding, and expanding pretty dramatically, and premium costs about double of what you would see in the employer marketplace.\n\n\u201cSo let\u2019s go to the next chart.\n\n\u201cAnd the thing that you\u2019ve got to remember here, Mr. President, is, if you look at \u2013 this was promised at the time when Obamacare was being debated, and I happened to be here at the time, that this was actually going to reduce costs.\n\n\u201cThis was going to score as an overall savings to the federal government.\n\n\u201cHere is what, in the exchanges now, what Obamacare actually costs.\n\n\u201cYou can see [it] dramatically increased right about here when the enhanced subsidies, the Biden COVID bonuses passed by the Democrats, not a single Republican vote in 2021, and then extended in 2022, set to expire this year \u2013 this, all of their own making.\n\n\u201cI mean, somehow they have tried to shift the narrative here, that this is somehow a problem of Republicans\u2019 making.\n\n\u201cThey set the expiration date, and they passed the legislation in 2021 and 2022 that led to this explosion in costs.\n\n\u201cAnd so now, the 10-year score on this program, the 10-year score on this program is now $1.3 trillion.\n\n\u201c$1.3 trillion [cost] to the taxpayers, to subsidize, in the individual marketplace, the 23 or 24 million Americans who receive their coverage there.\n\n\u201cThat is, that\u2019s just flat staggering. Look at that.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019re looking at \u201824, \u201825 now, 150 billion a year over a 10-year period, as I said, it ends up being, it\u2019s been scored by the CBO at about $1.3 trillion.\n\n\u201cBut here\u2019s what happened: The spending went up dramatically when the very issue that we\u2019re talking about here today, which is these Biden COVID bonuses.\n\n\u201cThey were designed to be in response to the pandemic when they were enacted in 2021.\n\n\u201cNow, in 2021 as most people remember, we were kind of past the pandemic, and that particular legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act \u2013 so-called Inflation Reduction Act, obviously not the case \u2013 passed in August of 2021.\n\n\u201cWe were well past the pandemic, but it gave the Democrats an excuse to put more federal money into a failing program that is driving up costs and increasing, dramatically, costs to the federal taxpayer.\n\n\u201cAnd then in 2022, \u2026 they still had the majority, and so they said, \u2018Well, let\u2019s extend this thing.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo they extend it.\n\n\u201cI should say, 2021 was, I think, American Rescue Plan; 2022 was the Inflation Reduction Act.\n\n\u201cBut they decided to extend this program and these Biden COVID bonuses \u2013 which, in 2022, as I recall, the pandemic was pretty well past us, right?\n\n\u201cSo they decided, \u2018Well, let\u2019s keep this thing going. This is such a great deal. You know, we\u2019re passing all these costs on the American taxpayer. And we can go to people in the marketplace and tell them, \u201cWe\u2019re reducing your premiums.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cSo that\u2019s what\u2019s happened.\n\n\u201cNow, go to the next chart here.\n\n\u201cNow, interestingly enough, this is another, I think, effect of all this, and this is what has happened in this marketplace, again, just an example.\n\n\u201cBecause, the way this thing is structured, now \u2013 and this is ironic to me, because I\u2019ve always thought of Democrats as, you know \u2026 at least their narrative is they stand up to big business, they stand up for the little guy, you know, the person out there that\u2019s struggling to make ends meet \u2013 and yet, the way this program is structured, the payments go directly to the insurance companies.\n\n\u201cSo the insurance companies are incentivized to get more people into these programs, because when they do, they get paid by the federal government.\n\n\u201cAnd there are a couple other features about this plan today, Mr. President, that make this thing even more, I think, staggering to the American people, and [one] is that there are no income caps.\n\n\u201cNow, another feature of the Democrats\u2019 narrative is that \u2026 \u2018We want to be for the little guy, for the guy who\u2019s trying to make it out there, you know, the person that\u2019s really struggling to get by, lower-income category.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut what this does is this forces hard-working taxpayers, people who are out there trying to get by, to subsidize the insurance costs of affluent, wealthy people.\n\n\u201cWhy?\n\n\u201cBecause in 2021, they took off the income caps.\n\n\u201cThere are no income caps on this program!\n\n\u201cIt used to be 400 percent of poverty, which for a family of four, is about 128,000 a year.\n\n\u201cThey took the caps completely off, blew the caps up!\n\n\u201cSo now, you\u2019ve got people making five, 600,000 a year, who are getting subsidies from people who are making $25,000 a year in this marketplace.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is pretty remarkable.\n\n\u201cPretty stunning, really.\n\n\u201cAnd so you have insurance companies, big insurance companies, being the beneficiaries, and affluent people with no income caps in this program.\n\n\u201cBut the other feature of the program is this: There are zero-dollar premiums.\n\n\u201cAnd so what does that mean?\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of people who are getting covered by insurance companies because they meet the eligibility requirements, who aren\u2019t paying anything for coverage.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no premium whatsoever.\n\n\u201cThese are, we call them zero-dollar premiums, and those have exploded.\n\n\u201cAnd one of the reasons they\u2019ve exploded is because an insurance company can say, \u2018I found somebody in this particular population group who meets these criteria, these eligibility; we\u2019re signing them up.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd since they don\u2019t have to pay a premium, they don\u2019t even know they\u2019re covered.\n\n\u201cSo what\u2019s happened in the past few years?\n\n\u201cThe number of people who haven\u2019t filed claims, literally, since 2021 has tripled.\n\n\u201cNow, as I\u2019ve said before, there are lots of reasons why people don\u2019t file claims.\n\n\u201cYou might have a good, healthy year.\n\n\u201cYou may be a younger person who doesn\u2019t have health issues.\n\n\u201cBut the fact of the matter that you would see from 2021 when they made this change to take the lid off of income, to create zero-dollar premiums, and then to see this explode, the number of people who didn\u2019t file a claim tripled \u2013 tripled \u2013 in the last four years.\n\n\u201cNow, what does that suggest?\n\n\u201cI would argue, Mr. President, it suggests that there are a lot of people out there who have no idea that they\u2019re even covered.\n\n\u201cThey have no idea they have coverage because they\u2019re not paying anything for it, and the insurance company is incentivized to auto-enroll because they are getting the payment directly from the American taxpayer.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is how this program is structured.\n\n\u201cAnd that, Mr. President, is why it is never going to reduce costs.\n\n\u201cInsurance companies are incentivized to increase premiums.\n\n\u201cBusinesses are incentivized to, you know, push people out of their marketplace into the individual marketplace where the taxpayers will subsidize the premiums, the cost of health care.\n\n\u201cAnd then what you get is a dramatic run-up in health care costs, an explosion in health care costs.\n\n\u201cAnd again, I just want to put that \u2026 second chart \u2026 which shows the difference in these different marketplaces.\n\n\u201cSo this number right here, Mr. President, the orange number, that is the individual marketplace. That\u2019s the Obamacare exchanges.\n\n\u201cThis is the employer market \u2013 half \u2013 half the cost.\n\n\u201cWell, again, if the taxpayers are paying the premiums, the incentives are all there to continue to run up the costs.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is nothing more than a failed program, partly because it is a failed structure with no incentives to reduce costs.\n\n\u201cAnd where insurance companies decide to cover you, you may not even know you have coverage.\n\n\u201cIn which high-income people, people making $500,000, $600,000 a year, can go into this marketplace and get subsidies from the federal taxpayers, from people who are making $25,000 to $30,000, $35,000 a year.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what we are talking about.\n\n\u201cThat is the fantasy land that the Democrats are trying to take the American people for a tour of.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, we will vote on that, the extension, the three-year extension, with no reforms.\n\n\u201cAnd by the way, and I don\u2019t have the chart here, but the Government Accountability Office \u2026 did a study of this marketplace, and \u2026 they submitted fraudulent claims.\n\n\u201cIn other words, they got people to submit to try and get into the program.\n\n\u201cThey tried to get into the program, and what the Government Accountability Office found was that 95 percent of these got enrolled by the insurance companies.\n\n\u201cThat audit was not done two years ago, five years ago \u2013 that audit was just released last week.\n\n\u201cThe Government Accountability Office said that, in their survey population \u2013 they looked at a group of people, a population \u2013 and found that 95 percent of these people that the insurance company signed up were fraudulent.\n\n\u201cSo you have a program that is rife with waste, fraud, and abuse.\n\n\u201cSo what would you think you would want to do?\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s, I would think, what I would want to do if I were them and I actually wanted to fix this thing, I would be interested in reforming it.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d be looking at some income caps.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d do away with zero-dollar premiums.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d figure out a way to structure this so the money isn\u2019t going to the insurance companies.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not what they did.\n\n\u201cThey just said, \u2018We\u2019re going to extend this for three years\u2019 \u2013 at a cost, I might add, of $83 billion, scored by the CBO.\n\n\u201cNo changes. Just continue to run up the cost, run up the cost in the individual marketplace like that, but have the American taxpayers pay for it and then go tell people that you\u2019re trying to keep their premiums down.\n\n\u201cThis does nothing \u2013 nothing \u2013 to lower the cost of health insurance, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd so Republicans will offer up something as an alternative.\n\n\u201cAnd just as a point of fact, it has some, contains some provisions in it, which tries to move us away from a couple of the features of the Obamacare exchanges.\n\n\u201cOne is it tries to get the money in the hands of the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd by doing that, creating health savings accounts where money flows into the health savings accounts that individuals control, rather than having it controlled by the insurance companies.\n\n\u201cNow, you\u2019d still get your insurance in the marketplace, but now you would have more dollars at your discretion to decide how you are going to use them.\n\n\u201cInstead of taking a silver plan in the Obamacare exchange, you might take a bronze plan.\n\n\u201cA bronze plan would mean you\u2019re paying less for it \u2013 sometimes might have a higher deductible, but with the proposal that we\u2019re going to put forward, there would be money coming in to these HSAs that the individual would control.\n\n\u201cSo it\u2019s about individual control versus government control, first and foremost.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s also about actually lowering costs.\n\n\u201cNow, interestingly enough, if you put the next chart up there, and this will be too small for most people who are trying to watch this \u2013 although there\u2019re probably not many on television.\n\n\u201cBut it also has the advantage of scoring a savings.\n\n\u201cSo the proposal we\u2019re going to put on the floor will actually reduce premiums, according to Congressional Budget Office, by about 10 to 11 percent.\n\n\u201cSo, double-digit reduction in premiums, double-digit reduction in premiums under this proposal, and save some taxpayers\u2019 money.\n\n\u201cIt scores as a $30 billion savings.\n\n\u201cNow, instead of taking that $30 billion and giving it to the insurance companies, what we would suggest here is that you actually do let the American people \u2013 the consumer, the patient, if you will \u2013 manage this and have these dollars available to them at their discretion.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is a very different business model than what is being offered up by the Democrats.\n\n\u201cIt also has the added advantage of actually, as a matter of scoring by the Congressional Budget Office, reducing premiums.\n\n\u201cReducing premiums, something that their plan will never, ever be able to say.\n\n\u201cAnd this is the average reduction in premiums across the country, state by state.\n\n\u201cAnd like I said, it\u2019s going to be too far away for you to see, but in my state of South Dakota, it\u2019s going to reduce them by $900, and that\u2019s pretty much going to be true everywhere.\n\n\u201cNow, we can do a lot better, if we can continue to make some of these reforms and changes in these programs and get those premium rates even lower.\n\n\u201cBut I would argue that, actually, a reduction, a double-digit reduction in premiums \u2013 relative to what they\u2019re offering up, which is a dramatic, dramatic increase in spending, increase in premiums, increase in costs, which goes on indefinitely.\n\n\u201cThis is a three-year extension with no reforms.\n\n\u201cDoesn\u2019t adjust income limits. You can still get unlimited income, still qualify in the exchanges.\n\n\u201cDoesn\u2019t do anything about zero-dollar premiums, and continues to incentivize insurance companies to auto-enroll people, many of whom will never know they\u2019re enrolled.\n\n\u201cThe insurance company is getting paid and this program continues to drive up costs in the individual marketplace \u2013 which, as I said, is about double what it is in the employer marketplace.\n\n\u201cSo, you tell me: Is that the bet you want to make?\n\n\u201cNow, the Democrats seem hard over on doing this, and I understand, there\u2019s a lot of pressure \u2013 \u2018Just do it, just do it, just extend it.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut a three-year extension without reforms, and furthermore, a three-year extension that actually backtracks on some of the reforms that have been made earlier \u2013 and that also is in their bill \u2013 creates more fraud, more waste, more abuse, higher prices, and a higher cost for the American taxpayer.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty bad bet, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what this is all about for them.\n\n\u201cThe question is, you want the government deciding this?\n\n\u201c[Or do] you want to put this power and these resources into the hands of the American people, American taxpayers, patients?\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re about, Mr. President, and so when we have that vote tomorrow, that\u2019s what\u2019s at stake.\n\n\u201cLike I said, I don\u2019t have any expectation, probably, that we\u2019re going to get Democrat votes for our proposal, but we are offering something that actually does reduce health care costs and premiums, puts power back in the hands of individuals.\n\n\u201cAnd that really is what this ought to be about.\n\n\u201cIt ought to be about the American people being able to buy the insurance that they want, the coverage they want, at a price that they can afford.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, that\u2019ll be the vote tomorrow.\n\n\u201cAnd thank you all for indulging me in walking through a little bit about the history of this, because sometimes it\u2019s been very color-coded by our colleagues on the other side.\n\n\u201cBut this is real.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t a fantasy.\n\n\u201cWhat they\u2019ve described for you the past few days here is a fantasy.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-bipartisan-digital-permitting-bill-passes-us-house", "Johnson\u2019s Bipartisan Digital Permitting Bill Passes U.S. House", "2025-12-09", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the ePermit Act, led by U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) passed the House unanimously. The ePermit Act will codify President Trump\u2019s Action Plan to modernize permitting technology across the federal government, reducing processing time for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.\n\nClick here for Johnson\u2019s floor remarks\n\n\u201cIt has become harder and harder to get any big project done in America,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThe same road project that can get approved in Germany in six months takes six years in America. America is full of innovators, creators, and builders. It\u2019s time we let them build again, fueling economic growth and unlocking domestic energy production. I\u2019m grateful the ePermit Act passed the House, and I hope the Senate acts soon so this can be the law of the land.\u201d\n\n\u201cPassing this bill out of the House represents a major breakthrough in our effort to finally modernize an outdated permitting system,\u201d saidPeters. \u201cToday\u2019s progress is a clear sign that Congress can still come together to solve real problems; let\u2019s build on this momentum, digitize the permitting process, cut needless delays, and get this bill across the finish line.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe ePermit Act modernizes an outdated system and establishes a streamlined, electronic permitting framework that will reduce red tape and increase efficiency across federal agencies,\u201d said Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR). By transitioning to digital permitting, we can cut down on delays, enhance coordination and provide applicants with clearer, more predictable timelines. I applaud Representative Johnson for leading this bipartisan effort to bring permitting into the 21st century.\u201d\n\n\u201cModernizing the environmental review and permitting process will enable the United States to meet critical infrastructure needs, secure affordable and reliable energy, and fuel economic growth,\u201d saidKatherine Scarlett, Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality. \u201cThe administration welcomes congressional action to leverage technology to accelerate and simplify the permitting process across the Federal government, building on the accomplishments set in motion by President Trump\u2019s Memorandum Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century \u2013 such as CEQ\u2019s Permitting Technology Action Plan.\u201d\n\n\u201cTechnology and transparency are key pieces of meaningful permitting reform to let America build,\u201d saidJeremy Harrell, CEO, ClearPath Action. \u201cToday\u2019s House vote reiterates bipartisan support for streamlining reviews in a way that balances speed and safety. We look forward to the Senate taking up the ePermit Act this Congress.\u201d\n\n\u201cNAHB urges House passage of the ePermit Act, introduced by Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA),\u201d said Buddy Hughes, Chairman,National Association of Home Builders. \u201cThis legislation would address housing affordability challenges by improving and expediting the environmental review and permitting processes. Permitting roadblocks delay housing projects and raise construction costs. The ePermit Act will bring clarity, efficiency, and certainty to the permitting process by requiring the use of electronic permitting platforms.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that the current permitting process remains a major barrier to deploying the projects needed to secure America\u2019s energy and environmental future,\u201d said Chris Barnard, President, American Conservation Coalition Action. \u201cBy embracing today\u2019s technology, we can modernize the permitting system and accelerate project approvals through greater efficiency and transparency. The American Conservation Coalition Action and its members across the country commend this effort to bring environmental review into the 21st century.\"\n\n\u201cThe American Council of Engineering Companies, the business voice of the nation\u2019s engineering industry, supports passage of H.R. 4503, the ePermit Act and applauds Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) for their leadership on this important bipartisan legislation. The ePermit Act will modernize how federal agencies use technology to facilitate more efficient and timely federal permitting decisions. If passed, the bill will help to cut red tape by enhancing transparency, improving stakeholder engagement, and facilitating efficient interagency collaboration.\u201d\n\nJohnson introduced the ePermit Act in July. The House Natural Resources Committee passed the legislation in November.\n\nBackground:\n\nThe current permitting process has failed to ensure project permitting is on-time and on-task. Oftentimes, the root causes of delays in the environmental review process have little to do with questions about environmental protection and a lot to do with failure to embrace modern technology and move on from legacy bureaucratic approaches, like paper forms.\n\nCongress must address the root causes for delays, which include compiling and reviewing lengthy paper documents, a lack of accessibility and transparency \u2013 leading to misunderstanding, conflicts, and all too often, protracted litigation \u2013 and continued reliance on outdated technologies and processes for interagency review and comment.\n\nThe ePermit Act would address these root causes by establishing a framework for agencies to implement a digital permitting system and unified portal.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=695CEEA2-DC87-428B-A091-955A8A99F4DF", "Thune on Republicans\u2019 Historic Investments to Secure the Border", "2025-12-09", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, it wasn\u2019t long ago that the southern border was in a state of chaos.\n\n\u201cDuring the Biden administration, we routinely saw hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving at the border in a single month.\n\n\u201cIt was a situation that the Democrat senator from Pennsylvania likened to the population of the city of Pittsburgh showing up at the border.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s to say nothing of the 1.9 million known gotaways who slipped into the country during the Biden years.\n\n\u201cOr the suspected terrorists, gang members, and other criminals who were among those coming across our open border.\n\n\u201cAnd then there was the Biden administration\u2019s catch and release approach to illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cAnd the way the Biden administration abused asylum and parole to allow individuals to take up residence in our country.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s hard to believe that the Biden administration and Democrats allowed their border crisis to rage quite literally for years.\n\n\u201cBut they did.\n\n\u201cEven the New York Times now admits that President Biden chose not to secure the border when given the chance.\n\n\u201cThe Times reported this weekend, and I quote, \u2018[An] examination of Mr. Biden\u2019s record found that he and his closest advisers repeatedly rebuffed recommendations that could have addressed the border crisis faster.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet me repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThey repeatedly rebuffed recommendations to ease the border crisis.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, I\u2019m glad the New York Times is finally reporting what we\u2019ve known for a long time, and that is that the Biden administration was completely uninterested in solving the border crisis.\n\n\u201cFortunately, those days are over.\n\n\u201cWhen President Trump and Republicans took control this year, we moved to quickly restore order at the southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd the numbers speak for themselves.\n\n\u201cCustoms and Border Protection reported a record-low number of encounters in November.\n\n\u201cFewer than 250 people per day are being apprehended.\n\n\u201cCompare that to the Biden administration, where law enforcement was catching more than 5,000 per day on average.\n\n\u201cAnd in November \u2013 for the seventh month in a row \u2013 zero illegal immigrants have been released into the United States.\n\n\u201cSo under the Trump administration we have a 95 percent drop in apprehensions at the southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd not a single one of the individuals apprehended is being released into the country.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is remarkable \u2013 remarkable \u2013 progress.\n\n\u201cThis is what the American people expect when it comes to securing our borders.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans are doing everything we can to ensure that this will be the new standard for border security for a long time to come.\n\n\u201cOur One Big Beautiful Bill, which we passed in July, makes a generational investment in the resources that law enforcement needs to secure the border and deter illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cWe funded completion of the border wall.\n\n\u201cNew technology and equipment for law enforcement.\n\n\u201cAdditional Border Patrol agents.\n\n\u201cExpanded detention capacity.\n\n\u201cAnd expanded partnerships with local law enforcement to enforce immigration law.\n\n\u201cMr. President, these investments are beginning to be implemented across the immigration system.\n\n\u201cHiring efforts are underway to bring on additional agents.\n\n\u201cMore than 1,000 state and local law enforcement agencies have partnered with the federal government to enforce immigration laws through the 287(g) program.\n\n\u201cAnd the Department of Homeland Security is awarding contracts for new technologies and wall construction at the southern border \u2013 investments that will improve law enforcement\u2019s ability to apprehend the illegal immigrants and smugglers who attempt to cross our southern border.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans promised to secure the border.\n\n\u201cWe wasted no time in delivering on that promise.\n\n\u201cAnd thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, the American people can be certain that border security is here to stay.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m grateful to the men and women on the front lines who come to work every day committed to a safer and a more secure America.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans will continue to work to ensure that they have everything they need to get the job done.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E072B929-CA82-4A7D-ADE3-B98882DBBDD9", "Thune: Republicans Offer Better, More Affordable Health Care Solutions for Americans", "2025-12-09", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cAs you all know, we\u2019re going to have a vote this week, on Thursday, on a Democrat proposal to deal with the Biden COVID bonuses.\n\n\u201cAnd this is a vote, as you all know, we could have had weeks ago.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been on offer now before we had to go through a 43-day government shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s what the Democrats opted to do, and so at the end of the 43 days now, we are going to have a vote on their proposal \u2013 which, as it turns out, is really a proposal that just extends the status quo, doesn\u2019t do anything to reform these Biden COVID bonuses in a way that would get rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse.\n\n\u201cAnd I think the one thing that\u2019s clear about this, and I think you all who follow this subject know this, that the way that the program is structured, the money goes straight to the insurance companies.\n\n\u201cAnd the way that we think this ought to work is \u2026 you ought to come up with a way in which you can deliver the benefit to the patients and not to the insurance companies, and that you shouldn\u2019t have hardworking Americans subsidizing affluent people, people who make a lot of money, and that\u2019s what their proposal continues to do.\n\n\u201cThere is no income limit.\n\n\u201cThere are zero-dollar premiums.\n\n\u201cThere are millions of Americans who don\u2019t even know they have coverage.\n\n\u201cAnd they have decided not to do anything \u2013 zero, zero reforms to this program \u2013 and so the bill that they\u2019re going to put on the floor will fail.\n\n\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean that there isn\u2019t a path forward here.\n\n\u201cWe also will have a vote.\n\n\u201cOur members have decided that we\u2019re going to vote on a Crapo-Cassidy proposal, which does the things that I mentioned.\n\n\u201cIt actually does make health insurance premiums more affordable.\n\n\u201cIt drives down, according to the Congressional Budget Office, premiums by double-digit levels.\n\n\u201cIt delivers the benefit directly to the patient, not to the insurance company.\n\n\u201cAnd it does it in a way that actually saves money \u2026 to the taxpayer.\n\n\u201cThat is a win-win proposal.\n\n\u201cSo that is an alternative that we will put forward and that we will have a vote on \u2026 Thursday, and we\u2019ll see where the Democrats come down on that.\n\n\u201cBut the fact of the matter is that as long as we have been talking about this subject \u2013 and again, they drug us through a 43-day government shutdown in order to do this \u2013 just in the last week, the Government Accountability Office came out with a finding and an audit that they did.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWhen I say waste, fraud, and abuse, I am not kidding.\n\n\u201cThat is the finding as recently as this last week by the Government Accountability Office.\n\n\u201cThis program desperately needs to be reformed.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats have decided [they\u2019re] not going to do anything to reform it, and so we\u2019ll see where the votes are on Thursday.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A11BF60B-6FAF-4559-B1AD-6E92ED4ABC05", "Thune: Even Democrats Admit Obamacare Has Failed", "2025-12-08", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I would like to read a few quotes from some of my Democrat colleagues from the past couple of months.\n\n\u201cThis is from November 6, and I quote: \u2018We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis is from September 30, and I quote: \u2018Now, right now, we have a broken health care system. Nobody can afford health care.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis one, Mr. President, is from December 3, and I quote again: \u2018I think we all agree there\u2019s brokenness to the whole system.\u2019\n\n\u201cAgain, from December 3, and I quote: \u2018As much as we disagree on things, I just want to note the underlying agreement that this system needs a lot of reform.\u2019\n\n\u201cNow, all, as I said, Mr. President, of these are quotes from my Democrat colleagues in just the past couple of months.\n\n\u201cEvery quote is an implicit [admission] that Obamacare has failed.\n\n\u201cBack in 2009, of course, Democrats were arguing that Obamacare was going to fix health care.\n\n\u201cThis was a quote from that time: \u2018[A]n historic bill that will finally reform our broken health care system and help millions of our families and small businesses get the coverage they need at a price they can afford. It is about time.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, again, a senior senator, Democrat senator, from back in 2009, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cOr in the words of the Democrat leader, and I quote again, \u2018Who would have thought that we could finally get a handle on the thing that is driving our budget deficit to great heights, which is health care costs, and at the same time do so much good by covering so many people?\u2019\n\n\u201cNow, contrast that with the words of the Democrat leader today, Mr. President, and I quote again: \u2018[T]he healthcare crisis is so deep and so real.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018[T]he healthcare crisis is so deep and so real.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn other words, Mr. President, Democrats\u2019 great scheme to fix health care, Obamacare, has failed.\n\n\u201cSo what are Democrats proposing to do this week, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cIntroduce reforms?\n\n\u201cPerhaps try a different approach?\n\n\u201cWell, no, that would be wrong, Mr. President, if you assumed that.\n\n\u201cThey have announced plans to throw good money after bad.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve proposed a clean, three-year extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.\n\n\u201cClean, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNo reforms.\n\n\u201cNo revisions.\n\n\u201cJust billions of additional taxpayer dollars to prop up part of a program that has utterly failed to reduce health care costs.\n\n\u201cMr. President, since 2013, premiums for Obamacare enrollees have risen 221 percent.\n\n\u201cTwo hundred and twenty-one percent.\n\n\u201cIn other words, this program is doing the very opposite of lowering health care costs.\n\n\u201cAnd as if soaring premiums weren\u2019t a big enough problem, the exchanges are rife with potential for waste, fraud, and abuse.\n\n\u201cA damning report from the Government Accountability Office released last week found that the exchanges continue to enroll fake individuals, are improperly paying out subsidies, and are failing to ensure payment accuracy, potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for millions or billions in improper payments.\n\n\u201cAnd so I might just show you, this is what the GAO found \u2013 the Government Accountability Office, Mr. President \u2013 and this just came out literally just this last week. This was a finding \u2026 on their part.\n\n\u201cThat \u2018Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90% of fake accounts.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo in other words, what the Government Accountability Office did is they ran an audit of the exchanges in which these insurance policies change hands, and found that 90 percent \u2013 90 percent \u2013 of these fake accounts, Mr. President, were granted subsidies without documentation.\n\n\u201cThink about that.\n\n\u201c90 percent of this investigation, these accounts they checked \u2013 they created fake accounts to see if, in fact, they would get a government subsidy \u2013 and they did.\n\n\u201c90 percent failure rate in this program.\n\n\u201cAnd so we have spiraling health care costs, a program incredibly vulnerable \u2013 as this has evidenced \u2013 vulnerable to fraud and abuse, and, again, Democrats are proposing that we do absolutely nothing.\n\n\u201cNo reforms, no revisions, no safeguards \u2013 just billions more in taxpayer dollars.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans have made it very clear that we would like to work with Democrats to address the affordability of health care and find solutions that actually reduce costs.\n\n\u201cBut as Democrats have made clear with this \u2018clean\u2019 bill, they\u2019re not really after health care solutions.\n\n\u201cThey seem to be okay with a 90 percent fraud rate.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re after a political issue to attempt to batter Republicans with during this next election year.\n\n\u201cAnd if that means a proposal to throw more money at a program they know very well, very well, is failing \u2013 it\u2019s documented \u2013 then that\u2019s what they\u2019re going to go with.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll quote again, Mr. President: \u2018As much as we disagree on things, I just want to note the underlying agreement that this system needs a lot of reform.\u2019\n\n\u201cAgain, the words, Mr. President, of a Democrat senator.\n\n\u201cAnd she\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThis system does need reform \u2013 and a lot of it.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s too bad Democrats aren\u2019t interested in making any.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-announces-nominations-to-us-service-academies-for-2026-2027-school-year", "Rounds Announces Nominations to U.S. Service Academies for 2026-2027 School Year", "2025-12-05", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today announced that he has nominated South Dakota students for appointments to the nation\u2019s service academies.\n\nRounds nominated Emma Kinyon of Rapid City as his principal nominee to the U.S. Naval Academy, Esten Foss of Aberdeen as his principal nominee to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Malia Kranz of Watertown as his principal nominee to the U.S. Air Force Academy.\n\n\u201cEach fall, I have the honor of nominating South Dakota students to attend our military service academies. These students are some of the best and the brightest our state has to offer,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cThe U.S. service academies are among the most elite educational institutions in the world. After receiving a top-notch education, these South Dakotans will serve our country as active-duty military officers. They\u2019ve worked hard to earn these nominations. We\u2019re proud of these students and their desire to serve our nation.\u201d\n\nEmma Kinyon of Rapid City \u2013 Principal Nominee, U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis)\n\nEmma is the daughter of Jason Kinyon and Megan Byrd. Emma is currently a senior at Rapid City Stevens High School, where she participates in FIRST Robotics, National Science Bowl and the Rapid City Youth Council. She also plays the viola in the school orchestra and plays on the varsity girls soccer team. Emma has also spent two summers conducting research with the Army Educational Outreach Program through the South Dakota School of Mines. Emma is a National Honor Society member and currently holds a 3.9 GPA.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m deeply grateful to have received the principal nomination to the United States Naval Academy from Senator Mike Rounds,\u201d said Kinyon. \u201cThe academy has been a goal of mine for the past 3 years and I\u2019m incredibly thankful for the peers, mentors, and teachers that have inspired me along the way. I\u2019m also deeply grateful for my friends, family, and Senator Mike Rounds for their confidence in me. I\u2019m excited, not only for the opportunity to improve myself mentally, morally, and physically, but to be a part of the U.S. Navy\u2019s obligation to protect and ensure democracy around the world, and to offer my skills and abilities in defense of freedom and peace.\u201d\n\nEsten Foss of Aberdeen \u2013 Principal Nominee, U.S. Military Academy (West Point)\n\nEsten is the son of Kevin and Kerri Foss of Aberdeen, South Dakota. He is captain of the cross country and wrestling teams and participates in track and field. Esten is a member of the National Honor Society and currently holds a 3.96 GPA. Esten volunteers at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and he planned a car wash fundraiser that raised $4,000 for Aberdeen area veterans.\n\n\u201cI am extremely honored to represent my school, state, and country at the US Military Academy, and I look forward to upholding their motto of Duty, Honor, and Country for the next four years and beyond,\u201d said Foss. \u201cThis has been a dream and a primary goal of mine since middle school, and the entire process has taught me about myself and the importance of leadership and integrity. I would like to thank my friends, family, teachers, and all those who helped and supported me throughout this application and my time in high school. Go Army!\"\n\nMalia Kranz of Watertown \u2013 Principal Nominee, U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs)\n\nMalia is the daughter of Raymond and Julianne Kranz. She is a 2-time state champion track and field athlete and plays on the varsity basketball team. Malia also serves as an Arrow Ambassador and on the Watertown High School student council. She also volunteers as a mentor at Watertown Intermediate School, as a Kindness Lesson Leader for elementary students and as a recess monitor at Mellette Elementary. Malia is a member of National Honor Society and currently holds a 4.0 GPA.\n\n\u201cI am deeply grateful to Senator Mike Rounds for the principal nomination to the United States Air Force Academy,\u201d said Kranz. \u201cWithout the relentless encouragement from my family, friends, and community, this opportunity would not have been possible. I am eager to take on the challenges ahead and honored to serve our nation with integrity, discipline and dedication.\u201d\n\nIn addition to principal nominees, Rounds may send up to 14 competitive nominees per academy for consideration by that academy. Each service academy admission board gives full and fair consideration to these nominees and will determine final appointments. Rounds has selected the students listed below to receive a competitive nomination.\n\nU.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis)\n\nEmma Kinyon of Rapid City - Principal\n\nWeston Baker of Brookings - Competitive\n\nMiles Bender of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nCamden Bjergaard of Hartford - Competitive\n\nKiersten Blacker of Spearfish - Competitive\n\nJacob DeYoung of Tea - Competitive\n\nWilliam Hanzlik of Chamberlain - Competitive\n\nBennett Jensen of Dakota Dunes - Competitive\n\nLincoln Mansfield of Hurley - Competitive\n\nJaxson Muck of Stickney - Competitive\n\nAbigail Nichols of Pierre - Competitive\n\nGrace Olson of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nGrant Roth of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nTrinidy Sorenson of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nAnders Van Olson of Yankton - Competitive\n\nU.S. Military Academy (West Point)\n\nEsten Foss of Aberdeen - Principal\n\nWeston Baker of Brookings - Competitive\n\nMiles Bender of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nCamden Bjergaard of Hartford - Competitive\n\nKanin Booth of Summerset - Competitive\n\nJacob DeYoung of Tea - Competitive\n\nBennett Jensen of Dakota Dunes - Competitive\n\nEmma Kinyon of Rapid City - Competitive\n\nAbigail Nichols of Pierre - Competitive\n\nGrace Olson of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nGrant Roth of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nTrinidy Sorenson of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nAnders Van Olson of Yankton - Competitive\n\nU.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs)\n\nMalia Kranz of Watertown - Principal\n\nWeston Baker of Brookings - Competitive\n\nMiles Bender of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nCamden Bjergaard of Hartford - Competitive\n\nKanin Booth of Summerset - Competitive\n\nLevi Brechtel of Rapid City - Competitive\n\nMax Cook of Gregory - Competitive\n\nEsten Foss of Aberdeen - Competitive\n\nBennett Jensen of Dakota Dunes - Competitive\n\nJaxson Muck of Stickney - Competitive\n\nTyler Mueller of Rapid City - Competitive\n\nAbigail Nichols of Pierre - Competitive\n\nGrant Roth of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nJaxson Sodini of Madison - Competitive\n\nAnders Van Olson of Yankton - Competitive\n\nU.S. Merchant Marines Academy (Kings Point)\n\nAbigail Nichols of Pierre - Competitive\n\nGrace Olson of Sioux Falls - Competitive\n\nAnders Van Olson of Yankton - Competitive\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nStudents interested in attending a service academy go through a rigorous application process. Because the academies are highly competitive, students must meet eligibility requirements in leadership, physical fitness, character and academics. The young people joining the military directly from the academies are among the highest caliber our country has to offer, which is a result of the challenging training and education they received at service academies. Students applying for service academies are required to receive a Congressional nomination as part of the application process. Those appointed receive a scholarship and military appointment and are required to serve in the military for at least five years upon graduation.\n\nIndividuals interested in applying for a service academy nomination for academic year 2027-2028 (Class of 2031) should apply by October 10, 2026. Questions about the academy nomination application process can be directed to Rounds\u2019 Rapid City office by calling (605) 343-5035 or by emailing Academy_Nominations@rounds.senate.gov.\n\nAn informational packet and the application packet can be found on Rounds\u2019 website at https://www.rounds.senate.gov/constituents/academy-nominations.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-introduces-bill-to-increase-access-to-capital-for-start-ups", "Rounds Introduces Bill to Increase Access to Capital for Start-Ups", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) today introduced the Developing and Empowering Our Aspiring Leader (DEAL) Act to increase access to capital for America\u2019s innovators by modernizing the definition of venture capital fund for purposes of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration. The DEAL Act passed the House of Representatives this week on the suspension calendar. Representative Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) is the lead sponsor.\n\nSpecifically, this legislation amends the venture capital fund definition to permit venture capital funds to invest in other venture capital funds as a qualifying investment without triggering the 20% non-qualifying investment limitation.\n\n\u201cThe DEAL Act is a straightforward, commonsense step to help American innovators succeed,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cBy allowing venture capital to include secondaries and fund-of-fund investments, we give young businesses more ways to access the capital they need to grow and stay competitive. This practical update supports early-stage companies, strengthens liquidity and helps keep the United States the best place in the world to build and scale a business.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis bipartisan legislation will help more investment reach the small businesses and entrepreneurs in Georgia who are too often overlooked. By making it easier to support new businesses and ideas, we can create more opportunity for job growth, economic prosperity, and innovation,\u201d said Senator Reverend Warnock.\n\nThis legislation is supported by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.\n\n\u201cThe DEAL Act is an important step towards ensuring that the next generation of high-growth American companies can start and scale in every corner of the country\u2014not just in traditional tech hubs,\u201d said NVCA President and CEO Bobby Franklin. \u201cBy modernizing an outdated regulatory definition, this bill makes it easier for capital to reach entrepreneurs in South Dakota, Georgia, and other regions that have the talent and drive but too often lack early investment. After an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House, we\u2019re grateful to see Senators Rounds and Warnock carry this momentum into the Senate. Their leadership reflects a clear understanding that unlocking more early-stage capital means more local jobs, stronger regional economies, and a more competitive America.\u201d\n\nRounds first introduced this legislation in the 115th Congress.\n\nClick HERE for full bill text.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=31EB17CE-71CA-4E2B-8E9A-AC80F0B0B83C", "Thune Joins the Ruthless Podcast", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined the Ruthless podcast.\n\nOn Republicans\u2019 message heading into 2026:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s safer streets, more money in your pocket, and \u2026 new opportunities for a better life. And those are all things that I think that we\u2019re focusing on, it\u2019s those bread and butter issues that the American people \u2026 care the most about.\n\n\u201cMost elections, in my view, tend to be kind of economic elections. And I think \u2026 is my \u2026 neighborhood safe? Is my community safe? Is my country safe? \u2026 I think that safety and security are major issues. And I think the work that we\u2019ve done to close the border, the work we\u2019ve done on national security, to get more funding into the areas that make sure that the country is secure and safe and ready to deal with what is the \u2026 threat matrix that is out there in a very dangerous world.\n\n\u201cAnd \u2026 on the economic front \u2026 the things we\u2019re doing in the area of tax and regulatory policy, energy policy, will create better-paying jobs, better opportunities, and an expanding economy \u2026 The tax stuff that we\u2019ve done is more money in the pockets of the American people \u2026 The average family in this country, at least in my state\u2019s, about $2,500 less in taxes that they\u2019re going to pay next year because we extended the tax relief from 2017. If that expired, everybody was going to be looking at a new huge tax increase \u2026\n\n\u201cPeople are \u2026 looking for new and better opportunities to get ahead, and we want to do everything we can to make that possible for them. Part of it is creating those better-paying jobs, better benefits, and obviously having \u2026 a kind of economic activity out there that allows companies to invest and grow and expand. And I think the types of policies that we\u2019ve put in place on the regulatory front, the energy front, the tax front, provide those types of incentives.\u201d\n\nOn securing permanent tax relief for Americans:\n\n\u201cI think most Americans \u2026 trust this president and his team to handle [the issue of affordability] and to handle it effectively. I do think that \u2026 the challenge going forward is demonstrating to the American people that [Republicans\u2019 tax provisions] \u2026 avoided a catastrophe. You don\u2019t get a lot of credit for avoiding a catastrophe, but there were things in [the Working Families Tax Cuts], like no tax on tips \u2026 no tax on overtime \u2026 reduced taxes on Social Security, on recipients or seniors \u2026 [increasing] the child tax credit, indexed it for inflation, made it permanent.\n\n\u201cThere are areas out there in which people are actually going to see lower tax bills overall. Yes, we did extend the 2017 [tax] law, made it permanent, which had lower rates, doubling the child tax credit, near doubling of the standard deduction \u2013 all important features to protect them from that tax increase \u2026\n\n\u201cThe other things we did on the business side to create those incentives for business \u2026 the bonus depreciation, interest deductibility, R&D expensing, 199A for small business deduction \u2013 those are all things that I think are going to unleash a lot of investment in this country. You\u2019re starting to see evidence of that \u2026 If you talk to business leaders, CEOs, both small and large businesses, everybody \u2026 sees that \u2026 [and] this country\u2019s being well-positioned \u2026 We want to make sure we do everything we can to create conditions that are favorable for growth.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 historic obstruction:\n\n\u201cOne of the reasons we\u2019ve been in so many days, so many hours, cast more votes than any Senate in history, is because the Democrats are forcing us to do everything the long way and the hard way and dragging it out. And it\u2019s unfortunate, because some of these things, they\u2019re basic functions of government \u2013 and funding the government is one of them \u2013 that you ought to be able to figure out and agree on. But [Democrats] really dug in on that and \u2026 unfortunately drug the country through the longest government shutdown in history.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cUnanimous consent is a key feature of the Senate. It takes consent to almost do anything, and [Democrats], instead of doing it that way on these routine nominees \u2013 and I wouldn\u2019t call them low-level nominees, but they\u2019re not your Cabinet-level folks \u2013 and they \u2026 forced us to use the time, burn the clock, cast the votes, and so we\u2019ve racked up a lot of votes. And it\u2019s \u2026 a sign of the times. It\u2019s unfortunate in a lot of ways, because I think it gets harder and harder to do the big things in a bipartisan way. But even when routine things are hard to get bipartisan support for, we\u2019re in a whole different place than we\u2019ve been before.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of mind-blowing \u2026 That [far-left] wing is where the energy, the money, the activism \u2026 in the party is right now, it\u2019s the progressive wing \u2026 They\u2019re very unforgiving, and they want nothing more than confrontation with Trump on every issue.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how basic the issue is or how fundamental it is to actually governing the country, [Democrats] just want to fight on everything. And it\u2019s unfortunate because \u2026 these relationships that you work to carve out and to build through the years to be able to do bipartisan things, it\u2019s getting increasingly difficult to accomplish that. I\u2019m still hopeful. And there are a few things I think that can actually be candidates for bipartisanship, but we\u2019ll see.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B299F71B-C198-44E0-94D7-513C68400AD3", "Thune: Senate Overcomes Historic Democrat Blockade to Confirm President Trump\u2019s Nominees", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I am very pleased to report that as of yesterday, the Senate has confirmed a total of 314 of President Trump\u2019s civilian nominees.\n\n\u201cAnd earlier this week I filed on another nominations package, which, when passed, will bring our total confirmations to more than 400.\n\n\u201cThat far outstrips total confirmations by this point in President Biden\u2019s term, and in President Trump\u2019s first term as well.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s particularly notable that we\u2019ve managed to beat those first-term numbers when you consider the obstacles the Democrats have put up.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve talked more than once here on the floor about Democrats\u2019 unprecedented obstruction of the president\u2019s nominees this year.\n\n\u201cAnd I really do mean unprecedented.\n\n\u201cFor decades upon decades, the Senate has expedited the consideration of large numbers of presidential nominees, confirming them by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cPresidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, for example, each had 98 percent of their civilian nominees confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote in the first term of their presidencies.\n\n\u201c98 percent.\n\n\u201cGeorge W. Bush and Barack Obama each had 90 percent.\n\n\u201cNow, it\u2019s true that Democrats substantially eroded this tradition of bipartisanship during President Trump\u2019s first term.\n\n\u201cAll of a sudden, positions that had traditionally gone by unanimous consent or voice vote were now requiring roll call votes.\n\n\u201cBut even so, both President Biden and President Trump in his first term had more than half of their nominees confirmed by voice vote.\n\n\u201cAnd then there was this year.\n\n\u201cThis year, not one single presidential nominee has been confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.\n\n\u201cNot one.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have dragged out the process on every single one of the president\u2019s nominations.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader tried to justify Democrats\u2019 historic blockade by claiming that the president\u2019s nominees have been, quote, \u2018historically bad.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe only problem with that, Mr. President, is the Democrats have supported a number of the president\u2019s nominees in committee and have even voted for some of them on the Senate floor.\n\n\u201cSo either members of the Democrat Party are supporting historically bad nominees, or something else is going on here.\n\n\u201cAnd I think we know what that is, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat something else that\u2019s going on here looks a lot like petty partisanship.\n\n\u201cMaybe you want to call it Trump Derangement Syndrome.\n\n\u201cDemocrats \u2013 and their base \u2013 still can\u2019t deal with the fact that President Trump won last November.\n\n\u201cAnd so they have held up every single one \u2013 every single one \u2013 of his nominations in revenge.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans have not been daunted.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve just continued ploughing ahead on nominations \u2013 helping us rack up a historic number of votes this year in the process.\n\n\u201cAnd in September we took steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in Senate rules what was once understood to be standard practice \u2013 and that is the Senate\u2019s acting expeditiously on largely noncontroversial presidential nominees to allow a president to get his team in place.\n\n\u201cNow both Democrat and Republican presidents will be protected from some of the partisan excesses that we\u2019ve seen from Democrats this year.\n\n\u201c2025 has been a long road, Mr. President \u2013 but I\u2019m very proud to be able to say that, at the end of it, that we are well on our way to confirming more than 400 of the president\u2019s civilian nominees.\n\n\u201cAnd that we have virtually cleared the nominations backlog by the end of his first year \u2013 in contrast to the situation at this point in President Trump\u2019s first term and in President Biden\u2019s.\n\n\u201cAnd when the Senate returns in January, I look forward to continuing to confirm additional members of the president\u2019s team, so that he can continue to do the job to which he was elected by the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=EEEB598F-698D-4975-91B3-666E42FCF73D", "Thune: Republicans Delivered Tax Relief for Working Families", "2025-12-03", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, we are four weeks away from the new year \u2013 and from the date that the 2017 tax relief for Americans was set to expire.\n\n\u201cBack in 2017, of course, Republicans passed a huge tax relief package.\n\n\u201cWe lowered tax rates for every income group.\n\n\u201cWe doubled the child tax credit.\n\n\u201cAnd we nearly doubled the standard deduction.\n\n\u201cBut all of that was scheduled to expire at the end of this year.\n\n\u201cAnd without action, Americans would have seen their tax rates increase and the child tax credit shrink by 50 percent.\n\n\u201cA typical family would have seen its taxes go up by about $1,700 a year.\n\n\u201cIn my state of South Dakota, a typical family would have seen a $2,500 tax increase.\n\n\u201cRepublicans were determined not to let that happen.\n\n\u201cAnd so a priority for 2025 became extending the 2017 tax relief.\n\n\u201cBut not just extending it \u2013 making it permanent.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t want hardworking Americans to have to worry every few years that their tax bills were suddenly going to soar.\n\n\u201cAnd so in July we passed the Working Families Tax Cut to make permanent the 2017 tax relief.\n\n\u201cWe made those lower tax rates permanent.\n\n\u201cWe made the increased standard deduction permanent.\n\n\u201cAnd we made the increased child tax credit permanent.\n\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, we didn\u2019t stop there.\n\n\u201cWe expanded the child tax credit even further \u2013 and indexed it to inflation so that its value will never go down.\n\n\u201cWe also further increased the standard deduction, exempting additional money from Americans\u2019 taxable income.\n\n\u201cAnd we added a new $6,000 bonus deduction for seniors, allowing Americans on Social Security to keep more of their money.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s still not all, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cWe eliminated taxes on tips for millions of tipped workers.\n\n\u201cUber and Lyft drivers. Hairstylists. Delivery drivers. Servers at restaurants.\n\n\u201cWe also eliminated taxes on overtime pay for millions of hourly workers.\n\n\u201cThanks to this provision, everyone from nurses and police officers to firefighters and paramedics will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money.\n\n\u201cAnd we did still more.\n\n\u201cBecause one aspect of prosperity is being able to keep more of what you earn.\n\n\u201cAnother aspect is being able to earn more.\n\n\u201cAnd so in addition to the individual tax relief, we also made permanent some of the 2017 tax law\u2019s business tax relief, to help businesses grow and create new jobs and opportunities for workers.\n\n\u201cThat included the lower tax rates for small and medium-sized businesses.\n\n\u201cThe job-creating 199A small business deduction.\n\n\u201cAnd full expensing for new equipment and for domestic research and development.\n\n\u201cAnd again, we went beyond the 2017 tax relief and added full expensing for new factories and factory improvements \u2013 so we can expect to see more goods made in America, and, again, more jobs and opportunities for American workers.\n\n\u201cWe also acted to protect countless family farms, ranches, and small businesses from the punitive death tax \u2013 and all of the headaches and expense that come with planning for it.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019m incredibly proud of what we were able to accomplish for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cWe not only averted a massive tax hike on American families, but were able to further lessen Americans\u2019 tax burden.\n\n\u201cAnd hardworking Americans can be assured that Republicans will continue to work to enhance affordability, expand opportunity, and increase prosperity.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0616C348-3F5F-4452-8ADD-A3D48C20B41A", "Thune: Republicans Restore Common Sense to Federal Regulation", "2025-12-02", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cLast month the incoming mayor of New York City \u2013 who is a leading voice in today\u2019s Democratic Party \u2013 promised New Yorkers, and I quote, \u2018We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.\u2019\n\n\u201cNo problem too large, no concern too small for government to get involved.\n\n\u201cThat was the quote, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, that\u2019s a dangerous way of thinking.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a license for government growing unbounded.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s a recipe for expanded bureaucracy and greater frustration for Americans who are just trying to live their lives.\n\n\u201cBut growing government is the driving philosophy of the Democrat Party.\n\n\u201cAnd you can just look at the Biden years.\n\n\u201cWe had the federal government mandating masks for two-year-olds \u2013 outside.\n\n\u201cNot in a building, outside \u2013 for two-year-olds!\n\n\u201cThe EPA regulating puddles and saddling farmers and ranchers with massive compliance costs \u2013 something that we experienced in my state of South Dakota.\n\n\u201cElectric vehicle mandates.\n\n\u201cIf they had had their way, by next year, Mr. President, 35 percent of the vehicles on the highway would be EVs \u2013 35 percent.\n\n\u201cYou know what that number is today? It\u2019s about 10, 11, maybe 12.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no way \u2013 no way \u2013 that could\u2019ve been complied with.\n\n\u201cAnd a reckless tax and spending spree that caused a years-long inflation crisis.\n\n\u201cInflation got up to the double-digit range, Mr. President \u2013 something that we haven\u2019t seen in several decades.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans have spent the last year cleaning up from the consequences of Democrats\u2019 big-government philosophy.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump has repealed a number of burdensome regulations and rules.\n\n\u201cAnd here in Congress, we\u2019ve used the Congressional Review Act to repeal rules, regulations, and mandates that were creeping into seemingly every facet of Americans\u2019 lives.\n\n\u201cThat includes four separate rules on appliances.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cLast year, appliances became the latest focus of Democrats\u2019 radical environmental agenda.\n\n\u201cOne rule applied expensive, unnecessary new standards to commercial fridges and freezers \u2013 the kind used in restaurants and grocery stores.\n\n\u201cThe Energy Department estimated that it would take 90 years for a business to see savings from these more expensive appliances.\n\n\u201cAnother rule sought to take gas water heaters off the market, raising costs for homeowners and imperiling American manufacturing jobs.\n\n\u201cAnd then there were the Biden administration\u2019s proposed reporting and certification requirements for everything from lightbulbs and dishwashers to dehumidifiers and air conditioners.\n\n\u201cReporting and certification requirements may not sound like much, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBut those requirements mean a lot of front-end work that has to be done \u2013 work that costs time and money, and can place a huge burden on businesses and drive up prices for consumers.\n\n\u201cIn its public comments on the Biden administration\u2019s appliance standards, Carrier, an appliance manufacturer, said the Department of Energy failed to adequately account for, and I quote, \u2018the cost and burden \u2026 to comply with updated requirements.\u2019\n\n\u201cA manufacturers\u2019 association said that the proposed reporting standards had, and I quote, \u2018no practical utility.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd another objected to what they called \u2018burden without benefit.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, thanks to Republicans\u2019 efforts, hardworking Americans and small businesses have been spared these costly regulations.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve also been able to dismantle Democrats\u2019 regulatory assault on Americans\u2019 cars.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump repealed the Biden administration\u2019s electric vehicle mandate.\n\n\u201cAnd here in Congress, we approved legislation to repeal waivers that would have allowed California to impose a de facto electric vehicle mandate on the whole country.\n\n\u201cWe also passed a CRA resolution repealing the Biden rubber tire manufacturing rule \u2013 a gross example of unnecessary regulation.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration proposed new emissions standards for tire manufacturers \u2013 an industry that\u2019s already subject to strict emissions rules.\n\n\u201cAnd the Biden rule \u2013 while it would have reduced the emission of certain pollutants \u2013 would have actually increased \u2013 increased \u2013 emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President. You can\u2019t make that up.\n\n\u201cIt would have increased emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.\n\n\u201cAnd it would have cost tire manufacturers $13 million per year \u2013 and possibly more than that.\n\n\u201cMr. President, unfortunately, these are not the only examples of the overreach of the Biden administration\u2019s Green New Deal-style regulations.\n\n\u201cNo, the Biden administration also went after energy production, heaping additional costs and restrictions on energy producers that would have driven energy costs higher and higher.\n\n\u201cEarlier this year, Republicans repealed the Biden administration\u2019s marine archeology rule.\n\n\u201cEnergy producers are already required to submit an archeological report before drilling in areas that are thought to include things like shipwrecks, settlements, and other archeological sites.\n\n\u201cBut the Biden administration wanted energy producers to submit reports even when there\u2019s no reason to suspect a project will be near an archeological site.\n\n\u201cIt was just another way to slow down production and heap more costs on energy producers \u2013 costs that would eventually have been paid by American consumers.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, Republicans repealed that rule.\n\n\u201cThen there was Democrats\u2019 natural gas tax.\n\n\u201cIn 2022, Democrats enacted a tax on methane emissions from natural gas producers \u2013 a tax that would have driven up energy prices and destroyed jobs in the energy sector.\n\n\u201cRepublicans repealed its regulatory implementation through the CRA \u2013 the Congressional Review Act \u2013 process.\n\n\u201cAnd then blocked this misguided tax in the One Big, Beautiful Bill this summer.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, our efforts continue.\n\n\u201cA few weeks ago, the Senate passed a resolution blocking the Biden administration\u2019s restrictions on energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska \u2013 an area established specifically \u2013 specifically \u2013 for the purpose of providing the United States with energy resources.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration tried to close a significant portion of it.\n\n\u201cBut when President Trump signs this resolution and repeals these restrictions, we will once again be able to leverage these abundant natural resources for the benefit of the American people.\n\n\u201cMr. President, regulations have consequences.\n\n\u201cDemocrats may believe there\u2019s nothing that couldn\u2019t be improved by a little government intervention.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans \u2013 and I think the American people \u2013 know what too often happens when government decides to get involved.\n\n\u201cAs President Reagan said 40 years ago, and I quote, \u2018the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I\u2019m from the Government, and I\u2019m here to help.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen I\u2019m talking to business owners in South Dakota, I often tell them to let me know how we can help \u2013 even if that means getting out of the way.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, that\u2019s often the right answer.\n\n\u201cWhile some regulations are necessary, too often regulations do more harm than good.\n\n\u201cAnd regulations mean costs \u2013 costs that are almost always passed on to the consumer.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are continuing our efforts to get government out of the way and to bring down costs for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=AE617CE0-0013-41DD-8A4D-8EC43B376D66", "Thune: Republicans Continue to Deliver for Working Families", "2025-12-02", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cGood afternoon, everybody. Welcome back.\n\n\u201cGet ready to buckle up for what should be a very busy last couple of weeks here this year, as we wrap up what has been a historic and very consequential legislative year.\n\n\u201cObviously, as we look at what we have to finish before the end of the year, it starts with a stack of nominees which we will be processing.\n\n\u201cI filed on those last night, and it will be a significant number of people to fill out the president\u2019s administration.\n\n\u201cAs you know, the Democrats have fought and blocked and obstructed and delayed along the way to try and prevent him from getting his team in place.\n\n\u201cIn spite of all that, we will be ahead in terms of the pace of the last two administrations when it comes to the president filling out his administration.\n\n\u201cSecondly, obviously, is the defense authorization bill.\n\n\u201cSenator Wicker, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has been working aggressively with the team on his members of the committee, the full Senate, and the House of Representatives in trying to get to the finish line there.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019ve got a lot of good work that\u2019s been done, a few issues outstanding, but I hope we\u2019ll be able to process that in the next couple of weeks as well.\n\n\u201cAnd I will tell you that [is], as you all know, one of the most important pieces of legislation that we do every year, and it fits in very consistently with the president\u2019s peace-through-strength agenda.\n\n\u201cAnd then we\u2019ve got appropriations, and we\u2019re trying to get another appropriations package up on the floor.\n\n\u201cWe processed three bills earlier this year, as you all know.\n\n\u201cWe have another minibus, if you will, of appropriations bills that we\u2019re trying to get consent.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m hoping that we will get to that here soon and be able to proceed forward on the appropriations process.\n\n\u201cBut it has been a very busy and consequential year.\n\n\u201cPassage of the Working Families Tax Cut Act has avoided what would be, at the start of next year for a lot of families in this country, a huge tax increase \u2013 $4.4 trillion overall, 2.6 trillion of which would fall on \u2026 working families in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd that was done as part of the Working Families Tax Cut Act, as were a number of other things that are going to be important to working families, and we\u2019ll get an opportunity to talk about that this next year.\n\n\u201cAnd I guess I would just say finally that, as we proceed, we are going to continue to keep our foot on the gas.\n\n\u201cThis Republican majority is committed to working on an agenda, in partnership with President Trump and the administration and his team, that will make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous.\n\n\u201cAnd so we\u2019re going to continue pushing forward.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B4FFF598-44B8-4456-83FE-5C475A29856B", "Thune Sets the Record Straight on Democrats\u2019 Health Care Spin", "2025-12-02", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Democrat leader was just talking about health care, and obviously there\u2019s been a lot of conversation around that here these past few weeks and months.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the Democrats shut down the government for 43 days, the longest shutdown in history, allegedly over health care \u2013 although I think we all know that it was Trump Derangement Syndrome, more than anything else, that led to the government shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut I would just say \u2026 sometimes you have to kind of take a walk down memory lane to remind people that facts are stubborn things.\n\n\u201cAnd facts are stubborn things.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader implied that Republicans are not interested in lowering health care costs, and that somehow [Democrats] are.\n\n\u201cThe contrary is actually the truth.\n\n\u201cIf you look at what has happened since the Obamacare exchanges went live over 10 years ago, health care premiums on the exchanges have gone up, on average, 221 percent.\n\n\u201c221 percent increase, Mr. President, in health care premiums in the individual marketplace on the Obamacare exchanges.\n\n\u201cNow, you might ask, why is that?\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of reasons behind it.\n\n\u201cWhen they put the law into place in the first place, it was flawed structurally.\n\n\u201cBut then he referred to these so-called Biden COVID bonuses, which were the enhancements that the Democrats now want to lock into place.\n\n\u201cNow remember, this was done in 2021 with a Democrat majority, Democrat in the White House, under reconciliation \u2013 so there wasn\u2019t a single Republican who voted for these enhancements in the first place.\n\n\u201cBut remember, they were enhancements designed to be responsive to the pandemic.\n\n\u201cThey were COVID bonuses, only supposed to be temporary.\n\n\u201cAnd then in 2022 they extended them again and set them up to expire at the end of this year.\n\n\u201cThis is a problem of Democrats\u2019 making, Mr. President, pure and simple.\n\n\u201cAnd so to suggest for a moment that Republicans somehow aren\u2019t interested in lowering health care costs when, in fact, it\u2019s Democrat policies that have led to the run-up, the rampant increase, 221 percent increase in premiums since the exchanges went live over 10 years ago?\n\n\u201cYou find me anything else in our economy that\u2019s seen that kind of an increase over that same time period, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a staggering increase.\n\n\u201cAnd the Biden COVID bonuses that were enacted with all Democrat votes in 2021, and then extended again in 2022, and are set to expire at the end of this year, were, again, designed to be a response to a COVID emergency which no longer exists.\n\n\u201cSo what has happened?\n\n\u201cThey locked in the Biden COVID bonuses that are set to expire at the end of this year, and they expect Republicans now to bail them out.\n\n\u201cWell, frankly, Mr. President, Republicans are interested in things that will drive down and lower health care costs.\n\n\u201cThe other thing they did in 2022, which is sort of interesting, is that the base Obamacare policies covered people up to 400 percent of the poverty level.\n\n\u201cWell, today that\u2019s about, for a family of four, $128,000.\n\n\u201cSo in the exchanges, you could get coverage, and if your health care insurance premiums, you had a certain percentage of your income, anything above and beyond that was covered by a government subsidy.\n\n\u201cAnd that is, in fact, the way that it worked prior to 2021.\n\n\u201cThe Biden COVID bonuses took that cap off, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThere is no cap.\n\n\u201cNo cap!\n\n\u201cAnd so now you have people making $500,000, $600,000 a year who are getting subsidies from the federal government to buy insurance.\n\n\u201cThe other thing they did, Mr. President \u2026 there\u2019s what\u2019s called zero-dollar policies, or zero-dollar premiums.\n\n\u201cIn other words, there are people out there who pay nothing for coverage.\n\n\u201cTheir coverage is entirely covered by the federal government through the subsidy.\n\n\u201cWell, what that\u2019s done, and because the way the program\u2019s structured \u2013 they structured it \u2013 is to provide the subsidies directly to insurance companies.\n\n\u201cThis is called, falsely, a premium tax credit.\n\n\u201cIt is not a tax credit.\n\n\u201cA tax credit would be something that would lower tax liability, dollar for dollar, when you file your income taxes.\n\n\u201cThis is a subsidy, a direct subsidy.\n\n\u201cAnd so you have literally millions of people \u2013 millions of people, Mr. President \u2013 who have no idea they\u2019re covered, because they aren\u2019t paying anything for it.\n\n\u201cAnd the insurance companies are getting the payment.\n\n\u201cSo the insurance companies are incentivized to go out and auto-enroll all these people across the country.\n\n\u201cAnd so what you have today are literally millions of people, of the 23 to 24 million people who get their coverage in the exchanges, millions of those have no idea that they are even covered.\n\n\u201cBecause the insurance company is getting the subsidy, auto-enrolling them, which might explain why, last year, 40 percent of the people who get their insurance coverage through the exchanges didn\u2019t file a claim.\n\n\u201cNow, you could say maybe they\u2019re healthy, maybe they\u2019re younger \u2013 that\u2019s all partially true.\n\n\u201cBut do you think 40 percent of the people in the exchanges didn\u2019t file a claim?\n\n\u201cI mean, think about that.\n\n\u201cThat means there are literally millions of people out there, millions of people who don\u2019t know they have coverage, and the insurance companies are getting the payments and making bank at the expense of everybody else in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd those who are paying premiums [are] seeing those premiums go up, as I said, 221 percent since these exchanges went live 10 years ago.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, this is not something the Republicans \u2013 they say, they blame the Republicans for the health care crisis.\n\n\u201cThe health care crisis was created by Democrats with all Democrat votes in 2021, and then again in 2022!\n\n\u201cSetting them up to expire at the end of this year, and with no income limits and zero-dollar premiums and the subsidies going directly to the insurance companies instead of into the pockets of the American people.\n\n\u201cNow, there is a way better way to do this, but it\u2019s going to take cooperation from both sides to do that.\n\n\u201cAnd it seems to me, at least, Mr. President, what the Democrats would rather have than a solution is an issue.\n\n\u201cThey want a political issue, and they want to blame Republicans.\n\n\u201cBut you have to come back to the basic premise that facts are stubborn things.\n\n\u201cThese are the facts.\n\n\u201c2021, these Biden COVID bonuses went into effect, lifted the cap, so no longer, there\u2019s no cap.\n\n\u201cSo you can get, you know, unlimited amounts of income and still get coverage in the exchanges.\n\n\u201cZero-dollar premiums, so some people are \u2026 paying nothing, they\u2019re paying nothing for their health insurance premiums.\n\n\u201cAnd insurance companies who are incentivized to auto-enroll those very people; in many cases, those people have no idea they\u2019re covered.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a \u2026 pretty amazing contraption, if you will \u2013 and, some would argue, scam \u2013 on behalf of the insurance companies in this country, but certainly to the detriment of the American people, who do need more affordable coverage.\n\n\u201cThey need to be able to afford health care along with the other things that they buy on a daily basis.\n\n\u201cAnd people need access to health care in this country, Mr. President, and they need affordability when it comes to health care in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd so I would say, Mr. President, that there is a path forward here.\n\n\u201cIt can\u2019t happen unless there are significant reforms, because you can\u2019t have people who are making unlimited amounts of money being able to qualify for government subsidies in these exchanges.\n\n\u201cNor should you have, in my view, people who pay absolutely nothing, not one dollar \u2013 not one dollar \u2013 for coverage, getting coverage, and insurance companies being incentivized, because they get a subsidy for doing it, to cover these very people who don\u2019t even know they\u2019re covered.\n\n\u201cThat is a really, really bizarre business model.\n\n\u201cI mean, you couldn\u2019t make this stuff up.\n\n\u201cAnd now Democrats are saying, \u2018Oh, we created this, but it\u2019s your problem. Please, please fix it. Or, if you don\u2019t \u2013 if you don\u2019t do something that will extend this program that has costs, premiums that continue to go up like this for the American people \u2013 we will use it against you in a political campaign, as a political issue.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat is the state of play right now, Mr. President, which is why we need a solution \u2013 and a solution that brings us back to where the American people have options.\n\n\u201cWhere there are some sort of income limits.\n\n\u201cWhere there are people at least paying something for their coverage.\n\n\u201cWhere the insurance companies aren\u2019t being enriched at the expense of the American people.\n\n\u201cWhere the American people have choices and options to get the plan that they want that works for them and for their families.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a business model that works \u2013 competition, optionality, market forces, driving down prices, giving the American people more choices to buy the insurance they want at a price that they can afford.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is a business model.\n\n\u201cThe business model that we\u2019re operating under today was created by the Democrats, and now there\u2019s some expectation that somehow the Republicans are supposed to come here and fix the problem that they created.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=490D3215-A968-4D71-9BC4-D531D259A0D8", "Thune: After Shutdown Turbulence, Air Travel Modernization Is Ready for Takeoff", "2025-12-01", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.\n\n\u201cMore than 80 million Americans traveled for the holiday last week.\n\n\u201cAnd while most of them packed up the car and hit the road, about 6 million Americans boarded planes to spend the holiday with relatives and friends across the country.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m sure all of them were breathing a sigh of relief that the government shutdown was over and that air traffic control had resumed normal operations before their trips.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the impact on air travel was one of the most visible aspects of the chaos that ensued during the Democrats\u2019 43-day government shutdown.\n\n\u201cFlights were snarled throughout the shutdown, but it got progressively worse as the shutdown drug on.\n\n\u201cBy the time Democrats\u2019 shutdown entered its second month, the FAA was forced to order \u2026 cutbacks in air traffic as a matter of safety.\n\n\u201cAnd more would have been required if we hadn\u2019t been able to finally reopen the government when we did.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, I\u2019m relieved that air traffic was able to get back to normal levels before the holiday travel surge.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful to the thousands of air traffic controllers who were on duty during the shutdown without pay, and who work hard every day to keep planes moving quickly and safely.\n\n\u201cThey have an important job, and I know that every controller shares a commitment to putting safety first \u2013 whether it\u2019s a normal day, the middle of a snowstorm, or a government shutdown.\n\n\u201cMr. President, even before the shutdown, our air traffic control system was facing challenges.\n\n\u201cAnd modernization efforts have been a priority for both the Trump administration and for Congress this year.\n\n\u201cBefore the holiday, the Commerce Committee\u2019s Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing that examined air traffic operations during the shutdown as well as the challenges that existed prior to the shutdown and that still exist today.\n\n\u201cAnd I appreciate Chairman Moran\u2019s attention to these important issues.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful that my colleagues are taking the time to delve into the challenges facing air traffic control.\n\n\u201cAt least our Republican colleagues, Mr. President, are taking the time.\n\n\u201cThe lead Democrat on that panel called the hearing \u2018political theater,\u2019 and Democrats\u2019 witness for the Aviation Subcommittee talked only about \u2013 get this \u2013 Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cObamacare.\n\n\u201cA hearing to examine air traffic safety and air traffic control \u2013 and that was the only witness the Democrats asked to come and testify.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m hoping this was a one-time political [stunt] and not an indication of the attitude the Democrats are going to take going forward.\n\n\u201cBecause we have a lot more work to do on this issue.\n\n\u201cRepublicans remain focused on improving air travel and safety, and that hearing was just one part of our continued efforts.\n\n\u201cEarlier this year, Republicans took a major step forward in air traffic modernization with the One Big Beautiful Bill, which made a significant investment in technology improvements for the air traffic system.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the systems being used in air traffic control towers today are in desperate need of an update.\n\n\u201cThis funding will help to deploy state-of-the-art technology to towers across America.\n\n\u201cOne example of the need for modernization is what happened at the Newark airport \u2013 one of the busiest airports in the country \u2013 earlier this year.\n\n\u201cIn April and May, Newark experienced equipment outages that led to major flight delays and significant disruptions in air travel.\n\n\u201cThe Trump administration moved quickly to address these issues and bring Newark back to full strength, but the underlying issue is aging technology across the air traffic control system.\n\n\u201cIssues that are only exacerbated when adverse conditions strike, such as severe weather or the recent government shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe investment from the One Big Beautiful Bill will go a long way toward solving the underlying technology problems and will strengthen the entire system.\n\n\u201cMr. President, another challenge is the shortage of air traffic controllers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re almost 4,000 controllers short of full strength, which means that controllers at a number of airports need to work longer hours and more shifts to keep the system going.\n\n\u201cAddressing this shortfall has been a priority for the Trump administration, which has devoted attention to hiring and training additional controllers.\n\n\u201cI appreciate that the administration managed to keep hiring and training operations going throughout the shutdown, which lessened the potential long-term consequences for America\u2019s skies.\n\n\u201cRepublicans and Democrats here in Congress are focused, too, on supporting hiring and training efforts.\n\n\u201cAnd this year\u2019s transportation funding bill \u2013 which I hope to take up in the near future \u2013 supports sustained hiring and training to add 2,500 new controllers next year.\n\n\u201cMr. President, upgrading outdated technology and adding new air traffic controllers will make a big difference for the traveling public and for supply chains that rely on air cargo.\n\n\u201cAnd it will help deliver a more modern air traffic system capable of providing more efficient and safer skies for all Americans.\n\n\u201cThings won\u2019t be fixed overnight, but thanks to the Trump administration and our continued efforts in Congress, we are making progress toward a state-of-the-art air traffic control system for America.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019m glad that the system is back at full strength after the shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re working to make it stronger every day.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E89AC80D-8730-493F-8FB7-51B16BCF2D6F", "Thune on the Horrific Attack on National Guard Members", "2025-12-01", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cI want to express my profound sorrow over the death of West Virginia National Guard member Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.\n\n\u201cSarah was one of two National Guard members shot in a targeted attack here in Washington, D.C., on the day before Thanksgiving.\n\n\u201cThe other Guard member, Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, is hospitalized in grave condition, and my prayers are with him and his family, as well as with the family of Specialist Beckstrom.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old.\n\n\u201cAndrew Wolfe is just 24.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re both at an age when many are, quite naturally, figuring out their path in life.\n\n\u201cBut Sarah and Andrew chose early.\n\n\u201cAnd they chose service.\n\n\u201cService, up to and including the sacrifice of their lives for their country and their fellow citizens.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable thing, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd may we never forget how much we owe men and women like Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom.\n\n\u201cAgain, my prayers are with the family of Specialist Beckstrom.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m praying for Staff Sergeant Wolfe\u2019s full and swift recovery.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-issues-statement-on-russia/ukraine-peace-negotiations", "Rounds Issues Statement on Russia/Ukraine Peace Negotiations", "2025-11-22", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) issued the following statement on peace negotiations with Russia and Ukraine:\n\n\u201cI appreciate Secretary Rubio briefing us earlier today on their efforts to bring about peace by relying on input from both Russia and Ukraine to arrive at a final deal.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-digital-permitting-bill-passes-committee", "Johnson\u2019s Digital Permitting Bill Passes Committee", "2025-11-21", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 The House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed the ePermit Act, led by U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA). This legislation would modernize the permitting process.\n\n\u201cIt takes too long to build in America,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the work of the Natural Resources Committee to advance my bill that will help America build again. I look forward to moving this bill forward in Congress to modernize our permitting system and unlock development and innovation in our communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cH.R. 4503, the ePermit Act, will modernize outdated permitting systems and streamline how agencies coordinate reviews,\u201d said Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR). \u201cBy moving to electronic permitting, we can reduce delays, improve communication, and give project applicants a clear and predictable process. I applaud Representative Johnson for spearheading this bipartisan effort to modernize permitting technology, and I look forward to working with him to move this bill forward in Congress.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur permitting system is still burdened by an outdated, paper-based processes that slow down the projects Americans are counting on \u2014 from transportation and broadband to clean energy and climate-resilient infrastructure,\u201d said Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA). \u201cThe ePermit Act moves us toward a modern, efficient, fully digital permitting system that will cut red tape, and today\u2019s passage brings us one step closer to delivering results faster. As energy costs continue to rise across the country, it\u2019s important we meet the growing demand for electrification, data centers, and clean-tech manufacturing. I look forward to continuing this momentum and working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to meet the growing demand in California, and across our country, and get this over the finish line.\u201d\n\nWhat industry leaders are saying about the ePermit Act:\n\n\u201cWe applaud Representatives Dusty Johnson and Scott Peters for their innovative approach to modernizing the federal permitting process through the ePermit Act. By establishing a digital permitting portal and standardized data framework for permitting documents, this legislation will enhance clarity, uniformity, and efficiency across federal agencies. It will also improve transparency, facilitate real-time collaboration, and ensure better public access, ultimately streamlining the permitting process and our ability to develop critical infrastructure that will benefit Americans across the country,\u201d saidChad Whiteman, Vice President, Environment and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.\n\n\u201cAmerican Council of Engineering Companies, the business voice of the nation\u2019s engineering industry, supports passage of H.R. 4503, the ePermit Act and applauds Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) for their leadership on this important bipartisan legislation. The ePermit Act will modernize how federal agencies use technology to facilitate more efficient and timely federal permitting decisions. If passed, the bill will help to cut red tape by enhancing transparency, improving stakeholder engagement, and facilitating efficient interagency collaboration.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur outdated permitting process is incapable of meeting the challenge of rising demand. This bipartisan bill will ensure federal agencies leverage technology to speed up environmental reviews. It's a critical piece of the broader permitting reform necessary to let America build,\u201d said Jeremy Harrell, CEO, ClearPath Action.\n\n\u201cManufacturers continue to support permitting reform to unleash American manufacturing competitiveness. The ePermit Act will increase efficiency and transparency in the permitting process, making it easier for manufacturers to push beyond the red tape, grow facilities and create jobs,\u201d saidCharles Crain, Managing Vice President of Policy, National Association of Manufacturers.\n\n\u201cNational Association of Home Builders commends Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) for introducing the ePermit Act, legislation that would address housing affordability challenges by improving and expediting the environmental review and permitting processes. Permitting roadblocks delay housing projects and raise construction costs. This legislation will bring clarity, efficiency and certainty to the permitting process by requiring the use of electronic permitting platforms,\u201d saidBuddy Hughes, Chairman, National Association of Home Builders.\n\n\"The American Petroleum Institute supports the ePermit Act as a critical step toward modernizing the nation\u2019s outdated permitting system. By improving the process and enhancing transparency through digital tools, this legislation will improve efficiency to support the energy projects we need to meet rising demand. We commend Representatives Peters and Johnson for their leadership in advancing American energy and for spearheading efforts to bring federal permitting into the 21st century,\u201d said Kristin WhitmanSenior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs at American Petroleum Institute.\n\n\u201cBPC Action celebrates the bipartisan efforts of Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) to optimize technology to modernize federal environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects involving roads, bridges, mines, factories, power plants, and more. The ePermit Act, introduced today, will provide greater transparency and predictability on environmental review and permitting schedules for sponsors and stakeholders. We commend this small, but important, step forward to improve our permitting processes,\u201d saidMichele Stockwell, President, Bipartisan Policy Center Action.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-king-seek-maximum-h-2b-work-visas-to-support-small-businesses-in-2026", "Rounds, King Seek Maximum H-2B Work Visas to Support Small Businesses in 2026", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine) recently sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) requesting that they release the maximum allowable number of additional H-2B visas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, consistent with the previous three years. Rounds and King are joined by 31 of their colleagues in the Senate.\n\nH-2B visas fill needs for American small businesses when there are not enough American workers to fill the temporary, seasonal positions. As required by law, employers must first make a concerted effort to hire American workers to fill open positions. When the local workforce is insufficient, H-2B visas are used to employ workers to support local businesses and economies.\n\n\u201cChronic labor shortages\u2014faced by seasonal U.S. employers throughout the nation\u2019s history\u2014have been exacerbated by the post-pandemic evolution of the American workforce,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cAs this need grows, so does the pressure on U.S. workers, whose employers\u2019 workforce needs cannot be met with American workers alone. The H-2B program places requirements on employers to recruit U.S. workers, who are intentionally prioritized by the program and receive demonstrated, positive impacts from their seasonal colleagues.\u201d\n\n\u201cAn efficient analysis, issuance of a rule, and release of these visas allows the supplemental tranche of H-2B visas to meet the seasonal market demand during the market cycles when they are most needed,\u201d continued the senators. \u201cWe thank you for your continued support\u2014in recognizing the vital benefit to the economy of these seasonal, temporary work visas\u2014and we are hopeful the maximum allowable FY26 supplemental visas will promptly be released pursuant to Congressional authority and in the same manner as in the three previous years.\u201d\n\nThe letter was also signed by Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Chris Van Hollen (D- Md.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).\n\nThe full text of the letter can be found HERE or below.\n\n+++\n\nDear Secretary Noem and Secretary Chavez-DeRemer,\n\nWe write on behalf of the seasonal businesses in our states who lack sufficient employees to support their operations and sustain their businesses. In light of these labor shortages, we respectfully urge that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), utilize the authority provided by Congress in the current Continuing Resolution to release the maximum allowable number of additional H-2B for Fiscal Year 2026. These visas will allow employers to supplement their U.S. workforce to keep their businesses open, as well as provide additional certainty regarding their workforce planning decisions in the coming months.\n\nChronic labor shortages\u2014faced by seasonal U.S. employers throughout the nation\u2019s history\u2014have been exacerbated by the post-pandemic evolution of the American workforce. As this need grows, so does the pressure on U.S. workers, whose employers\u2019 workforce needs cannot be met with American workers alone. The H-2B program places requirements on employers to recruit U.S. workers, who are intentionally prioritized by the program and receive demonstrated, positive impacts from their seasonal colleagues. In fact, a 2020 Government Accountability Office report concluded that \u201ccounties with H-2B employers generally had lower unemployment rates and higher average weekly wages than counties that do not have any H-2B employers.\u201d Issuing the extra discretionary H-2B visas in a timely manner will help alleviate these workforce shortages and, in doing so, will help create and sustain the jobs of American workers who rely on the H-2B workers to support their duties during their peak seasons.\n\nIt is important to note that supplemental visas are set aside specifically for either returning workers or workers from Northern Central American (NCA) countries. Many returning workers are those who return to their qualified employer each year and are core members of their respective organizations, supplementing and supporting U.S. workers. NCA workers are carved out with a special tranche of visas to help foster regional stability in these impoverished nations. In addition, H-2B workers return to their home country at the end of the season and then use the legal process to return to the qualified U.S. employer for the next season. This exemption for NCA countries was initially introduced during President Trump\u2019s first term, allowing many seasonal businesses to invest in these workers, even as they continue to work with the returning workers eligible under the parameters of the supplemental tranche of H-2B visas.\n\nAn efficient analysis, issuance of a rule, and release of these visas allows the supplemental tranche of H-2B visas to meet the seasonal market demand during the market cycles when they are most needed. We thank you for your continued support\u2014in recognizing the vital benefit to the economy of these seasonal, temporary work visas\u2014and we are hopeful the maximum allowable FY26 supplemental visas will promptly be released pursuant to Congressional authority and in the same manner as in the three previous years.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C17B7453-A649-4B09-A6CD-461908E82EA7", "Thune: Back to Regular Order", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve spoken a lot over the years about the need for a strong military.\n\n\u201cI believe that keeping America at the cutting edge of military capabilities is one of the most important responsibilities we have in Congress.\n\n\u201cAnd I often say that, if we don\u2019t get national security right, the rest is conversation.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the need for a strong national defense has been put into stark relief over the last few years as the world has grown more dangerous \u2013 and as we\u2019ve seen serious gaps in our own preparedness.\n\n\u201cAnd after four years of underinvestment during the Biden administration, Republicans made it clear that we would work to put our military back on the right track by investing in modernization to ensure our military is ready for today\u2019s threats \u2013 and tomorrow\u2019s.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve followed through on that promise since taking office at the beginning of this year.\n\n\u201cThat began with a major investment in our military capabilities in the One Big Beautiful Bill.\n\n\u201cWe also prioritized passing the Senate\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act, which includes significant reforms to weapons-buying as well as more than 100 amendments adopted through regular order on the Senate floor.\n\n\u201cAnd this week, we continue those efforts with the defense appropriations bill, which will provide the resources to continue our mission of rebuilding our military capabilities.\n\n\u201cMr. President, that starts with the men and women serving in uniform.\n\n\u201cThis bill funds a 3.8 percent pay raise for our troops, and it supports military members and their families with investments in housing, child care, and education for military families.\n\n\u201cIt also funds bonuses that will hopefully help to ensure that we can sustain the record-setting recruitment success we\u2019ve had this year \u2013 a complete turnaround, I might add, from the recruitment challenges of the not-so-distant past.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the defense funding bill makes critical investments that will help ensure our service members have the military capabilities that they need to meet the challenges of the 21st century.\n\n\u201cAnd that includes funding shipbuilding efforts and expanding our Air Force fleet.\n\n\u201cAccelerating delivery of the Golden Dome for America.\n\n\u201cAnd investing in munitions, drones, and emerging technologies.\n\n\u201cI do want to emphasize though that while this bill \u2013 and the One Big Beautiful Bill \u2013 make important investments in rebuilding our military, this can\u2019t be a one-time exercise.\n\n\u201cThese are the types of investments that we will need to sustain in the coming years if we want our enemies to think twice before attacking us.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I appreciate the work that our colleagues have done to produce a robust funding bill.\n\n\u201cThis bill reflects the priorities and input of a lot of senators, and it\u2019s garnered significant bipartisan support \u2013 coming out of the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 26 to 3.\n\n\u201cAnd, Mr. President, it\u2019s not the only one.\n\n\u201cThe Appropriations Committee \u2013 under the leadership of Chair Collins \u2013 has advanced a number of bipartisan full-year funding bills.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already brought three of those bills to the floor under an open process.\n\n\u201cWe passed them in August \u2013 the earliest the Senate has passed appropriations bills since 2018.\n\n\u201cAnd that package was signed into law last week.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s how, Mr. President, the appropriations process is supposed to work.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s not how it was working the last few years under the Democrat majority.\n\n\u201cSo, when I became majority leader, I made it clear that I wanted to get back to regular order.\n\n\u201cAnd, as I said, we were making progress on that this year.\n\n\u201cThat is, until Democrats needlessly chose to shut down the government.\n\n\u201cBefore the shutdown, we were getting ready to bring the defense funding bill to the floor.\n\n\u201cWe just needed a few more weeks under a continuing resolution so we could finish our work.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats took advantage of the situation for leverage, and they kept the government shut down \u2013 and appropriations work halted \u2013 for 43 days.\n\n\u201cMr. President, despite their recent actions, I know that a number of my Democrat colleagues do share Republicans\u2019 interest in seeing regular order restored.\n\n\u201cWell, now it\u2019s time to act like it.\n\n\u201cAs I said before, during, and now after the shutdown, this is our chance for regular order.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have time to waste.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already wasted a lot of time on a completely avoidable government shutdown.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, let\u2019s get to work.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C25D1159-406D-4CED-85CF-6922E54A2578", "Thune: Regular Order Is the Path to a Stronger, Safer America", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cAlthough it was totally unnecessary, the shutdown is over.\n\n\u201cAnd thankfully, after 43 days, we had enough Democrats who concluded that continuing to punish the American people wasn\u2019t the right way to deal with the challenges that face our country.\n\n\u201cAnd so we\u2019re all very pleased that we are out of the shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd of course, the question now is, what comes next?\n\n\u201cAnd I think, at least here in the Senate, we have a lot of things, as you know, we have to get done.\n\n\u201cThe defense authorization bill, which has passed the Senate, is now being conferenced with the House, and when that conference is complete, we want to get that across the floor of the Senate.\n\n\u201cWe have another nominations package we need to clear before the end of the year.\n\n\u201cAnd of course, we want to get the appropriations process moving again.\n\n\u201cIt got slowed down during the shutdown, unfortunately, and as a consequence of that, we\u2019ve got a lot of ground to make up.\n\n\u201cBut as you all know, we did pass the three appropriations bills \u2026 MilCon-VA, Ag, and Leg Branch.\n\n\u201cSo three of the 12 are now law, and those three we got across the floor of the Senate before August, which is the first time that\u2019s happened since 2018.\n\n\u201cSo, as you all know, we are very committed to regular order on appropriations.\n\n\u201cWe think that\u2019s the best way to fund the government \u2013 rather than having an omnibus bill written in the leader\u2019s office or a year-long CR.\n\n\u201cGoing through a normal appropriations process where the committee marks up bills, has input from all the members on the committee, reports them to the floor, and there\u2019s an open process, transparent process on the floor, we think is the best way to fund the government.\n\n\u201cAnd so, the challenge now is to get the next package ready to go \u2013 starting, we\u2019ve got the defense appropriations bill ready.\n\n\u201cWe tried to move to that during the shutdown, the Democrats blocked it, we want to get on that.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re also trying to clear four other appropriations bills to put together a minibus that we could act on here in the Senate, so we\u2019re working through those holds.\n\n\u201cBut I would just urge everybody who is interested in actually having the government funded through the traditional appropriations process to try and work constructively to get these bills up on the floor.\n\n\u201cTo let us get on them and have an amendment process, and try and process them in a way that enables us to fund the government through the appropriations process \u2013 as opposed to, as I said, either a continuing resolution or an omnibus or something like that.\n\n\u201cThose are not solutions that are good for the country, and they\u2019re certainly not good for this institution or for the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cWe want to do it the old-fashioned way.\n\n\u201cSo, that\u2019s what we intend to be working on over the course of the next several weeks, and I\u2019m hopeful we\u2019ll have more progress to report.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-votes-release-epstein-files", "Johnson Votes to Release Epstein Files", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) voted to release the Epstein files.\n\n\u201cJeffrey Epstein committed heinous, evil crimes. I voted to release the Epstein files, which I\u2019ve consistently supported for months,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe all want transparency, and for any person found guilty to face the full force of justice. My heart goes out to the victims, and I hope proper action is taken to protect their identities.\u201d\n\nIn September, Johnson voted to continue the House Oversight Committee\u2019s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nThe Oversight Committee\u2019s investigation has:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=69AA1603-F36C-4271-80BD-5936F5E2C3BA", "Thune: Americans Deserve Better Than Democrats\u2019 Shutdown Dysfunction", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, after 43 days, the longest government shutdown in history is over.\n\n\u201cShellshocked government employees are getting paid again.\n\n\u201cThe air travel situation is improving.\n\n\u201cNutrition programs are back on a secure footing.\n\n\u201cBut the damage remains.\n\n\u201cHow many of those government employees now getting paid again are staring at credit card debt taken on to cover necessities during the month and a half they worked without pay?\n\n\u201cTheir newly restored salaries don\u2019t contain extra to cover the interest on that debt.\n\n\u201cHow many small businesses are struggling thanks to the hit that their business took during the shutdown?\n\n\u201cHow long is it going to take to catch up on the 43-day backlog in government services that the shutdown created?\n\n\u201cThe pain this shutdown caused was immense.\n\n\u201cAnd all of it, Mr. President \u2026 all of it could have been so easily avoided.\n\n\u201cRepublicans offered Democrats a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.\n\n\u201cWe did not make a single demand.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t ask for a single partisan policy.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t add a single partisan policy rider.\n\n\u201cWe simply asked Democrats to extend current funding levels for a few weeks so that we could continue bipartisan work on appropriations.\n\n\u201cInstead, Democrats chose to plunge the country into chaos because the far left of their party demanded a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAll of this pain? All of this profound financial stress? All of this economic damage?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s because the far left demanded a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats fell in line.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s disturbing enough that the Democrat Party was willing to shut down the government for 43 days \u2013 by far the longest government shutdown in history.\n\n\u201cBut what is even more disturbing is the fact that a number of Democrats were prepared to let this shutdown continue even longer.\n\n\u201cEven as lines stretched around the block at food banks and air travel grew ever more precarious, progressive Democrats pushed to embrace the shutdown \u2026 forever, as far as I can tell.\n\n\u201cThe senior senator from Vermont published an op-ed calling for a continued shutdown and continued opposition to President Trump \u2013 even though the president had exactly nothing to do with the clean funding extension that Republicans were proposing.\n\n\u201cAnd the junior senator from Connecticut spent the last week of the shutdown advocating for continuing it and fretting that ending it would damage Democrats\u2019 \u2018brand.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 brand.\n\n\u201cNeither senator seemed to spend a minute seriously considering the incredible damage their shutdown was doing to hardworking Americans and to our country.\n\n\u201cIndeed, as we know from their own words, a lot of Democrats saw the pain of working people as leverage for Democrats in this shutdown \u2013 a useful tool to be deployed to advance the Democrats\u2019 political goals.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I am grateful that we finally got eight Democrats to join Republicans to reopen the government \u2013 and to spare the American people from further pain.\n\n\u201cBut the fact that a month and a half into this shutdown, 39 Democrats still voted to keep the government closed remains deeply disturbing.\n\n\u201cAre Democrats going to continue hamstringing the necessary work of government at the behest of the far left?\n\n\u201cAre their partisan politics going to continue to obstruct the government\u2019s functioning?\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of work left to do \u2013 starting with the need to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year beyond January 30.\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot more we could accomplish too \u2013 from improving our health care system to passing a farm bill.\n\n\u201cBut not if the vast majority of the Democrat Party continues to put partisan politics above the wellbeing of the American people.\n\n\u201cI hope Democrats will be content with their record-breaking 43-day shutdown and will now be able to turn back to the business of the American people.\n\n\u201cThe American people deserve better than the past month and more \u2026 of Democrat-imposed misery.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-statement-ending-government-shutdown", "Johnson\u2019s Statement on Ending the Government Shutdown", "2025-11-13", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) released the following statement after voting again to fund the government and end the longest government shutdown in American history:\n\n\u201cThis was the dumbest government shutdown in history,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cUnnecessary pain was inflicted on the American people, our economy, and our national security. I am grateful for the Democrats who were willing to partner with Republicans to open our government. I\u2019ve been vocal in calling for the shutdown to end, and I introduced legislation that would prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-issues-statement-following-senates-passage-of-continuing-resolution-appropriations-package", "Rounds Issues Statement Following Senate\u2019s Passage of Continuing Resolution, Appropriations Package", "2025-11-11", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) issued a statement following the Senate\u2019s passage of a continuing resolution (CR) combined with three of the Senate\u2019s appropriations bills for FY2026:\n\n\u201cAfter 41 long days in a government shutdown, the Senate finally passed a CR to reopen the government. This CR continues current levels of government funding until January 30, 2026 and includes three of our appropriations bills in a package known as a \u2018minibus.\u2019 It now heads to the House of Representatives for final passage before being signed into law by the President.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased that the final deal to end the shutdown included three of our twelve regular order appropriations bills: Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA); Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Agriculture); and Legislative Branch. These bills have been conferenced with the House of Representatives and are ready to be signed into law as soon as they pass the House. These bipartisan, regular order appropriations bills represent exactly how the Senate should work. I\u2019m particularly pleased to have secured $21.9 million in projects for South Dakota in these bills, $17.7 million of which is for construction to support the bed down of the B-21 at Ellsworth. We now have until January 30 to work through the remaining nine bills. Five of these have already been passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s now time to move forward and continue working on our regular order appropriations process, but we can\u2019t ignore the devastating effect that six weeks of a government shutdown has had on our nation. This purely political shutdown was disastrous for the American people and should not have happened in the first place. Thousands of federal workers have gone without pay, millions of families have had the federal benefits they use to feed their children put at risk and our air travel system has been thrown into complete chaos. It\u2019s my hope that these families who have suffered real damaging effects can move forward with their lives. We must work hard in the Senate to prevent a shutdown like this from happening again.\u201d\n\nRounds has served on the Senate Committee on Appropriations since January 2025. He serves on the Subcommittees for all three of the bills that passed the Senate on Monday night. Read a list of Rounds\u2019 wins in the MilCon-VA and Agriculture appropriations bills below:\n\nMilCon-VA:\n\nIncludes five of Rounds\u2019 Congressionally Designated Spending (CDS) requests totaling $19.4 million:\n\n$4.8 million for planning and design for the Weapons Generation Facility Dormitory on Ellsworth Air Force Base (B-21 infrastructure).\n\n$3.5 million for planning and design of the Communications Center on Ellsworth Air Force Base (B-21 infrastructure).\n\n$4 million for (11) new munitions storage magazines on Ellsworth Air Force Base (supports Global Strike Command mission requirements and B-21 infrastructure).\n\n$5.4 million for (2) munitions storage magazines on Ellsworth Air Force Base (supports Global Strike Command mission requirements and B-21 infrastructure).\n\n$1.7 million for aircraft maintenance hangar on Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls.\n\nFully funds South Dakota military projects at Ellsworth and in Watertown authorized by the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act:\n\n$63 million for B-21 ADD Flight Simulator 2\n\n$71 million for B-21 Alert Facility\n\n$88 million for B-21 Environmental Protection Shelters 80 Row\n\n$75 million for B-21 South Environmental Protection Shelters 60 Row\n\n$81 million for B-21 West Alert Apron Environmental Protection Shelters\n\n$28 million for Watertown Army National Guard Vehicle Maintenance Shop\n\nIncludes language from Rounds\u2019 Honest Operations for National Cemetery Reporting (HONOR) Act to create a more transparent process for veterans\u2019 burial ceremonies.\n\nAgriculture:\n\nIncludes two of Rounds\u2019 CDS requests totaling $2.5 million:\n\n$2 million for SDSU\u2019s Cottonwood Field Station Renovation and Expansion.\n\n$500,000 for SDSU\u2019s Transient Animal Research Support Facility.\n\nIncludes language from Rounds\u2019 Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act to add the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) for ag related cases and requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to refer potential purchases of ag land that could be a national security risk to CFIUS.\n\nIncludes report language to address issues with Paraguayan beef imports.\n\nIncludes language from Rounds\u2019 Rural Housing Service Reform Act which provides USDA with the same authorities as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Multifamily Foreclosure Act of 1981.\n\nSupports efforts by USDA to prevent and control New World Screwworm infestations \u2013 including to construct a new facility in the US to provide the sterile insects necessary to prevent and control New World Screwworm.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=BCF3315E-5453-4D5E-9578-C04607A24D48", "Thune: The Schumer Shutdown Is Almost Over", "2025-11-10", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019m glad to be able to say that eight Democrats joined Republicans last night to take the first step to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAnd in the very near future we will be voting on a final package \u2013 a clean continuing resolution until January 30 and three bipartisan, full-year appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cThose bills are military construction-VA, agriculture, and legislative branch appropriations \u2013 three of the 12 bills that Congress needs to pass on an annual basis.\n\n\u201cAnd what that means, Mr. President, is that year-long funding for SNAP, for WIC, for veterans, for essential farm programs, and for a number of other critical priorities will be met.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I said that we will be voting on the final package in the very near future.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m hoping that will be hours and not days.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re on the 41st day of this shutdown.\n\n\u201cNutrition benefits are in jeopardy. Air travel is an extremely precarious situation. Our staffs and many, many other government workers have been working for nearly six weeks without pay.\n\n\u201cI could spend an hour talking about all the problems we\u2019ve seen, which have snowballed the longer this shutdown has gone on.\n\n\u201cBut all of us, Democrat and Republican, who voted for last night\u2019s bill are well aware of the facts.\n\n\u201cAnd I am grateful that the end is in sight.\n\n\u201cBut I would encourage every member of this body, Democrat or Republican, pro-bill or anti-bill, not to stand in the way of our being able to deliver the coming relief quickly.\n\n\u201cThe American people have suffered for long enough.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s not pointlessly drag this bill out.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s get it done, and get it over to the House, so that we can get this government open.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as I have emphasized since being elected majority leader last November, I remain deeply committed to advancing full-year appropriations bills through regular order.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve drafted this continuing resolution to extend to January 30 specifically to give us more time to get this bipartisan work done.\n\n\u201cI look forward to taking up additional appropriations bills on the floor in the near future.\n\n\u201cMr. President, after 41 days, I\u2019m grateful to be able to say that we are close to getting the government reopened.\n\n\u201cAnd again, I ask all of my colleagues \u2013 on both sides of the aisle, of both parties \u2013 to make it possible for us to quickly pass this bill.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=896EEF33-E7AB-4303-8B21-EFBB2B271DCA", "Thune: An End to the Schumer Shutdown Is Finally in Sight", "2025-11-09", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, after 40 long days, I\u2019m hopeful that we can finally bring this shutdown to an end.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t need to go over all the reasons why it\u2019s imperative that we get the government open as soon as possible.\n\n\u201cFrom the truly precarious situation we are in with regard to air travel to the fact that our staffs have been working without pay for a full 40 days now, all of us, Republicans and Democrats, who support this bill know that the time to act is now.\n\n\u201cAnd so in just a few minutes I will call up the vehicle for a clean continuing resolution packaged with three bipartisan, year-long appropriations bills: agriculture appropriations, military construction-VA appropriations, and legislative branch appropriations.\n\n\u201cThese bills will fund SNAP for the entire fiscal year. They will fund WIC for the entire fiscal year. And they will fund our veterans for the entire fiscal year.\n\n\u201cAfter 40 days of uncertainty, I\u2019m profoundly glad to be able to announce that nutrition programs, our veterans, and other critical priorities will have their full-year funding.\n\n\u201cAnd my goal is to quickly move to other full-year appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cAs I\u2019ve said many times, I firmly believe that the way to fund the government is by passing appropriations bills through regular order \u2013 a process that gives senators from both parties the fullest chance to make their voices heard.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I also want to mention health care \u2013\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of talk over the last several weeks \u2013 on both sides of the aisle \u2013 about the health care crisis in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m thankful to be able to say that we have senators, both Democrat and Republican, who are eager to get to work to address that crisis in a bipartisan way.\n\n\u201cThese senators are not interested in political games \u2013 they\u2019re interested in finding real ways to address health care costs for American families.\n\n\u201cWe also have a president who is willing to sit down and get to work on this issue.\n\n\u201cAnd so I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what solutions might be brought forward.\n\n\u201cRegardless, as I have said for weeks to my Democrat friends, I will schedule a vote on their proposal, and I have committed to having that vote no later than the second week in December.\n\n\u201cMr. President, again, I am optimistic that after almost six weeks of this shutdown, we\u2019ll finally be able to end it.\n\n\u201cI will call up the bill in a matter of minutes.\n\n\u201cAnd I look forward to passing the clean continuing resolution and appropriations bill package in the very near future.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B4755D48-0548-4E61-BF95-9FA3303A64B8", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 39", "2025-11-08", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, yesterday we finally heard Democrats entertain the notion of reopening the government.\n\n\u201cIt only took them 38 days.\n\n\u201cWhy, in the days before, progressives were urging Democrats to prolong the shutdown in perpetuity.\n\n\u201cOne House Democrat said, and I quote, \u2018There would be hell to pay if Senate Democrats don\u2019t let events play out.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd so while I\u2019m glad to see Democrats \u2013 after 38 days \u2013 back down from the maximalist and, frankly, insane position they\u2019ve held since September, the Democrat leader\u2019s proposal is a nonstarter for the Republican majority.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader wants [us] to believe that this is a \u2018simple\u2019 proposal.\n\n\u201cThat it is some sort of \u2018compromise.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut it is not.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s talking about throwing tens of billions more taxpayer dollars at a program that even Democrats admit has failed to lower health care costs.\n\n\u201cThe American people are tired of Washington taking their hard-earned money and spending it on costly government programs that fail to follow through on their promises.\n\n\u201cOf course, that\u2019s what Democrats have been doing for years with Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThey passed Obamacare 15 years ago without a single Republican vote.\n\n\u201cAnd in that time, Democrats\u2019 signature health care law has failed to do what Democrats promised.\n\n\u201cIf you like your health insurance you can keep it.\n\n\u201cNot true.\n\n\u201cIf you like your doctor you can keep him or her.\n\n\u201cNot true.\n\n\u201cPremium costs will go down.\n\n\u201cNot true \u2013 and actually the opposite is true.\n\n\u201cThey keep going up.\n\n\u201cObamacare drove premium prices higher.\n\n\u201cSo in 2021, in Democrats\u2019 American Rescue Plan Act \u2013 a bill best known for setting off a years-long inflation crisis \u2013 Democrats created these Biden bonuses, further papering over the higher premium costs under Obamacare with bigger taxpayer subsidies.\n\n\u201cAgain, they did that without a single Republican vote.\n\n\u201cAnd then in another partisan bill in 2022, they extended the subsidies through the end of this year.\n\n\u201cDemocrats chose the expiration date.\n\n\u201cThey created this cliff.\n\n\u201cAnd now they want to blame Republican for their mess.\n\n\u201cGive me a break, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are not about to further burden taxpayers by blindly extending a flawed program.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats\u2019 proposal is just more of the same, masking rising premiums and padding insurance companies\u2019 profits with more taxpayer dollars.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader\u2019s proposal is a nonstarter.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s still only one path out.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a clean funding extension.\n\n\u201cThe House has already passed a clean funding extension.\n\n\u201cThe president supports one and would sign it into law immediately.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re only a handful of votes away from passing one right here in the Senate, Mr. President \u2013 a bill that has been sitting at the desk now for 38 days.\n\n\u201cWe reopen, and then we can start talking about addressing the health care mess that Democrats created.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I know that Democrats know this.\n\n\u201cJust yesterday, the Democrat whip came to the floor to say something that I\u2019ve been waiting for a Democrat to say for a long time.\n\n\u201cHe said that the first thing we need to do is reopen the government, then address the cost of health care and advance appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been saying that for about six weeks now.\n\n\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s exactly what we need to do.\n\n\u201cToday.\n\n\u201cSo I hope the Democrat whip and others in his caucus will join the three Democrats who have been supporting a clean continuing resolution \u2013 the only bill that can actually end the shutdown.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019m glad to see that after 38 days, Democrats are finally warming up to the idea that their shutdown can\u2019t go on forever.\n\n\u201cAnd I urge my colleagues to support a clean continuing resolution so we can start a real discussion to address their health care mess, get back to the regular appropriations process, and, above all, finally provide relief to the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=215C98B2-D5E7-4AA7-B8E0-FECDA6A7D58A", "Thune Joins America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News", "2025-11-07", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News.\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cThe Democrats just have to take yes for an answer. We\u2019ve given them everything, essentially, that they were asking for \u2026 Yesterday, at their Democratic caucus meeting in the Senate, [they] had a pep rally \u2026 they are celebrating this. It\u2019s insane.\n\n\u201cAnd what\u2019s happening is the far left, which is the tail wagging the dog, is bullying the reasonable Democrats out of coming to the table. We have a proposal that they have been reviewing and looking at now for several days, mostly with things that they asked for, including a normal appropriations process: We open up the government, they get a vote on their Obamacare fix.\n\n\u201cThey want to sit down, meet with the president on a path forward, [and] he\u2019s more than willing to do that. All those things are in play, but they can\u2019t take yes for an answer, for fear. I mean, these people are scared spitless of their base, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening. Yesterday was a bullying session. The far left in the Democrat caucus bullied the reasonable ones out of coming to the table and settling this. I\u2019m still hoping that these people are going to come to the table, and we\u2019ll find out soon enough.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cAll [Democrats] have to do is take yes for an answer. We\u2019ve offered them a solution. The president\u2019s willing to meet with them. I\u2019m willing to give them the vote. All the things that they said they wanted. \u2026 This is Trump Derangement Syndrome \u2013 nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. And these folks in their caucus right now, they don\u2019t care what the issue is, if President Trump is involved with it, they just want to fight.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cPresident Trump is more than willing to weigh in and to talk to the Democrats about [the] path forward on how to fix the unaffordability and unsustainability problems of Obamacare, a problem the Democrats created. The president\u2019s more than willing to help them fix that, but not while the government is being held hostage.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 government shutdown:\n\n\u201cAll the president\u2019s saying is \u2026 open up the government, then let\u2019s sit down and talk on a path forward. That\u2019s been offered up \u2026 I don\u2019t know how you can be more reasonable \u2026 [Democrats] are being bullied by their leadership, by the far left in this country \u2013 and as a consequence of that, you\u2019ve got troops, men and women in uniform are going without pay. You\u2019ve got women and children who are going to be going without WIC and food stamps. You\u2019ve got people who are working in airlines and airports, as you heard Secretary Duffy say earlier, and flight delays and everything that goes with that.\n\n\u201cThe pain is multiplying for the American people, and the Democrats yesterday at their caucus meeting \u2026 were celebrating it. It was a big pep rally, and I just don\u2019t know how you defend that to the American people, who are the ones that are suffering.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=3DDD1E44-7F67-48C2-809F-EE8382F7F894", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 38", "2025-11-07", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, the junior senator from Connecticut certainly believes in saying the quiet part out loud.\n\n\u201cThis is what he said, and I quote:\n\n\u201c\u2018I think there will be some pretty substantial damage done to a Democratic brand that has been rehabilitated, if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop fighting.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe said on a podcast yesterday.\n\n\u201cHe went on to say that, \u2018The 2026 election is just 12 months away. And if we surrender without having gotten anything, and we cause a lot of folks in this country who had started to believe in the Democratic Party to retreat again, I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet me repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThis is what he said: \u2018I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet that sink in for a minute, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a secret to anybody that the Democrats shut down the government for political reasons.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been plenty of news coverage of the incredible pressure that their far-left base has been exerting.\n\n\u201cBut in case anyone was still under the impression that Democrats were driving this shutdown toward its 40th day out of concern for the American people \u2013 well, the junior Democrat from Connecticut pretty handily dispelled that notion.\n\n\u201cAgain, this is what he said: \u2018I worry that it will be hard to sort of get them back up off the mat in time for next fall\u2019s election cycle.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd just in case anyone needed any additional testimony, Axios reported on Wednesday, and I quote, \u2018A set of post-election talking points circulated among Democratic congressional offices warned: \u201cCaving without concessions would sap Democrats\u2019 momentum and undercut the party\u2019s support from its base.\u201d \u2026 \u201cDemocrats throwing [Republicans] a rope in exchange for nothing would be political self-sabotage,\u201d it added.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Political self-sabotage,\u2019 Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNow, there are two very striking things about these quotes.\n\n\u201cOne, of course, is the focus not on the American people, but on how to ensure Democrats win the next election.\n\n\u201cAnd two is the fact that progressive Democrats apparently want to keep this shutdown going forever.\n\n\u201cWe are on day 38 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown \u2013 day 38.\n\n\u201cFederal workers have gone more than a month, now, without pay.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to pay their mortgage or buy food thanks to Democrats.\n\n\u201cA lot of them are supposed to get another paycheck today \u2013 instead, they\u2019ll see a deposit of exactly zero dollars in their bank account.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg.\n\n\u201cHead Start preschools have closed. Veterans help programs have shuttered. Many Medicare recipients can\u2019t get access to telehealth. National Guard troops aren\u2019t training. SNAP benefits are in profound jeopardy.\n\n\u201cThere are people going hungry right now because Democrats refuse to agree to a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.\n\n\u201cAnd, of course, then there\u2019s air travel.\n\n\u201cBecause of staffing shortages caused by Democrats\u2019 shutdown, the Department of Transportation had to issue a mandatory reduction in air travel beginning today.\n\n\u201cHundreds of thousands of people will be affected every day, to say nothing of disruptions to the movement of packages and goods.\n\n\u201cBut nothing seems to move Democrats.\n\n\u201cNothing.\n\n\u201cNot hungry Americans. Not massive disruptions to our economy.\n\n\u201cNothing.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if I were a Democrat I would be embarrassed \u2013 I mean, flat-out embarrassed \u2013 to walk into this building every day.\n\n\u201cTo walk past the men and women of the Capitol Police, who are not getting paid thanks to Democrats.\n\n\u201cTo walk past junior staffers, many of whom are undoubtedly frantic by this point as they wonder how they\u2019re going to pay their rent and continue to buy food.\n\n\u201cHow can Democrats look any of these people in the eyes?\n\n\u201cPlease don\u2019t tell me they\u2019re fighting for some greater good for the American people.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats can be said to be fighting for anyone at all besides themselves, they are fighting for a fraction of a fraction \u2013 for a tiny percentage of the small percentage of Americans who are on Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThe number of people they\u2019re supposedly fighting for is dwarfed \u2013 and I say dwarfed, Mr. President \u2013 by the number of people whose lives and livelihoods they are damaging.\n\n\u201cAnd as for the claim that Democrats got some kind of mandate from the American people on Tuesday to continue jeopardizing food stamps for 40 million Americans in need \u2013 give me a break.\n\n\u201cDemocrats performed well in three states where Democrats \u2026 often perform well.\n\n\u201cCongratulations.\n\n\u201cI really don\u2019t think that means that the American people have all signed up to be democratic socialists.\n\n\u201cAnd it sure as heck doesn\u2019t provide a good reason for making 40 million Americans go hungry.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I would like to think that the junior senator from Connecticut doesn\u2019t represent all Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut if there are Senate Democrats out there who do still care about hardworking Americans and not just Democrats\u2019 election prospects, the time to act is now.\n\n\u201cNot when the far left decides this exercise can be over.\n\n\u201cNot when federal workers are lining up at food banks for their Thanksgiving meal.\n\n\u201cNow.\n\n\u201cToday.\n\n\u201cI hope \u2013 I hope, Mr. President, \u2013 there are at least five more Democrats out there with a backbone who will vote with us to reopen the government and end these weeks of misery for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-scott-urge-federal-reserve-to-issue-final-rulemaking-on-basel-iii-endgame", "Rounds, Scott Urge Federal Reserve to Issue Final Rulemaking on Basel III Endgame", "2025-11-06", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) today sent a letter to Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision, urging the Board to issue a final rule on Basel III Endgame. Joining Rounds and Scott on the letter are Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.).\n\n\u201cIn assessing the final rule, we urge the Board to view capital requirements holistically,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cAs part of this effort, the Board should endeavor to make sure that any proposal uses the baseline that existed before the post-pandemic capital ramp-up, not relative to today\u2019s elevated capital levels.\u201d\n\n\u201cSince 2020, aggregate common equity tier 1 ratios for large U.S. banks have increased by more than 20 percent. This rise was driven in part by the growth in the Board\u2019s balance sheet and the economy, not increased risk. Using current capital levels as the reference point would institutionalize excessive requirements, leading to higher costs and less access to capital for U.S. consumers and small businesses,\u201d continued the senators.\n\nRead the full text of the letter HERE or below.\n\n+++\n\nDear Chairman Powell and Vice Chair Bowman:\n\nWe write to express our support for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System\u2019s (the Board\u2019s) continued work to finalize a Basel III Endgame rulemaking that strengthens the resiliency of the U.S. financial system while preserving the efficiency and competitiveness of U.S. capital markets. We agree that a clear and durable final rule is in the public interest, and we appreciate the work that you are undertaking to ensure that is the case. As you work toward finalizing a reproposal, we want to highlight concerns from the original proposal, such as the structural overcapitalization of risks arising from the application of certain Basel Committee standards already accounted for, that the reproposal should address.\n\nIn assessing the final rule, we urge the Board to view capital requirements holistically. As part of this effort, the Board should endeavor to make sure that any proposal uses the baseline that existed before the post-pandemic capital ramp-up, not relative to today\u2019s elevated capital levels. Since 2020, aggregate common equity tier 1 ratios for large U.S. banks have increased by more than 20 percent. This rise was driven in part by the growth in the Board\u2019s balance sheet and the economy, not increased risk. Using current capital levels as the reference point would institutionalize excessive requirements, leading to higher costs and less access to capital for U.S. consumers and small businesses.\n\nAdditionally, as part of reviewing capital requirements holistically, the Board should avoid structural duplication in the reproposal. The originally proposed Basel III Endgame rule was impracticable and would have increased aggregate bank capital requirements by roughly 25 percent. The dual-stack construct, which under the proposal would have applied both Basel\u2019s Expanded Risk-Based Approach and the legacy U.S. Standardized Approach while applying all buffer requirements to both, creates unnecessary redundancy. Because the Expanded Risk-Based Approach would almost always serve as the binding constraint, inflating risk-weighted assets (RWAs) and then layering the Stress Capital Buffer (SCB) on top would compound capital requirements well beyond what Basel intended. This inflation of RWAs would also magnify Global Systemically Important Bank (GSIB) surcharge calculations, further amplifying overall requirements.\n\nLikewise, we request that any reproposal avoid imposing redundant operational risk RWAs that would elevate aggregate capital requirements well above losses observed even in severe historical scenarios. U.S. banks hold capital for operational risk through the Board\u2019s stress test and resulting SCB. Adding a separate standardized operational risk charge and then applying the SCB on top would result in overcapitalizing the same underlying loss exposure. Historical stress test data shows that operational risk losses are already capitalized in stress losses via the SCB.\n\nWe also request the Board to reassess the punitive weighting of the p-factor within the securitization framework and instead keep it at or below the status quo of 0.5. The existing calibration, adopted in 2013, appropriately differentiates between on-balance-sheet lending and securitized exposures by making sure that banks hold additional capital to account for the structural features of securitizations. Doubling the p-factor to 1.0 would reduce risk sensitivity by treating the securitization of higher-quality assets as if they carried similar risk as less-stable pools. The change would increase funding costs for consumers and small businesses and constrain market liquidity.\n\nAs the Board\u2019s April 2025 Financial Stability Report observed, \u201cthe banking sector remained sound and resilient overall, and most banks continued to report capital levels well above regulatory requirements.\u201d This assessment underscores that the existing framework already supports a resilient banking sector. A further across-the-board increase in capital through the p-factor or other duplicative mechanisms would not materially enhance stability but would impair credit intermediation.\n\nWe support timely finalization of the Basel III Endgame rulemaking and urge the Board to address the areas identified above and modernize bank capital requirements to optimize access to capital, retirement savings and economic growth, while maintaining financial stability.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=410681F7-AD6D-49FC-80A0-89AD4EC00618", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 37", "2025-11-06", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, we are 37 days into an entirely avoidable government shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd I say avoidable, Mr. President, because it was.\n\n\u201cDemocrats instigated this shutdown by rejecting a clean, nonpartisan funding resolution.\n\n\u201cRepublicans weren\u2019t asking them to swallow a bunch of new conservative policies.\n\n\u201cThere isn\u2019t a single partisan policy in the bill.\n\n\u201cAnd yet Democrats couldn\u2019t bring themselves to take yes for an answer.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, of course, have claimed their decision to shut down the government is about health care.\n\n\u201cThey want Republicans to bail out their Obamacare mess.\n\n\u201cAnd as I\u2019ve said probably a thousand times now, Mr. President, Republicans are one-hundred-percent willing to sit down and talk about the mess that Democrats have created.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re just not going to have that conversation while Democrats are holding the federal government hostage.\n\n\u201cThat was our position in September.\n\n\u201cThat was our position in October.\n\n\u201cAnd, yes, it\u2019s still our position in November.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re just waiting for Democrats to take yes for an answer.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I do know that Democrats have been under a lot of pressure from the far left.\n\n\u201cThe far left pushed them to shut down the government.\n\n\u201cAnd the far left has pushed them to keep it shut down.\n\n\u201cAs one House Democrat told Axios yesterday, and I quote, \u2018There would be hell to pay if Senate Democrats don\u2019t let events play out.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018There would be hell to pay if Senate Democrats don\u2019t let events play out.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat quote, from a House Democrat just yesterday.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, what events need to play out?\n\n\u201cWhat more needs to happen for the far left to be satisfied?\n\n\u201cThe pain this shutdown has caused is only getting worse.\n\n\u201cForty million Americans who rely on food assistance programs are now at risk of going hungry without a resolution to the shutdown.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure these Americans are doing everything in their power to feed their families, but they can\u2019t do that forever.\n\n\u201cFederal workers have now gone without pay for more than a month, including the people in this building.\n\n\u201cWill the far left not be satisfied until federal workers and military families are getting their Thanksgiving dinner from a food bank?\n\n\u201cBecause that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed.\n\n\u201cAnd then, Mr. President, there\u2019s air travel.\n\n\u201cYesterday the transportation secretary announced that \u2013 as a matter of safety \u2013 the Department of Transportation is requiring a mandatory reduction in air traffic starting tomorrow because of shutdown staffing issues.\n\n\u201cThat means widespread flight cancellations.\n\n\u201cSupply chain issues.\n\n\u201cHundreds of thousands of passengers dealing with disruptions to travel every day.\n\n\u201cThe impact this will have will be immense.\n\n\u201cAnd all of it because Democrats cannot bring themselves to accept a clean, nonpartisan funding resolution \u2013 something that happened 13 times when they had the majority and President Biden was in the White House.\n\n\u201cSo, I ask the question again, Mr. President: What more do Democrats need?\n\n\u201cThey got their cheers at the left-wing No Kings rally.\n\n\u201cThey kept their base satisfied through the fall campaigns and Election Day.\n\n\u201cAnd, as of Tuesday, they have the extremely dubious honor of instigating the longest and most severe government shutdown in history.\n\n\u201cHow much more do Americans have to endure before Democrats are satisfied?\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Democrat leader said \u2026 that every day gets better for Democrats.\n\n\u201cThe number-two Democrat in the House has said that the American people\u2019s suffering takes a back seat to Democrats\u2019 precious leverage.\n\n\u201cAnd the senior senator from Vermont \u2013 a leading voice on the left \u2013 wrote an op-ed over the weekend calling for Democrats to keep the government shut down forever, as far as I can tell.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I hope that\u2019s not where most Democrats are.\n\n\u201cI hope at least a few Democrats can see that this can\u2019t go on any longer.\n\n\u201cPeople are suffering, and it\u2019s getting worse every day.\n\n\u201cA furloughed federal employee \u2013 a mother of five in Maryland \u2013 told the New York Times last week, and I quote, \u2018I don\u2019t know how to get the mortgage paid.\u2019\n\n\u201cFederal workers are taking on second jobs to make ends meet.\n\n\u201cFood banks across the country are overwhelmed.\n\n\u201cAnd American families are looking to the holiday season with apprehension.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats have a choice to make.\n\n\u201cAre they going to continue to bow to pressure from voices on the far left telling them to keep up their opposition?\n\n\u201cOr are they going to stop the American people\u2019s suffering and end this shutdown?\n\n\u201cI hope enough of them are willing to do the right thing.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope they do it soon.\n\n\u201cThe American people can\u2019t wait for events to play out.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=27A9A89A-AE80-4054-B55A-87060B6C1AE8", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 36", "2025-11-05", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, can this be over now?\n\n\u201cHave the American people suffered enough?\n\n\u201cOr do Democrats need more?\n\n\u201cDemocrats have snarled air traffic. They\u2019ve damaged small businesses. They\u2019ve left federal workers in line at food banks. They\u2019ve jeopardized food assistance \u2013 food assistance, Mr. President \u2013 for 40 million Americans.\n\n\u201cAre they satisfied now?\n\n\u201cOr does the far left want more?\n\n\u201cSurely Democrats have hit enough milestones.\n\n\u201cThe election is over.\n\n\u201cDemocrats now have the extremely dubious honor of being responsible for the longest government shutdown in American history.\n\n\u201cSo, the question is, Mr. President: Can the American people get a break now?\n\n\u201cDemocrats should be embarrassed \u2013 embarrassed \u2013 that federal workers are lining up at food banks and missing bills and in danger of losing homes or cars because Democrats can\u2019t summon enough members to support a clean, nonpartisan funding resolution.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cA clean, nonpartisan funding bill, sitting right here at the Senate desk.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve not asked Democrats to support a single new Republican policy.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t asked them to support a single partisan policy rider.\n\n\u201cWe simply asked them to extend current funding levels for a few weeks so that we could have time to do bipartisan work on appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats couldn\u2019t take yes for an answer.\n\n\u201cAnd on the subject of appropriations, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIf any Democrats cherish the faintest hope of still funding the government through a full-year appropriations process \u2013 a process that they\u2019ve \u2026 delayed for five weeks and counting \u2013 they should vote for the clean, nonpartisan CR today.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I realize that Democrats have been under a lot of pressure from their far-left base to keep the shutdown going.\n\n\u201cAnd I assume that it was pressure from Democrats\u2019 far-left base that saw the Democrat leader flip his position on shutdowns 180 degrees in the space of just six months.\n\n\u201cAnd I realize that there are a number of Democrats in the Senate who are not just yielding to pressure from the far left, but are themselves members of the far left, and are happy to continue this shutdown forever if it means somehow sticking it \u2013 they think \u2013 to President Trump.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019m hoping there are still Democrats out there who can see beyond the political extremism of their leftist base.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope there are some Democrats who can take an honest look at the widespread damage their shutdown is doing, and say \u2018Enough is enough.\u2019\n\n\u201cThanksgiving is rapidly approaching.\n\n\u201cParents are starting to think about what they\u2019re going to put under the tree.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats still want federal employees lining up at food banks at Thanksgiving?\n\n\u201cAt Christmas?\n\n\u201cAnd on the topic of the holidays, it\u2019s an open question whether people will be able to spend it with their families this year if the shutdown continues.\n\n\u201cAir traffic has been snarled for weeks as a result of Democrats\u2019 shutdown, and things are getting worse.\n\n\u201cThe transportation secretary just announced yesterday that the government may be forced to close parts of our airspace if the shutdown continues into next week.\n\n\u201cClose airspace, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThink about that.\n\n\u201cAnd I could go on.\n\n\u201cI could talk about the unions asking Democrats to end this shutdown and support a clean continuing resolution.\n\n\u201cI could talk about the business organizations making the same request.\n\n\u201cI could read the headlines about Head Start preschools closing and SNAP recipients who are worried about their benefits and National Guard units who aren\u2019t training, and on and on \u2013 every single thing as a result of Democrats\u2019 decision to shut down the government more than five weeks ago.\n\n\u201cBut surely, Mr. President, surely there are at least \u2026 some Democrat senators who can see this for themselves.\n\n\u201cSee this for themselves, and realize it is past time to end this, before the damage gets even worse.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s day 36 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cDay 36.\n\n\u201cHow much longer are Democrats going to make the American people suffer?\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4091FB3C-62F6-494B-B932-3C83EA491575", "Thune: Will Democrats Finally Take Yes for an Answer?", "2025-11-04", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWe are now in the 35th day of the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe longest shutdown on record and the most severe shutdown on record \u2013 something that was totally unnecessary in the first place, obviously.\n\n\u201cBut we\u2019re hoping this will be the week when the Democrats come to their senses and decide to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cOf course, if you look at why we are here in the first place, it\u2019s hard to explain \u2026 I still don\u2019t know exactly what it is they want.\n\n\u201cWe have accommodated a lot of their questions and concerns.\n\n\u201cThey want to have a discussion about health care, we offered that up a long time ago.\n\n\u201cAnd, you know, clearly, we\u2019ve talked, I\u2019ve talked repeatedly about having a normal appropriations process where we put bills on the floor, open it up to the amendment process, and allow people to have their voices heard in how we fund the government the old-fashioned way.\n\n\u201cBut so I\u2019m still at a loss as to what it is exactly they\u2019re trying to get out of this.\n\n\u201cThe one thing I do know is, as the days roll by, the consequences and pain of this shutdown grow more severe for the American people, and especially if you are a government employee or the family of a government employee who\u2019s no longer getting paid.\n\n\u201cThere are more and more stories of people out there who are trying to live paycheck to paycheck, and now you\u2019ve got the food assistance going away, the SNAP program.\n\n\u201cYou have Head Start and young kids who need to be able to have access to education, that\u2019s increasingly at risk.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll see more and more, probably next week, with Veterans Day rolling around, Democrats out there posting nice videos and photos with veterans, which most of us probably should and will do \u2013 but the better thing they could do is actually support our veterans by opening up the government.\n\n\u201cAnd allowing these regional offices to get \u2026 open again, and allow the GI Bill hotline to start functioning and operating again.\n\n\u201cThere are so many ways in which Americans are impacted by this, and certainly our veterans and our troops come to mind immediately.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m hopeful, again, that this is the week in which the Democrats will conclude that this is not a good thing.\n\n\u201cAnd while they may believe politically that it\u2019s in their best interest \u2013 and obviously we\u2019ve seen lots of statements that suggest that \u2013 it\u2019s certainly not in the best interest of the American people.\n\n\u201cThe American people are those who are caught up in the political games being played here in the Senate by the Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cAll it takes is five of them.\n\n\u201cWe have a bill sitting at the desk, which we\u2019ve voted on repeatedly, that came over from the House of Representatives, meaning that as soon as the Senate passes it, it goes directly to the president.\n\n\u201cHe will sign it into law, the government will reopen, and all these adverse consequences that are being experienced by people across this country will go away.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all it takes \u2013 five more Democrats, five Democrat senators with the courage to take on their political base and their leaders and to do what\u2019s in the best interest the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=9242221E-650C-4791-AD20-D67A657DB7C5", "Thune on the Passing of Vice President Dick Cheney", "2025-11-04", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, like many Americans, I was saddened to learn this morning of the death of former Vice President Dick Cheney.\n\n\u201cDick was a lifelong public servant who believed very deeply in our country, and brought his considerable knowledge and intelligence to its service.\n\n\u201cAs secretary of defense and later as vice president, he played a key role in shaping policy on many of the most consequential issues of his day.\n\n\u201cHe was also an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman, who loved spending time in the mountains of his home state.\n\n\u201cI enjoyed having him in South Dakota and showing off some of what our state has to offer.\n\n\u201cMr. President, my thoughts and prayers today are with his wife Lynne, with his two beloved daughters, and with his seven grandchildren.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=CECC17C5-3377-4E27-8985-C7A945774D88", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 35", "2025-11-04", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, \u2018Every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cThose were the words of the Democrat leader a week into this shutdown, reflecting on the supposed benefits \u2013 political benefits \u2013 for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, I guess it\u2019s nice that every day is getting better for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cBecause it sure isn\u2019t getting better for anyone else.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re in the sixth week of the Democrats\u2019 shutdown, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, the sixth week.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats\u2019 victims are everywhere.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s just go through a few headlines.\n\n\u201cThese are some headlines from newspapers and news outlets around the country:\n\n\u201c\u2018Some Head Start preschools shutter as government shutdown continues\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Shutdown crushes small business owners as losses hit billions \u2014 industry leaders beg Congress for \u201cclean CR\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018\u201cEveryone is worried\u201d: Dallas SNAP recipients navigate uncertainty, dwindling funds\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s the Democrats\u2019 shutdown at work, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s another headline: \u2018After a month of the shutdown, workers face mounting bills, car repossessions\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the subhead to that article said this: \u2018Finances are becoming dire for the more than 750,000 government workers who have been going without pay for a full month.\u2019\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s some more headlines, Mr. President: \u2018Flight delays pile up as government shutdown enters second month\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Worst weekend for air traffic controller staffing since start of shutdown\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Flight delays could worsen as government shutdown drags on\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Could worsen,\u2019 Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re entering one of the busiest travel seasons of the year, with people making holiday plans with their families.\n\n\u201cMr. President, there are a lot more headlines where those came from.\n\n\u201cPeople are suffering.\n\n\u201cAll because Democrats can\u2019t bring themselves to accept a clean, nonpartisan funding bill.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the list of people begging Democrats to pass a clean government funding extension is long and it\u2019s growing longer.\n\n\u201cThe Teamsters union.\n\n\u201cThe New York City Steamfitters union.\n\n\u201cThe American Federation of Government Employees.\n\n\u201cMultiple airline pilot unions.\n\n\u201cThe National Air Traffic Controllers Association.\n\n\u201cBusiness organizations, like the National Restaurant Association.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, I could go on.\n\n\u201cAll of these organizations are begging Democrats to take yes for an answer and support a clean, nonpartisan bill \u2013 the one sitting right there at the desk that is available to be picked up and passed today, sent to the president, signed into law, and the government opens.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats are recalcitrant.\n\n\u201cMr. President, for a party that claims to represent working people, it is striking to me how very little Democrats seem to care about working people during this shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe senior Democrat from Vermont published an op-ed this weekend in which he calls for this shutdown to keep going \u2013 forever, as far as I can tell.\n\n\u201cOf course he attempts to claim that Democrats are doing this for working people.\n\n\u201cTo which I say, Mr. President, give me a break.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are injuring working people with their shutdown.\n\n\u201cMaybe Democrats have no idea what it\u2019s like to live paycheck to paycheck, like so many Americans \u2013 including many government employees.\n\n\u201cBut let me just tell them, there are a whole lot of working people out there who can\u2019t afford to miss a single paycheck \u2013 much less the multiple paychecks that they\u2019ve now missed thanks to the Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cAnd beyond the people Democrats have directly deprived of paychecks, there are a lot of other people whose livelihood is being affected by this shutdown.\n\n\u201cLike small business owners and employees whose income has declined because the federal workers who usually patronize their businesses are out of work.\n\n\u201cThere is really nothing Democrats can do to make that right.\n\n\u201cBut they can at least make sure that they don\u2019t extend the pain that people are experiencing.\n\n\u201cLater today, we\u2019re going to vote once again on a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.\n\n\u201cThe one we\u2019ve voted on [13] times already, the one sitting right at the desk, Mr. President, that would open up this government today and make sure that all of those Americans will get paid.\n\n\u201cWe need just five Democrats to join the three who are already voting with us, and we could end all this pain and reopen the government.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all it takes, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cFive Democrats.\n\n\u201cEverybody knows who follows our government and this process that, in the Senate, it takes a supermajority \u2013 it takes 60 votes \u2013 to do virtually anything.\n\n\u201cSo we need help. We need help from some Democrats with a backbone who are courageous enough to take on their left-wing base and do the right thing for the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd I do realize, Mr. President, that Democrats are facing tremendous pressure from the far-left wing of their party, which is apparently content to see working people suffer as long as Democrats make a good show of opposing President Trump.\n\n\u201cBut I hope \u2013 I hope \u2013 that there are at least those five Democrats out there who will look at the pain that people are experiencing, and will say enough is enough.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re in the sixth week, now, Mr. President, of this shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe sixth week.\n\n\u201cAnd while every day may be getting better for Senate Democrats, thanks to Senate Democrats every day is getting worse for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4624CFC1-0C1D-404E-A75F-8B8CD0688B1E", "Thune Joins Guy Benson on Fox News Radio", "2025-11-03", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to listen to the interview.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Guy Benson on Fox News Radio.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201c[Democrats] are blaming Trump at the same time they\u2019re taking credit, and almost in the same breath \u2026 Republicans want our troops paid. We want the men and women of the Border Patrol to get paid. We want TSA agents, every federal employee to get their paychecks.\n\n\u201cAnd right now, the Democrats are the ones standing in the way of that, but they\u2019re trying to shift the blame and have it both ways.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown:\n\n\u201cI really hope \u2026 that this is the week that Democrats decide to end their shutdown, and they are owning it \u2026 I think people realize that [Democrats] have consistently now, 14 times \u2026 voted to block reopening the government.\n\n\u201cI do think that the consequences are really starting to compound across the country. You\u2019ve got now 40 million Americans whose food assistance is uncertain. You\u2019ve got air travel delays that are skyrocketing. It\u2019s having an economic impact on the country, and I think that only gets worse with each passing day.\n\n\u201cWe need five more Democrats to stand up and do the right thing and reopen the government, and we\u2019ll see if this is the week.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201c[Democrats are] trying to pull this thing off where they blame somebody else, and yet they get credit with their political base, and that\u2019s what\u2019s driving this. I mean, they\u2019re so afraid \u2013 Schumer and their leaders are just absolutely running scared.\n\n\u201cThey are scared spitless of what their base will do to them if they vote to open up the government, which is why, in the end, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be their leaders that do this. I think it\u2019s going to be rank-and-file Democrats.\u201d\n\nOn preserving the legislative filibuster:\n\n\u201cThere just simply aren\u2019t the votes to get rid of the Senate\u2019s 60-vote threshold \u2026 It was an important tool for us when we were in the minority. You only have to look back to last year, we blocked a whole host of terrible Democrat policies because of the 60-vote threshold. And if you look at all the damage that Biden and Harris did to our country \u2026 I shudder to think how much worse it would have been without the legislative filibuster.\n\n\u201cAnd here\u2019s the thing: The Democrats, as you point out \u2013 although they\u2019re hypocrites, because they would all vote to block it today, they would all vote when they have the majority in favor of it \u2013 but the truth is that if we were to do their dirty work for them, and that\u2019s what essentially we\u2019d be doing, then we would own all the crap they\u2019re going to do if and when they get the chance to do it.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=71F8BA9E-89E4-4A44-95CA-6EA5C9ED035F", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 34", "2025-11-03", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s November.\n\n\u201cNovember.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been five weeks since Democrats shut down the government.\n\n\u201cAnd once again, we start this week by asking: Is this the week that Democrats end their shutdown?\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve said it before, that there are no winners in a government shutdown.\n\n\u201cThere are no winners, but there are plenty of losers.\n\n\u201cChief among them is the American people.\n\n\u201cAs the senior Democrat from Virginia said just last year, and I quote, \u2018Shutdowns aren\u2019t victimless crimes.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd after five weeks, Mr. President, the victims of the Democrats\u2019 shutdown are starting to pile up.\n\n\u201cMilitary families have turned to food banks in significant numbers.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019re not the only ones.\n\n\u201cFood banks in this area and around the country have seen an influx of federal workers who are missing paychecks due to the shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd things are set to get much worse, with SNAP running on limited emergency funds and its future uncertain.\n\n\u201cThanks to Democrats, millions more Americans \u2013 millions, Mr. President \u2013 are now at risk of going hungry.\n\n\u201cAnd yet Democrats\u2019 shutdown marches on.\n\n\u201cAnd of course, letting Americans go hungry is just the beginning.\n\n\u201cThanks to Democrats, Head Start programs are beginning to close.\n\n\u201cHousing assistance programs are at risk.\n\n\u201cSeniors and people in rural areas can\u2019t access telehealth services.\n\n\u201cNational Guard training is on hold.\n\n\u201cVeterans programs are on pause.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry to say I could go on.\n\n\u201cActually, I could go on for a while.\n\n\u201cShutdowns have consequences, and the pain is being felt around the country.\n\n\u201cMr. President, last week, it seemed that Democrats were beginning to acknowledge that their shutdown is having consequences.\n\n\u201cWe even heard Democrats express concern that Americans were suffering.\n\n\u201cBut when they were given the chance to end all of that suffering, the vast majority of Democrats in this body were perfectly willing to prolong the shutdown and the American people\u2019s pain.\n\n\u201cThe vast majority of Democrats voted, once again, against a clean continuing resolution \u2013 the only bill on offer that could end all this suffering, literally, in a matter of hours.\n\n\u201cIt is the only bill in the Senate that would fix every single issue I just mentioned.\n\n\u201cIt would pay our troops.\n\n\u201cFund SNAP.\n\n\u201cHead Start.\n\n\u201cVeterans programs.\n\n\u201cPay our staffers.\n\n\u201cThree Democrat senators already support that clean continuing resolution, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd the Democrat from Maine who supported the clean CR in the House said, and I quote, \u2018There\u2019s a lot of important work to be done in Congress, none of which will be any easier if Mainers are suffering the harms of a government shutdown.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Teamsters Union and the American Federation of Government Employees \u2013 more traditionally allies of Democrats, to be frank \u2013 have called for Congress to spare the American people further pain and to pass the clean continuing resolution.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019re far from the only ones.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it should not be this hard for a handful of Democrats to support a clean bill that simply reopens the government.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very straightforward proposition.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a 24-page bill, sitting right here at the Senate desk.\n\n\u201cNot a single new Republican policy.\n\n\u201cNo partisan policy riders.\n\n\u201cNothing that Democrats haven\u2019t supported before on numerous occasions.\n\n\u201cIt just reopens the government.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s just five Democrat votes away from being sent to the president, who would sign it, literally, in a matter of hours.\n\n\u201cThis bill is also the quickest way to get to discussions about health care \u2013 that is, if Democrats are serious about solving the Obamacare problem and not just interested in using it as a political issue.\n\n\u201cAs I\u2019ve said more times than I can count, Republicans are more than willing to have a health care discussion with Democrats.\n\n\u201cIn fact, had Democrats voted to reopen the government last week, President Trump would be meeting with them this week.\n\n\u201cUnlike Democrats, who want to continue papering over the unaffordability of Obamacare forevermore, Republicans have ideas for actually lowering health care costs.\n\n\u201cAnd lowering costs not just for Americans on Obamacare, but also for seniors, vulnerable Americans, and the majority of Americans who get their health care through their employers.\n\n\u201cAnd so we\u2019re ready and willing to have that discussion.\n\n\u201cBut first Democrats need to stop playing politics with people\u2019s lives and reopen the government.\n\n\u201cMr. President, airline travel is snarled. Small businesses are suffering. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are working without pay. And now 40 million Americans in need are at risk of losing their food stamps.\n\n\u201cSo, the question, Mr. President, is: How long \u2013 how long \u2013 are Democrats going to continue this?\n\n\u201cAnother month? Two? Three?\n\n\u201cHow much suffering is enough for Democrats?\n\n\u201cMr. President, the bill\u2019s sitting right there.\n\n\u201cWe voted on it [13] times already.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll get that opportunity to vote on it a [14th] time tomorrow.\n\n\u201cAnd for the sake of the American people, let\u2019s hope that at least some Democrats can see their way to ending this, and ending it soon.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0C5466F8-C83C-4CBD-B7A2-09FC1CCEF2C5", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 30", "2025-10-30", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats are grasping at straws these days.\n\n\u201cThe other day the Democrat leader came to the floor and tried to reboot the notion that the clean CR sitting before us here in the Senate is a partisan CR.\n\n\u201cYep.\n\n\u201cApparently a bill with no partisan add-ons, strictly a bill to fund the government, is a partisan bill.\n\n\u201cOnly in Democrat land, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader, of course, continues to try to push this ludicrous narrative that Republicans \u2013 or President Trump \u2013 shut down the government.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThe party that demanded nothing \u2013 and put forward a clean, nonpartisan bill \u2013 is the party that shut down the government.\n\n\u201cAnd the party that demanded $1.5 trillion to keep the government open until Friday, until Halloween?\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what their bill would do \u2013 $1.5 trillion in new spending to keep the federal government open until Friday.\n\n\u201cI wonder if Democrats have seen some of the recent headlines like this one, and I quote: \u2018Benefits cliff amps up pressure on Senate Democrats\u2019 and \u2018Largest federal workers union calls for an end to the shutdown, putting pressure on Democrats.\u2019\n\n\u201cPutting pressure on Democrats, Mr. President. Not Republicans.\n\n\u201cWhy?\n\n\u201cBecause Republicans are ready to reopen the government today.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re not demanding a single thing in exchange.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the Democrats who are refusing.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the Democrats\u2019 latest ploy is \u2013 get this \u2013 moral outrage that the president isn\u2019t stepping in to save Democrats from the consequences of their actions.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are outraged \u2013 outraged \u2013 that they are coming face-to-face with the consequences of their decision to shut down the government.\n\n\u201cAnd so they\u2019re flailing around, blaming President Trump for not stepping in to somehow save the SNAP program from running out of money to pay benefits.\n\n\u201cYeah, that\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThe very same people who were content to let the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children \u2013 more commonly known as WIC \u2013 run dry are now positioning themselves as crusaders for nutrition benefits.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump did step in to save Democrats from themselves on WIC.\n\n\u201cHe somehow managed to find money to cover the program for the time being.\n\n\u201cBut there is a limit to what he can do.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s kind of the reason we like to, you know, have the government open.\n\n\u201cBut apparently Democrats are still not willing to contemplate allowing the government to function.\n\n\u201cBecause the SNAP bill that they tried to UC yesterday was not just a cynical political ploy to insulate themselves from the consequences of their own actions, it was also a disturbing signal that Democrats are ready to continue this shutdown \u2013 I guess forever.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats have any \u2013 any \u2013 end date in sight?\n\n\u201cAre there any consequences bad enough to get Democrats to reopen the government again?\n\n\u201cBecause things are getting pretty serious here, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThis shutdown had consequences from day one.\n\n\u201cBut now, 30 days in, the consequences are really snowballing.\n\n\u201cHere are some headlines, I think, that describe the situation.\n\n\u201c\u2018Government shutdown could lead to $14B in lost GDP, CBO reports\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Shutdown could close Head Start programs this week, jeopardizing child care\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Shutdown crushes small business owners as losses hit billions \u2014 industry leaders beg Congress for \u201cclean CR\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Ongoing government shutdown threatens holiday travel \u2026\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018National Guard Training Grinds To Halt Amid Shutdown \u2014 With No Pay In Sight\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018US government shutdown: 60,000 aviation safety staff face financial strain as crisis deepens\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Largest federal workers union calls for \u201cclean\u201d bill to end shutdown\u2019\n\n\u201cThose, Mr. President, are just a sampling of the headlines out there, and they represent the consequences as the Democrats\u2019 shutdown accelerates.\n\n\u201cSo when will Democrats put an end to this, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cWhen the economy is in ruins?\n\n\u201cWhen federal workers have lost their homes?\n\n\u201cWhen housing assistance and small business loans and Head Start and National Guard training are distant memories?\n\n\u201cI hope the pain of the American people is worth the plaudits the Democrats are getting from their liberal base.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I don\u2019t know if listing out the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown moves any Democrats anymore, I really don\u2019t.\n\n\u201cIn fact, more than one member of their party \u2013 way more than one member of their party \u2013 has described using the pain of the American people as \u2018leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you an example of some of the things that they\u2019ve been saying.\n\n\u201cStarting with the Democrat leader: \u2018Every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe whip, the number two position among House Democrats, says \u2018there will be families that are going to suffer \u2026 but it was one of the \u2026 few leverage times that we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe senator from New Mexico: paying our troops \u2018gives the president more leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a really good reason not to pay the troops, right?\n\n\u201cThe senator from Arizona, asked about it, said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019d just go back and shut it down again.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe senator from Delaware: \u2018Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage. And although a very \u2026 unpleasant tool to use.\u2019\n\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s unpleasant, alright, if you\u2019re a worker who\u2019s lost their job, that\u2019s not getting paid.\n\n\u201cAnd of course, the senator from Vermont: \u2018you reopen the government, we lose our leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all about leverage.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what they\u2019re making it all about: leverage.\n\n\u201cSo the question is, When are the American people going to matter more than their leverage, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cIf there are any Democrats out there who can still see beyond the demands of their far-left base \u2013 if there are any Democrats who care about the damage that this shutdown is doing \u2013 then I have a bill right there at the desk:\n\n\u201cA clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution to fund WIC, SNAP, troop pay, air traffic controller pay, farm programs, housing assistance, our national defense, and every single other government priority.\n\n\u201cWe just need five Democrats to show some courage and join the three Democrats who are already with us, and we can get this government open.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all it takes, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cEverybody knows that, in the Senate, it takes 60 votes to do anything.\n\n\u201cDemocrats come down here and consistently say, \u2018Well, Republicans have control of the Senate, the House, the White House.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the Republicans in the Senate, the House, and the White House are all agreed: Open up the government.\n\n\u201cBut you can\u2019t do that in the Senate unless you have 60 votes \u2013 meaning we have to have a few Democrats.\n\n\u201cWe have a few already.\n\n\u201cWe need five Democrats with a backbone.\n\n\u201cFive Democrats with the courage to take on that far-left base and say, \u2018We care more about the lives of the American people than about gaining some political leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201cJust takes five, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cEnough is enough.\n\n\u201cI urge my Democrat colleagues to agree to reopen the federal government \u2013 and to do it today.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4EA93C0A-1B3F-4F4F-BCF5-ECD97C5F2AAD", "Thune Joins Squawk Box on CNBC", "2025-10-30", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box.\n\nOn Congress\u2019 responsibility to fund the government:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve lived through several government shutdowns in my time here. Nobody wins. And if there\u2019s anything about it, it\u2019s just the stupidity of it. This is something we ought to be able to work out. It\u2019s simply funding the government so that we can fund the rest of the government through the normal appropriations process.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cI think [Democrat] leadership is in a box. You\u2019ve got the New York mayoral election coming up, you\u2019ve got all these left-wing groups that are \u2026 clamoring for attention and to fight with Trump \u2026 I just think the Democrat leaders are scared and threatened by all this outside noise and afraid to open up the government.\n\n\u201cSo if this happens, I think it happens through the rank-and-file Democrats who come to the conclusion that this isn\u2019t anybody\u2019s best interest, and I think that\u2019s going to happen, Becky \u2026 I\u2019ve been through a few of these, and there isn\u2019t anything instructive about it. Nobody wins \u2026 It needs to end, and the sooner, the better.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cIf you take away a little bit of the \u2026 pain here, and a little bit of the pain here, but still, you\u2019ve got \u2026 millions of federal employees who aren\u2019t being paid, and many of whom are furloughed, but you have people who are working \u2026 I just think that you need to open it up. And the simplest way to do that is just to fund the entire government, not pick \u2026 winners and losers, or do these sort of one-off bills \u2026\n\n\u201cThis government needs to be open on behalf of the American people \u2026 [I]t\u2019s costing the economy \u2026 This is not a good thing for our country, and the longer it continues, the worse it\u2019s going to get.\u201d\n\nOn President Trump\u2019s trade agenda:\n\n\u201cI\u2019m obviously concerned about [China\u2019s] role in the world and the things that they\u2019re doing in other places, in Russia and Taiwan, etc. I do think, however, when it comes to the economy, that our economies are sort of inextricably linked together. We\u2019re the two largest economies in the world. There\u2019s a symbiotic relationship that exists there.\n\n\u201cThe good news \u2026 for a state like mine coming out of the announcement yesterday is that China is going to start buying soybeans again. [The] soybean market had been shut down. We had a big harvest this year. Nowhere to go with it. So \u2026 there\u2019s an economic relationship that I think we need to continue. Obviously there\u2019s going to be a give-and-take in relationships like this, but \u2026 I believe that the administration will do what\u2019s in the best interest, not only of America\u2019s economic security, but our national security as well.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=422F4129-9E7C-4D15-BA5D-2A617139ECBD", "Thune to Schumer\u2019s Shutdown Senators: This Isn\u2019t a Political Game, It\u2019s People\u2019s Livelihoods", "2025-10-29", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, thank you.\n\n\u201cReserving the right to object.\n\n\u201cLet me just point out, if I might, that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd the senator from New Mexico is absolutely right; SNAP recipients shouldn\u2019t go without food.\n\n\u201cPeople should be getting paid in this country.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve tried to do that 13 times!\n\n\u201cAnd you voted no 13 times!\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t a political game.\n\n\u201cThese are real people\u2019s lives that we\u2019re talking about.\n\n\u201cAnd you all just figured out \u2013 29 days in \u2013 that, oh, there might be some consequences!\n\n\u201cThere are people running out of money.\n\n\u201cYeah, we\u2019re 29 days in, and [the Trump administration has] done their best to make sure that a lot of these programs are funded.\n\n\u201cBut at some point the government runs out of money.\n\n\u201cThirteen times, people over here voted to fund SNAP.\n\n\u201cThirteen times they voted to fund WIC.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cFinally realized this thing has consequences.\n\n\u201cWell, you know what?\n\n\u201cWhat Democrats are doing here, they\u2019re making plans to keep the shutdown going, and they realize all of a sudden, 29 days in, that this is a real consequence, real-life pain for American families.\n\n\u201cSomething that results from their shutdown.\n\n\u201cSo, are they making plans to end the shutdown and reopen the government?\n\n\u201cNope.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this request is a transparent admission that Democrats want to keep the shutdown \u2013 for what, another month?\n\n\u201cLonger?\n\n\u201cThis bill is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown for the long term!\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019ll point out: We did 13 short-term, clean CRs when they had the majority and President Biden was in the White House.\n\n\u201cThirteen.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve now voted 13 times against a clean CR.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI have no idea where you\u2019re coming from.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader said that President Trump could end this with a stroke of his pen \u2013 and he\u2019s right!\n\n\u201cWe pass that bill, with a stroke of his pen, he\u2019ll sign it into law, and the government opens up.\n\n\u201cAnd SNAP beneficiaries, SNAP recipients, get food assistance.\n\n\u201cBut you know what else?\n\n\u201cTSA workers get paid.\n\n\u201cAir traffic controllers get paid.\n\n\u201cBorder Patrol agents get paid.\n\n\u201cTroops get paid.\n\n\u201cThese people here get paid, who are working without pay.\n\n\u201cYou want to extend that and keep that going?\n\n\u201cGive me a break.\n\n\u201cSo the people who aren\u2019t going to get the benefit of what they\u2019re trying to do today, Mr. President, are all the other programs that are affected.\n\n\u201cHead Start.\n\n\u201cGrants to law enforcement to fight fentanyl and hire more cops to protect communities.\n\n\u201cRural Development programs that are important in my state \u2013 senator from New Mexico\u2019s state, I assume as well \u2013 that support housing, utilities, infrastructure projects in rural communities.\n\n\u201cSmall business loans.\n\n\u201cCertain direct loan and emergency programs that farmers rely on.\n\n\u201cNational Guard training, critical to our nation\u2019s military readiness.\n\n\u201cVeterans transition assistance as they come out of service.\n\n\u201cVeterans cemetery services.\n\n\u201cRight now there are no headstones, memorial certificates, cemetery maintenance.\n\n\u201cPrograms that are at risk: Rental and housing assistance, delays in processing FHA-insured loans, delays in aircraft inspections and maintenance for air traffic control equipment.\n\n\u201cPeople that are currently not getting paid: I mentioned some of them, but air traffic controllers; TSA officers; Capitol Police, the people who protect us in this building; NOAA employees, who are tracking hurricanes and other potential weather disruptions, disasters; food inspectors; other food and drug safety officials; mine safety inspectors.\n\n\u201cPeople who don\u2019t have pay certainty right now: troops, Coast Guard, ICE, Border Patrol, federal law enforcement, \u2026 federal wildland \u2026 firefighters.\n\n\u201cExtenders that have lapsed: telehealth and at-home care, community health centers, teaching health centers, special diabetes programs, payments for ambulances, hospital-at-home services.\n\n\u201cOther lapsed authorizations: CISA, to prevent against cyber attacks; National Flood Insurance Program to prevent \u2026 closure \u2026 on homes in flood zones.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re leaving on the table.\n\n\u201cThe bill at the desk takes care of all of it \u2013 funds SNAP, funds WIC, and yes, with the stroke of the president\u2019s pen, he can sign it into law and everybody starts getting paid again.\n\n\u201cThis has got to stop \u2013 hostage-taking, now you want some political cover.\n\n\u201cHow long is this going to go on?\n\n\u201cHow much longer do you want to see it go on, just out of curiosity?\n\n\u201cSo you think this buys some time.\n\n\u201cYou want the shutdown to go on for another month, or?\n\n\u201cAnd then we\u2019re going to have another people come down here and, \u2018Well, let\u2019s carve this out, or carve this out.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t we just open the government?\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been here a good amount of time.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen continuing resolutions and appropriations problems and funding fights and government shutdowns.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been through a few.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\n\n\u201cThis just isn\u2019t done.\n\n\u201cYou want to have a discussion about health care?\n\n\u201cAbsolutely. Let\u2019s do it.\n\n\u201cOpen the government, let\u2019s do it.\n\n\u201cThe president will sit down with Democrats next week if you want to talk about health care.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not what this is about.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, we\u2019re not going to pick winners and losers.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to fund everybody who\u2019s experiencing the pain from this shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC?\n\n\u201cI have a bill for them sitting right there at the desk \u2013 clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire government, and all the many programs and people that the Democrats\u2019 SNAP bill completely ignores.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats have spent a month \u2013 a month, now \u2013 playing with people\u2019s livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won\u2019t let them accept a clean, nonpartisan CR.\n\n\u201cIf they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, they can end the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe bill is right here at the desk.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, I ask that the senator from New Mexico modify his request so that the Senate can proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 168, H.R. 5371, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=ECCFC609-ABF6-4AC3-9521-6F9803F587A6", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 29", "2025-10-29", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019re now in day 29 of the Democrat government shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd I say that because it is a Democrat shutdown.\n\n\u201cNow, the Democrats are out there publicly saying, \u2018Well, this is the Republicans who are responsible for shutting down the government,\u2019 notwithstanding the fact that the House of Representatives has passed a bill, sitting right here, that with five more Democrats, we could pick up and pass, put on the president\u2019s desk, he would sign it into law, and the government would reopen.\n\n\u201cThose are the simple facts.\n\n\u201cThose are indisputable facts.\n\n\u201cNow, what it suggests to me, however, when they say that it\u2019s the Republicans\u2019 fault, or you know, somehow the Republicans are responsible for shutting the government down, it really defies facts.\n\n\u201cIt defies history.\n\n\u201cIt defies reality.\n\n\u201cBecause, as everybody who\u2019s been around here knows, we have now voted 13 times \u2013 13 times on that bill sitting at the desk that would open up the government, put everybody back to work, and all the pain that is being caused [for] the American people would go away.\n\n\u201cThirteen times, we\u2019ve had that vote.\n\n\u201cNow, interestingly enough, that matches the number of times the Democrats passed a clean CR when they had the majority.\n\n\u201cThe last four years under President Biden, 13 different occasions \u2013 13 different occasions \u2013 they voted for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government.\n\n\u201cAnd at the time, they talked about how terrible it is that, you know, the government should be taken hostage when you have a dispute over other issues.\n\n\u201cYou have tons of statements.\n\n\u201cI mean, I could spend all day just repeating the statements that Democrats made over and over and over again about the importance of funding the government and not taking it hostage to discuss other issues.\n\n\u201cThe record is replete with statements like that coming out of the Democrats.\n\n\u201cSo, 13 times they have voted against funding the government right here.\n\n\u201cThirteen times while they were in the majority, they voted for a clean continuing resolution.\n\n\u201cNow explain that logic to the American people, who are the ones that are experiencing the pain and the consequence of their shutdown.\n\n\u201cI think the American people understand what\u2019s going on here.\n\n\u201cWe consistently see that, and so much so that you even have the organizations, the unions around the country, have come out now.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got the American Federation of Government Employees, you\u2019ve got the Teamsters, you\u2019ve got at least part of the air traffic controllers union \u2013 all have endorsed a clean funding resolution.\n\n\u201cThat, to me, suggests that the American people, it is resonating with them about who\u2019s responsible for this government shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut don\u2019t take my word for who it is.\n\n\u201cTake the Democrats\u2019 own words.\n\n\u201cIf you look at what\u2019s been said by some of the Democrat leadership here, just in the last few days since the government actually shut down.\n\n\u201cThat, of course, is the Democrat leader, Senator Schumer, who said \u2018every day gets better for us,\u2019 commenting about the government shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd my simple observation is: better for who?\n\n\u201cFor you, because you think you\u2019re winning politically?\n\n\u201cWhat about the air traffic controllers?\n\n\u201cWhat about the TSA agents?\n\n\u201cWhat about the American troops?\n\n\u201cWhat about our Border Patrol agents?\n\n\u201cWhat about the people who work in this building?\n\n\u201cWhat about the 40 million Americans that are going to not get SNAP benefits starting on Saturday if the government doesn\u2019t open up?\n\n\u201cBut every day gets better, according to Senator Schumer.\n\n\u201cThen, of course, this last week, there was the House Democrat whip, who said, \u2018Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. \u2026 But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course there are families that are going to suffer.\u2019\n\n\u201cYeah, true, but doesn\u2019t matter, because we\u2019ve got leverage!\n\n\u201cThen, of course, we have a third one here, one of our colleagues here in the Senate, the senator from Delaware, who said this in an interview, \u2018Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage. And although a very unpleasant tool to use\u2026\u2019\n\n\u201cYeah, yeah, it\u2019s unpleasant.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unpleasant, unless you\u2019re a Democrat who thinks that this gives you a moment of leverage.\n\n\u201cSo lest there be any question about who is responsible for shutting the government down \u2013 make no mistake about it, these guys are the ones who are out there bragging about it \u2018getting better for us every single day.\u2019 Or, \u2018we have more leverage now.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, this has gone on long enough.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve made it abundantly clear that this is not about what the Democrats say it\u2019s about.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about the president in the White House.\n\n\u201cThis is TDS.\n\n\u201cThis is Trump Derangement Syndrome on steroids, and they are asking the American people to pay the price for that.\n\n\u201cThirteen times when Biden was president, they had no issues with funding the federal government with a clean CR.\n\n\u201cNow we bring a clean, nonpartisan CR, no partisan riders, no policies, Republican policies attached, just funds the government.\n\n\u201cComes over from the House a month ago now, we put it here, just asking a handful of Democrats to join us.\n\n\u201cBecause, as we know, it takes 60 in the Senate, and I think most people understand that.\n\n\u201cI mean, they\u2019re trying to ignore the fact now, that \u2018the Republicans have control of Washington. They have the House, the Senate, and the White House.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnybody who follows this knows that in the United States Senate, the rules, the procedures in the Senate by which we operate and are governed, require a 60-vote threshold.\n\n\u201cSo it takes more than 51 \u2013 meaning, since we have 53 Republicans, it\u2019s going to take a handful of Democrats.\n\n\u201cWell, we\u2019ve been able to generate 55 votes consistently now, 13 different times, for funding the government, opening up the government, but we need five more.\n\n\u201cSo the question is: Are there five people over there with a backbone, five courageous Democrats, five Democrats who don\u2019t buy this?\n\n\u201cWho don\u2019t believe that they ought to be using the American people as leverage \u2013 as leverage \u2013 to try and win a political battle?\n\n\u201cAre there five Democrats over there who believe that we ought to do what\u2019s in the best interest of the American people?\n\n\u201cThe best interests of the air traffic controllers and the TSA agents?\n\n\u201cAnd the men and women in uniform?\n\n\u201cAnd the SNAP recipients that, starting on Saturday, are going to go without food assistance?\n\n\u201cThis is not a game.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re playing with real people\u2019s lives.\n\n\u201cNow, in the Washington world, in the political world, they may think that they are winning this debate because it gives them leverage.\n\n\u201cBut in the real world, where real people live, people are hurting.\n\n\u201cPeople here aren\u2019t getting paid.\n\n\u201cFederal workers aren\u2019t getting paid, as of Friday, last paycheck.\n\n\u201cAir traffic controllers, paychecks started going away yesterday.\n\n\u201cSo, I\u2019m still hopeful.\n\n\u201cI remain hopeful that there are enough sane Democrats who are not so afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome \u2013 because that is what this is about, fundamentally.\n\n\u201cNothing more, nothing less, nothing else.\n\n\u201cThis is about Trump Derangement Syndrome.\n\n\u201cAnd \u2026 it has broken out over here in a way unlike anything I\u2019ve seen in my time here.\n\n\u201cDisagree with the president, that\u2019s fine.\n\n\u201cCome down here, make statements, cast votes.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t take the American people hostage and make them pay the price, because you think that \u2018every day this is getting better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Democrat leader was on the floor yesterday morning, claiming that, once again, Republicans don\u2019t want to talk about fixing health care.\n\n\u201cAnd let me just say, Mr. President \u2013 for the 1,282nd time \u2013 that Republicans are more than happy to have a discussion about health care.\n\n\u201cWe should have a discussion about health care.\n\n\u201cBecause Democrats\u2019 signature health care law has done exactly nothing to address the problem of rising health care costs.\n\n\u201cWe were promised, of course, that it would.\n\n\u201cWe were, in fact, promised that Democrats\u2019 signature law would fix our entire health care system.\n\n\u201cThis is a quote: \u2018[A]n historic bill that will finally reform our broken health care system and help millions of our families and small businesses get the coverage they need at a price they can afford.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, from the senior Democrat senator from Washington speaking of Obamacare back in 2009.\n\n\u201cOr, to quote President Obama himself, \u2018This law will cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and small businesses.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018\u2026 cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and small businesses.\u2019\n\n\u201cExcept, of course, it didn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cAnd what has been very striking about the last few weeks is that Democrats are at least now admitting that.\n\n\u201cOh yeah, they\u2019re not saying it straight out.\n\n\u201cBut every time they talk about Americans facing a health care crisis, they are admitting that their signature health care law failed.\n\n\u201cThat it did not address the problem of high health care costs.\n\n\u201cThat it did not make health care more affordable for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, I could go down the list of Obamacare\u2019s broken promises.\n\n\u201cIf you like your health insurance you can keep it.\n\n\u201cNot true.\n\n\u201cIf you like your doctor you can keep him or her.\n\n\u201cNot true.\n\n\u201cPremium costs will go down.\n\n\u201cNot true \u2013 exactly the opposite.\n\n\u201cYou look at, since 2013 to today, what premium costs have done on the individual marketplace on the exchanges, it is a line like this.\n\n\u201cSuffice it to say \u2013 as Democrats are now implicitly admitting \u2013 that Obamacare massively failed in its aims.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, of course, now want to put a band-aid on a gaping wound by extending the Biden COVID bonuses.\n\n\u201cBut, of course, extending those credits will do nothing to fix the underlying problem \u2013 which is that health care costs will continue to spiral under Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThrowing $350 billion in taxpayer dollars at the problem in the form of enhanced tax credits will do nothing to stop Obamacare premiums from going up by double digits \u2013 because that is what they have been doing.\n\n\u201cAnd it will do nothing to improve health care for the majority of Americans who are not on Obamacare health plans \u2013 like our seniors, our most vulnerable citizens, and those who get their coverage through their employer.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while Democrats are, shall we say, shaky on the facts when it comes to their dramatic health care speeches \u2013 while Obamacare premiums are increasing, the median plan premium is not in fact going to double next year \u2013 it is absolutely true that Democrats have created real health care problems.\n\n\u201cAnd as I\u2019ve said more times than I can count, Republicans are ready and willing to have a discussion about those problems, and about how we lower costs for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cWe are, in fact, eager to have that discussion.\n\n\u201cThe president is willing to have Democrats over to discuss it next week \u2013 if they vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cBecause in the words of the Democrat leader back in 2013, we are not going to negotiate with a gun to our heads.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what he said.\n\n\u201cThis is a serious matter.\n\n\u201cAnd I know Democrats think you can solve any problem simply by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it \u2013 the record\u2019s pretty clear on that.\n\n\u201cBut you can\u2019t.\n\n\u201cGenuine remedies for the problem of soaring health care costs are not going to be arrived at with a brief late-night session behind closed doors in the Democrat leader\u2019s office.\n\n\u201cWe need extended, serious bipartisan work \u2013 with input from all senators.\n\n\u201cAnd we need Democrats to reopen the government so that work can start.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are brimming over with health care ideas \u2013 from cost-sharing reductions to actually lower health plan costs, to association health plans, to ways to stop Obamacare\u2019s spiral of enriching insurers at the expense of everyday Americans.\n\n\u201cIn fact, we already took steps to make health care more affordable and accessible when we passed the One Big Beautiful Bill this summer, which expanded health savings accounts and telehealth for Americans \u2013 to say nothing of investing heavily in rural health care and ensuring that our health care entitlement programs are focused on those most in need.\n\n\u201cSo, I say, we are looking forward to having a real discussion with Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut to quote another Democrat senator \u2013 the junior Democrat from Connecticut \u2013 \u2018There is a time and a place to debate health care, just like there is a time and place to debate energy policy and immigration and education \u2013 but not when the funding of the federal government, and all the lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, there are a lot of Americans suffering right now because of Democrats\u2019 month-long shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd the suffering increases every day.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time \u2013 it\u2019s past time \u2013 for Democrats to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAnd once they do, Republicans look forward to having some serious discussions about how to address rising health care costs and the failures of the Democrats\u2019 signature health care law.\n\n\u201cMr. President, before I close I\u2019d like to mention a bill that Democrats are reportedly going to attempt to move by unanimous consent today.\n\n\u201cAnd I would just say that, after a month of steadily increasing pain thanks to the Democrats\u2019 shutdown, Democrats have apparently woken up to the fact that in three days \u2013 in three days \u2013 they\u2019re going to be responsible for SNAP recipients starting to go without food stamps.\n\n\u201cSo what are Democrats doing?\n\n\u201cAre they making plans to end their shutdown and reopen the government?\n\n\u201cNope.\n\n\u201cThey are going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cDemocrats don\u2019t want the bad press of hungry Americans.\n\n\u201cBut they\u2019re also apparently unwilling to even contemplate ending their month-long shutdown.\n\n\u201cSo they\u2019re trying to insulate themselves with this bill.\n\n\u201cMr. President, do you know what\u2019s not in this bill?\n\n\u201cPaychecks for our troops.\n\n\u201cPaychecks for law enforcement officers and federal firefighters.\n\n\u201cPaychecks for air traffic controllers.\n\n\u201cPaychecks for other government workers.\n\n\u201cFunding for rental and housing assistance.\n\n\u201cFunding for small business loan programs.\n\n\u201cFunding for farm loan programs.\n\n\u201cFunding for tribal programs.\n\n\u201cFunding for Head Start.\n\n\u201cFunding for rural development programs.\n\n\u201cFunding for National Guard training.\n\n\u201cFunding for telehealth services.\n\n\u201cShall I go on?\n\n\u201cBecause I\u2019m happy to.\n\n\u201cEvery one of those programs I\u2019ve mentioned has either run out of money, is running out of money, or is otherwise in jeopardy because of the Democrats\u2019 government shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd the Democrats\u2019 bill would do nothing to support even one of those programs.\n\n\u201cThanks to Democrats, federal workers are lining up at food banks.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats\u2019 bill is certainly not going to help them as they struggle to pay the rent. Or the electric bill. Or make their car payment.\n\n\u201cMr. President, enough is enough.\n\n\u201cThis bill is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown even longer.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to let them pick winners and losers.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to fund everybody.\n\n\u201cAnd the bill sitting right there at the desk does that.\n\n\u201cWe just need five brave Democrats.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats really want to fund SNAP and WIC, we have a bill for them.\n\n\u201cA clean, nonpartisan CR to fund SNAP, WIC, and the entire federal government.\n\n\u201cOr we could pass the agriculture appropriations bill that Democrats have been resisting behind closed doors.\n\n\u201cThat would fund SNAP, WIC, and our farm and conservation programs.\n\n\u201cNot to mention ensuring salaries for the people who inspect our food and support our farmers.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to bring that up right now.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats have spent a month \u2013 a month, now \u2013 playing with people\u2019s livelihoods because the far-left wing of their party won\u2019t let them accept a clean, nonpartisan CR.\n\n\u201cEnough is enough.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not giving Democrats political cover.\n\n\u201cIf they want to prevent damage from their shutdown, then they can end their shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe bill is right there at the desk.\n\n\u201cAnd I will call a vote the minute Democrats tell me they have enough votes to fund the government.\n\n\u201cThe ball\u2019s really in their court, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIs this what you want the American people to think?\n\n\u201cThat you\u2019re willing to give them enormous amounts of pain and adverse consequence so that you can gain leverage \u2013 political leverage?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to end it, Mr. President.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5A48E0A3-4DF9-4B11-911C-F00C4BFD0475", "Thune: Democrats Admit They\u2019re Allowing Families to Suffer for Political Leverage", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cGood afternoon, everyone.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not very often that I get a chance to say this, but I agree with the AFGE \u2013 American Federation of Government Employees, largest government employees union \u2013 who said earlier this week that the Democrats need to reopen the government and start getting federal employees paid again.\n\n\u201cAnd on that point, they are absolutely right.\n\n\u201cThis is going to get worse as the week goes on, as time goes on.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve already seen the impacts.\n\n\u201cFederal workers missed their first paycheck last Friday.\n\n\u201cATC employees are going to miss their paycheck today.\n\n\u201cIf by the end of the week this isn\u2019t over, there\u2019re going to be 40 million Americans who are not going to have food assistance.\n\n\u201cAnd you add on top of that Head Start and telehealth, there are people who are getting their medical appointments canceled because of the shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd it just, it needs to end. It just needs to end.\n\n\u201cAnd we have made it abundantly clear \u2013 every elected official here has made it abundantly clear that we are more than happy to sit down with the Democrats and talk about other issues, whether it\u2019s the unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare, we\u2019re happy to have that conversation, but we can\u2019t do it with, as Chuck Schumer has said in the past, a gun to our heads.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s just, it\u2019s just that simple.\n\n\u201cSo they\u2019re going to have several opportunities, again, to vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAnd I sincerely hope, in the best interest of every American who is impacted by this shutdown, and particularly those who are going to be really adversely impacted come this weekend, that enough Democrats will come to their senses and deliver the five votes that are necessary to get this bill on the president\u2019s desk.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll remind everybody, everybody knows it: This bill passed the House a month ago.\n\n\u201cIt is sitting at the desk in the Senate.\n\n\u201cWe can pick it up today, pass it, put it on the president\u2019s desk, it will be signed into law, the government reopens today.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all it takes. And that\u2019s really what this is all about.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re trying to make it about other issues, and like I said, we\u2019re perfectly happy to have that conversation.\n\n\u201cI spoke with the president last night.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s happy to sit down with the Democrats next week to talk about Obamacare, but you can\u2019t do that when the government is shut down.\n\n\u201cThat would be subject, again, to them voting to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cSo let\u2019s hope that this week is the week in which enough sane Democrats come to the conclusion that it\u2019s not in their interest, and certainly not in the interest of the American people, to keep the government shut down.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7A505692-19E4-4883-8A32-1D0E08153535", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 28", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is a quote: \u2018The path forward for Congress is clear: Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, that is from the president of the American Federation of Government Employees \u2013 a labor union, I would add, most often aligned with Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut this is what AFGE\u2019s president says, and I quote, \u2018It\u2019s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, I couldn\u2019t have said it better myself.\n\n\u201cAnd actually, I\u2019ve been saying that for about a month now.\n\n\u201cBut far-left activists wanted a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cAnd so Democrats shut down the government and have forced hardworking Americans to live in uncertainty for four weeks \u2013 four weeks and counting.\n\n\u201cAnd even as nutrition programs are running out of money and federal workers are lining up at food banks, Democrats continue to reject every opportunity to end the shutdown or mitigate its pain.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve now blocked a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution 12 times.\n\n\u201cTwelve times, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cA clean resolution, sitting right there, to open up the government.\n\n\u201cGet everybody paid.\n\n\u201cGet federal employees back to work.\n\n\u201cThat thing sitting at the desk that funds the government doesn\u2019t have a single new Republican policy in it.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have a single partisan policy rider.\n\n\u201cIt simply extends current government funding.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats have said no to that, now, 12 times.\n\n\u201cWe offered them a chance to continue the bipartisan appropriations process starting with the defense appropriations bill \u2013 a bill that passed out of the committee by a big bipartisan vote of 26-3.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats said no to that, too \u2013 they didn\u2019t want to lose leverage in the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThen, last week, we offered up a bill to pay any federal employee who is working during the shutdown \u2013 including everybody here.\n\n\u201cAnd, once again, Democrats said no.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I don\u2019t know what Democrats are holding out for.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats think that we\u2019re suddenly going to vote for their partisan CR \u2013 which, by the way, would spend an additional $1.5 trillion to keep the government open until the end of this week?\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s their alternative.\n\n\u201c$1.5 trillion to keep the government open until Friday \u2013 that\u2019s their alternative.\n\n\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t pass here, it can\u2019t pass in the House, and it wouldn\u2019t be signed into law by the president.\n\n\u201cOur bill, on the other hand, as I said, has passed the House a month ago, has been sitting here for an entire month, and would be signed by the president immediately, to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cI have to say, Mr. President, this wasn\u2019t my plan for the month of October.\n\n\u201cA government shutdown may have been what Democrats had in mind \u2013 to show the far left that they\u2019re fighting President Trump and to get some cheers at the No Kings rally.\n\n\u201cBut that wasn\u2019t my plan.\n\n\u201cMy plan was to get the government funded with as little drama as possible.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why Republicans put forward a clean continuing resolution \u2013 no partisan policies, nothing new.\n\n\u201cWho could possibly have a problem with that?\n\n\u201cIt would give us more time to continue progress on full-year appropriations bills \u2013 the way we\u2019re supposed to fund the government.\n\n\u201cI realize that would be out of the ordinary given the past few years under the Democrat majority and Leader Schumer.\n\n\u201cBut I was clear from the day I took office that I wanted to do things differently around here.\n\n\u201cMy goal was to have an open process conducted through regular order \u2013 something that I think is in the best interest of this institution and of all senators, both sides of the aisle.\n\n\u201cAnd I know I was not alone in wanting an open process.\n\n\u201cAnd until Democrats derailed everything, we had actually made a lot of progress on restoring regular order this year.\n\n\u201cWe passed three bipartisan appropriations bills before the August recess \u2013 the first time the Senate had done that since 2018.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019re trying to go to conference on those three bills to reach a final agreement with the House.\n\n\u201cAnd the Democrats are blocking that.\n\n\u201cThat includes the agriculture bill that funds farm programs and nutrition assistance.\n\n\u201cThe military construction and VA bill that funds programs that veterans rely on.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we tried to bring up the defense appropriations bill this month \u2013 in hopes that if Democrats wouldn\u2019t agree to fund the entire government, we could at least make some progress on this critical aspect of it.\n\n\u201cAnd I told my Democrat colleagues that if we got on that bill, we would work to add other bipartisan bills.\n\n\u201cThe same way we did it just a few months ago.\n\n\u201cBut, once again, Democrats said no.\n\n\u201cNo to funding programs that they claim they support.\n\n\u201cNo to an open process.\n\n\u201cNo to bipartisanship.\n\n\u201cMr. President, time and again, we\u2019ve heard the Democrat leader lecture about bipartisanship.\n\n\u201cSo why is his caucus blocking progress on bipartisan appropriations bills?\n\n\u201cWhy are Democrats blocking bills that they helped write?\n\n\u201cIn the Appropriations Committee, where these bills are passing with overwhelming bipartisan margins \u2013 as I said, 26-3.\n\n\u201cWhy are they upending a bipartisan process that benefits all senators, on both sides of the aisle?\n\n\u201cThe senior senator from Hawaii said recently, and I quote, \u2018We still have hope for the appropriations process. There\u2019s a bipartisan desire to get something done and avoid a full-year [CR].\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, all I can say in response is that if Democrats still have hope for the appropriations process, they need to start acting like it.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re running out of time.\n\n\u201cAnd every day Democrats say no to reopening the government is another day lost.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019ve given Democrats a lot of opportunities to work in the best interest of the American people.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats seem more interested in getting the upper hand in their partisan games.\n\n\u201cThe number-two Democrat in the House said last week, and I quote, \u2018I mean, shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. \u2026 But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course there will be families that are going to suffer. \u2026 But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, from the second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cI think it describes where we\u2019re at, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cSure, people are suffering, but Democrats need their leverage.\n\n\u201cAre they serious?\n\n\u201cMr. President, I end as I began, quoting the president of a major labor union and a Democrat ally:\n\n\u201cThis is the quote: \u2018The path forward for Congress is clear: Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues.\u2019\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A77C5139-3CDF-4834-9AD2-EC9A567B82F8", "Thune Joins Martha MacCallum on Fox News", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Martha MacCallum on Fox News.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cI talked to [President Trump] last night, and he\u2019s willing to sit down next week with the Democrats in his office to talk about a path forward on dealing with the unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare, but not while they hold the government hostage. So, they vote to open up the government, the president sits down with them \u2026\n\n\u201cWhat more do they want? That seems to me to be giving [Democrats] exactly what they\u2019re asking for \u2026 a chance to negotiate on these things.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[Democrats are] looking at this like it\u2019s some sort of political game \u2026 where there are winners and losers of the political game \u2026 [Republicans] look at this as real impacts on real families and people in the country.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown:\n\n\u201c[M]y staff isn\u2019t getting paid, nor is anybody here who works in the Capitol, and I sent a letter to Disbursing, I\u2019m not getting paid either, Martha, just to set the record straight \u2026\n\n\u201cOn Friday, federal employees missed a check. Monday, yesterday, you had air traffic controllers missing their check. You\u2019ve got these SNAP recipients out there, the 40 million or so families that are going to be impacted by this by the weekend.\n\n\u201cThis is just insanity, and the Democrats have got to come to their senses and realize that, while they may view this as leverage \u2026 look at a ledger of who\u2019s winning [and] who\u2019s losing in the political world, this is the real world we\u2019re talking about here. And in the real world, people are hurting, and \u2026 this is going to be a painful, painful time \u2026\n\n\u201cIt can be simply remedied today, getting five courageous Democrats with a backbone to join us and vote in the Senate today to open up the government, and the president would sign that bill into law.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201c[Democrats] are afraid of their far-left base, the people who marched here during the No Kings rally \u2013 groups like MoveOn.org and Indivisible, who are calling the shots, they are the tail wagging the dog.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leadership is petrified of these groups, and so they are not moving at all right now. But we have made it very clear that we, the speaker and I and others, are willing to have discussions about health care and other issues, as is the president of the United States. Open up the government and we can have that conversation.\u201d", 1, "2026-04-07T15:46:19Z", "2026-04-07T20:18:37Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=FE579045-846C-4D3D-93A4-55CF2FDB5CF4", "Thune Joins Sean Hannity on Fox News", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Sean Hannity on Fox News.\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cThis is a big political game [to the Democrats]. This is to make a bunch of people on their far left \u2013 the people who were probably at the rally last weekend for Mamdani in New York \u2013 that\u2019s the kind of constituency that the Democrats are appealing to right now.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cAt some point, Schumer is probably going to have to do what Jeffries did over the weekend, and that is endorse Mamdani \u2026 [The far-left base is] now defining what the Democrat Party is about. This is a party without an identity \u2026 they\u2019re floundering around, flailing around, keeping the government shut down so they can demand all these extraneous policies \u2026\n\n\u201cI think New York is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to where the Democrats are headed. And that\u2019s the reason I think most Americans are going to say: enough of that; I don\u2019t need that; I don\u2019t need a socialist, left-wing ideology \u2026 running \u2026 New York, but also infecting \u2026 the Democrat Party all across the country.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 government shutdown:\n\n\u201cUnfortunately \u2026 millions of Americans are going to get impacted by [the government shutdown] \u2026 millions of Americans who aren\u2019t getting paychecks, who work for the federal government \u2026\n\n\u201c[Forty]-some million people \u2026 depend upon food assistance [and] that runs out at the end of the week \u2026 These consequences are becoming real. Flight delays, ATC problems, air traffic controllers, in addition to TSA, Border Patrol, [and] Capitol Police [aren\u2019t] getting paid. The troops aren\u2019t going to be getting paid \u2026\n\n\u201cThis is a real crisis for a lot of American families and the Democrats, as [House Democrat Whip Katherine Clark said], \u2018this is [Democrats\u2019] leverage,\u2019 and they view it as a big political game.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cThe Federal Employees Union \u2026 has come out in support of the clean continuing resolution sent over here to the Senate by the House, which is awaiting action \u2026 All we have to do is pick it up, [get] \u2026 five more Democrats [to] vote for it. We pass it. Send it to the White House. President signs it into law. Government reopens. All these questions go away.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cLast week, we had a vote on a Ron Johnson bill on the floor of the Senate that simply would have paid \u2026 all federal employees who are currently working \u2026 So think military and Capitol Police and \u2026 Border Patrol, all these different folks who are actually doing the job right now, not getting paid. Democrats blocked it.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping enough [Democrats] come to their senses to give us the five votes that we need to actually get the government reopened again. But they are playing a game, and these demands that they have \u2026 [are] not serious. It\u2019s not realistic, and they know it. And all we\u2019re simply trying to do is fund the government at last year\u2019s levels and keep it open until we can get the appropriations process going.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a \u2026 very straightforward \u2026 uncomplicated position that we put out there. I think the American people are starting to get it, and I think the employers, the Government Employees Union, is \u2026 a big indication of that.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-accepting-spring-2026-internship-applications", "Rounds Accepting Spring 2026 Internship Applications", "2025-10-27", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "PIERRE \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is currently accepting applications from college students to serve as interns during the spring 2026 semester. Positions are available in the Washington, D.C. office and the state offices in Pierre, Rapid City and Sioux Falls.\n\nStudents will work closely with constituents and staff, polish their research and writing skills and gain an in-depth understanding of a Senate office. Duties in Rounds\u2019 Washington, D.C. office include tracking legislation, researching bills, attending committee hearings and briefings, leading tours of the U.S. Capitol, answering constituent phone calls, sorting mail and providing legislative support. Duties in the South Dakota offices include researching constituent inquiries and requests, attending outreach activities, assisting staff on special projects, sorting mail and answering phone calls. Internships can also be tailored to an intern\u2019s specific interest areas when possible.\n\nSpring internships typically run from January to May, but dates can be tailored to specific schedules. Interns will receive a stipend, and the office works closely with all universities to meet the criteria necessary for interns to receive college credit.\n\n\u201cOur internship program is an incredible opportunity for students to experience a deeper understanding of the political process,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cInterns are crucial to our office operations both in South Dakota and in D.C. The program is open to students from all areas of discipline, not just political science. I encourage college students interested in serving the state of South Dakota to apply for the upcoming spring internship.\u201d\n\n\u201cI learned many valuable things during my time interning in Senator Rounds' office,\u201d said Kaelyn Somsen, a summer 2022 intern in Rounds\u2019 D.C. office who is now attending law school at the University of South Dakota. \u201cI continue to use many of those lessons during my time in law school and while working in a law firm. Communication is a big part of interning in the Senate, whether it be communicating with constituents, those who are coming in to meet with the Senator, or other staff members. Learning how to address different people and situations has helped me in school and work as I am able to communicate efficiently and effectively with clients, professors, attorneys, and other staff members.\u201d\n\nInterested students can apply at https://www.rounds.senate.gov/internships. The application deadline is November 15, 2025. For more information, please contact Rounds\u2019 Pierre office at 605-224-1450.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=871A699F-9CE2-4517-93F6-A6157246C28D", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 27", "2025-10-27", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, \u2018There is a time and a place to debate health care, just like there is a time and place to debate energy policy and immigration and education \u2013 but not, not, when the funding of the federal government, and all the lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018There is a time and a place to debate health care \u2026 but not when the funding of the federal government, and all the lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.\u2019\n\n\u201cThose are not my words, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThose are the words of the junior Democrat senator from Connecticut, back in 2013.\n\n\u201c\u2018There is a time and a place to debate health care \u2026 but not when the funding of the federal government, and all the lives that are impacted by it, hang in the balance.\u2019\n\n\u201cThese words were once emblematic of the Democrat position here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cDemocrats once passionately opposed shutdowns \u2013 or so they said \u2013 in large part because of the impact they would have on American citizens and American workers.\n\n\u201cNow? Well, now government workers \u2013 and every other American affected by this shutdown \u2013 have become nothing more than pawns in the Democrats\u2019 political games.\n\n\u201cOn Friday federal workers missed their entire paychecks.\n\n\u201cThe next paycheck for our troops \u2013 for our troops \u2013 Mr. President, is in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cAnd more than 40 million Americans could lose access to food stamps if the shutdown continues.\n\n\u201cForty million.\n\n\u201cAnd yet none of it seems to matter to Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cThe party that once decried the impact of shutdowns on Americans in need is now apparently content to see 40 million Americans go without food.\n\n\u201cThe senior Democrat senator from Vermont was on TV the other day, and one of the hosts suggested that members of Congress should refuse to take their paychecks during a shutdown.\n\n\u201cAnd what did the senior Democrat senator from Vermont say?\n\n\u201cHe said that some members of Congress couldn\u2019t afford to go without pay.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThat some members of Congress couldn\u2019t afford to go without pay.\n\n\u201cDoes he think that other Americans can?\n\n\u201cThe junior Democrat senator from Arizona told NBC News near the beginning of the shutdown that he couldn\u2019t afford to miss his paycheck.\n\n\u201cThis was his quote: \u2018I\u2019m not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support. So it\u2019s not feasible, not gonna happen.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhat ON EARTH does he think is happening to federal workers \u2013 and other Americans out of work because of the Democrats\u2019 shutdown?\n\n\u201cDoes he think they don\u2019t have mortgage payments? Rent payments? School expenses? Electric bills?\n\n\u201cIf some members of Congress can\u2019t afford to miss a paycheck, how much more is that true for the many workers making a lot less than members of Congress pull down?\n\n\u201cThe junior Democrat senator from Minnesota stated that she would not be forgoing her pay because she is continuing to work.\n\n\u201cBecause she is continuing to work.\n\n\u201cDo Democrats even hear themselves?\n\n\u201cShe does realize, right, that a lot of other people are continuing to work?\n\n\u201cAnd have been working without pay now for four weeks now, thanks to her actions and those of her Democrat colleagues?\n\n\u201cHow many of those workers are going to miss their rent payments or mortgage payments before Democrats are satisfied?\n\n\u201c\u2018Shutdowns aren\u2019t victimless crimes,\u2019 the senior Democrat from Virginia said \u2013 less than a year ago, I might add.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, Democrats\u2019 victims are piling up.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats don\u2019t look likely to spare anyone any time soon.\n\n\u201cIn fact, they\u2019re freely admitting it.\n\n\u201cThe second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives said recently, and I quote \u2013 I\u2019ve got it right here, Mr. President \u2013 \u2018Of course there will be families that are going to suffer. \u2026 But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cI guess the Americans currently lining up at food banks can comfort themselves with the knowledge that they\u2019re being sacrificed to advance Democrats\u2019 political goals.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if you asked Democrats the reason for the 180-degree flip in their views on shutdowns \u2013 if you challenged them to explain their hypocrisy \u2013 I suspect you wouldn\u2019t get much of an answer.\n\n\u201cI suspect that at best Democrats would bleat something about how this shutdown is a special case.\n\n\u201cRight?\n\n\u201cA special case.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s always a special case with Democrats.\n\n\u201cA historic blockade of presidential nominees?\n\n\u201cWell, that was a special case.\n\n\u201cIgnore anything that you\u2019ve ever said about shutdowns, right here on the floor of the Senate.\n\n\u201cWell, that was a special case.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what\u2019s actually special about this case.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s special about this case is that Democrats\u2019 far-left base demanded a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats have abandoned every principle that they possessed related to shutdowns to give it to them.\n\n\u201cAnd while some Democrats may be privately uncomfortable about all the damage a four-week shutdown is doing, so far they\u2019re too scared of their base to do anything about it.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats claim that this shutdown is about addressing the expiring Obamacare COVID subsidies.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not really what this is about.\n\n\u201cIf this were really what this is about, then Democrats would be voting to reopen the government so that we could actually engage in a serious discussion about rising health care costs \u2013 and how Obamacare has failed to address them.\n\n\u201cBut they\u2019re not.\n\n\u201cBecause at the end of the day, Democrats don\u2019t want a solution: they want a political issue.\n\n\u201cAnd if countless hardworking Americans are sacrificed in the process?\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course there will be families that are going to suffer. \u2026 But it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cApparently that\u2019s just fine with the Democrats here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019ll be voting once again this week to reopen the government \u2013 to reopen the government, restore hardworking Americans\u2019 paychecks, protect nutrition programs, support critical services like air traffic control \u2026 and that list goes on and on and on.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats will have a 13th chance to vote on a clean, nonpartisan funding bill that will reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAll we need are five Democrats to join the three who are with us already, and we could have the government open again in a matter of hours.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s that simple, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThe solution is sitting right at that desk.\n\n\u201cThe bill that passed the House a month ago is sitting at this desk and has been now for a month.\n\n\u201cAnd we have repeatedly called it up asked us to vote on it.\n\n\u201cEvery time \u2013 every time \u2013 we get 55 senators voting for it.\n\n\u201cEveryone knows the rules in Senate require 60.\n\n\u201cBut that bill, with five courageous Democrats stepping forward to help us pass it, could be on the president\u2019s desk, signed into law, and this government reopens.\n\n\u201cIt could happen today. It could happen this afternoon.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s just hope that somewhere, those courageous Democrats exist.\n\n\u201c\u2018Shutdowns \u2014 even partial ones \u2014 are as devastating as they are stupid,\u2019 that was what the senior Democrat from Virginia said just last year.\n\n\u201cSo how do you justify what you\u2019re doing now?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s up to them, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cWe can do it, and we can do it today.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-cracks-down-illegal-licensing-migrants", "Johnson Cracks Down on Illegal Licensing for Migrants", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) cosponsored the Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act to strengthen commercial driver\u2019s licensing (CDL) requirements for legal immigrants in the United States with a work authorization or visa. South Dakota was recently found to be non-compliant with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules due to giving non-American citizens a CDL with an expiration date beyond their legal stay in America.\n\n\u201cI was surprised to learn South Dakota was not in compliance,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThat\u2019s why I am helping to lead legislation to ensure every state abides by these rules to make sure those who are here illegally or past their legal stay don\u2019t have a valid government-issued ID. Our roads must be safe, and our immigration laws must be followed.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe appreciate Congressman Johnson\u2019s leadership in advancing commonsense reforms that strengthen the integrity of the commercial driver licensing process,\u201d said Christine Erickson, President, South Dakota Trucking Association. \u201cThe Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act helps ensure that only individuals with lawful status and proper work authorization are operating on our nation\u2019s roads. These standards protect public safety, uphold federal compliance, and reinforce trust in the commercial driver credentialing system that supports our industry and economy.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nOn April 28, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to review non-domiciled CDLs issued by states and take action. The rule and legislation come in response to an ongoing nationwide audit by the FMCSA revealing widespread non-compliance among state driver licensing agencies and a recent series of horrific, fatal crashes caused by non-domiciled CDL holders. California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and South Dakota were found to be non-compliant.\n\nThis bill aligns closely with U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Interim Final Rule titled \u201cRestoring Integrity to the Issuance of Non-Domiciled Commercial Driver\u2019s Licenses (CDLs).\u201d\n\nThe Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act:\n\nLimits eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs to applicants with lawful immigration status and hold a work visa that is directly connected to a legitimate CDL job.\n\nRequires state verification of lawful status prior to issuance of non-domiciled CDLs.\n\nCaps non-domiciled CDL durations to one year or the applicant\u2019s authorized stay, whichever is shorter.\n\nRequires record retention related to CDL issuance for no less than 2 years.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2D3E1146-AFA5-4A6D-87E9-C1E36FAC93EC", "Thune Joins The Ben Shapiro Show", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Ben Shapiro Show.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201c[T]his is a real losing hand for [Democrats] to play. It\u2019s certainly costing people all over the country, big time, particularly federal employees. And the longer this thing drags on, the worse it gets \u2026\n\n\u201c[Democrats] don\u2019t seem prepared to want to come to their senses and actually do the right thing for the American people, which is to keep the government open.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWe ought to be able to \u2026 open up the government by just having five more Democrats vote with us \u2026 that\u2019s all it\u2019s going to take \u2026 Everything is harder than it should be right now because of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but I still think at some point there are going to be some rank-and-file Democrats who break with their leadership and do the right thing for the country, and that is open up the government.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 health care crisis:\n\n\u201c[Democrats] created \u2026 this COVID cliff \u2026 [T]hese enhanced subsidies, which did go into effect \u2026 during the pandemic \u2026 was supposed to be a response to that, [and] the pandemic\u2019s long over. [Democrats] created the expiration date. So this is really a problem of their own making.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[E]verything that Obamacare has done, including these enhanced subsidies, has added to the cost of insurance policies. In fact, if you look from 2013 to 2025 to where we are today, insurance rates on \u2026 the Obamacare exchanges, have gone up about 221 percent \u2026 so it\u2019s done nothing but inflate the cost that people are paying for health insurance across this country \u2026\n\n\u201c[T]he fundamental program is flawed. And then the enhanced subsidies were flawed, too \u2026 Insurance companies are incentivized to auto-enroll people, and so it\u2019s become a money maker \u2026 just a factory for insurance companies to make money \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cNow [Democrats are] expecting Republicans to try and solve it for them. And that\u2019s their price for opening up the federal government. And it\u2019s a price that is a very stiff one, because \u2026 to do it the way they want to do it, it\u2019s about $400 billion.\u201d\n\nOn preserving the legislative filibuster:\n\n\u201c[The filibuster has] prevented a lot of bad things from happening \u2026 The Democrats tried to get rid of the filibuster for what they called their elections reform bill, which basically was consolidating all of elections in Washington, D.C. It would have \u2026 taken power to regulate elections away from the states, would have done away with voter ID \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cDemocrats have made it \u2026 clear they would love to get rid of the filibuster to enact their agenda, which includes \u2026 statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., and expand the Supreme Court up to 15 seats there, abortion on demand, [and] \u2026 federalizing our election system. Those are just a few of the list of horribles that they\u2019ve put out there, and they all campaigned on that \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[Preserving the filibuster is] situational for [Democrats]. It\u2019s all about political power. And \u2026 now that they are on the outside, they\u2019re going to use this to their advantage.\u201d\n\nOn confirming President Trump\u2019s nominees:\n\n\u201cWe cleared the backlog [of nominees]\u2026 We\u2019ve been here more days, more hours, cast more votes than any Senate in history, at least the last 40 years, as a result of the Democrats\u2019 obstruction. And so we did make a change in the rules that enables us to start processing some of the executive branch nominations in batches, and that\u2019s enabled us to catch up \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really important for us to continue to fill the judiciary and the executive branch with President Trump\u2019s nominees \u2026 to be able to implement the agenda that he ran on and that the American people voted for.\u201d\n\nOn the Gaza Peace Deal:\n\n\u201c[I]t is remarkable what the president has accomplished here \u2026 [I]t builds on the success \u2026 of the Abraham Accords. Obviously, we\u2019re far from being in a state where we can declare total victory, because Hamas is still active, and \u2026 they need to be completely obliterated, or at least disarmed, so that they are not a factor in governing the Gaza Strip \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[The peach deal] wouldn\u2019t have been possible had it not been for President Trump and his leadership \u2026 [W]e still have a lot of work to do, and Prime Minister Netanyahu and our president, working together with our allies in the region, hopefully will continue to stabilize that area and make it a place that\u2019s attractive for people to live and work and invest.\u201d\n\nOn Senate Republicans\u2019 priorities:\n\n\u201c[F]unding the government the old-fashioned way through the appropriations process \u2026 There are things like permitting reform \u2026 [and] AI, which has become a very, very big issue in our lives \u2026 [W]e\u2019ve got to do a farm bill [and] a highway transportation bill. There\u2019s a lot of work for Congress to do that has been put on \u2026 the back burner while the government\u2019s been shut down \u2026\n\n\u201c[T]he most important thing that we do is \u2026 take care and make sure that we protect the country. I always tell people, if you don\u2019t get national security right, the rest is conversation. So we did get the defense authorization bill across the finish line in the Senate.\n\n\u201cWe tried \u2026 to put the defense appropriations bill on the floor, which \u2026 funds all those priorities, and the Democrats blocked it. But taking care of America\u2019s national security interest in what is a very dangerous world is going to continue to be a big priority for us \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get past this government shutdown and the Democrats holding federal employees hostage \u2026 to try and get a bunch of unrelated policy things that they want to get done.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve said I\u2019m perfectly happy to have the conversation [and] talk with them about some of those things, but \u2026 we can\u2019t do that while the government\u2019s being held hostage.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5F1DDE58-C030-447E-A486-06778B7B172F", "Thune Joins America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News.\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cThe Democrats continue to play political games. They are afraid, just absolutely desperately afraid, of their base and that\u2019s why we\u2019re in the situation we\u2019re in. So it\u2019s going to take five Democrats, probably not going to come out of their leadership \u2026 they\u2019re a lost cause. I think it\u2019s going to have to be rank-and-file Democrats who end this.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[Democrats] don\u2019t care if people suffer \u2026 this is a political game to them.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 government shutdown:\n\n\u201c[Y]ou\u2019ve got a whole lot of other programs out there, including the SNAP program that\u2019s available to people who really need food assistance in this country, is going to go away here soon, too. So we\u2019re getting to where the consequences of this are very real. \u201c\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cThis is a routine thing, to continue to fund the government until we get the other appropriations bills done. This is a clean CR. It is nonpartisan, it is short-term, and it\u2019s passed the House. It\u2019s sitting at the desk at the Senate. We could pick it up, pass it today if we get five Democrats, put it on the president\u2019s desk, he signs it into law, and the government opens up again \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWe need to open up the government. The other things that they want to talk about, I've told them we\u2019re willing to do that, but [it] can\u2019t be done while the federal employees are being held hostage \u2026\n\n\u201c[The] night before last, the Democrats had this drone-a-thon that went on all night. We had one Democrat senator who read the same poem four times, [while] 335 federal employees in the Capitol had to sit there all night and not get paid \u2026 and listen to these Democrats drone on endlessly.\n\n\u201c[The government shutdown] \u2026 has to end \u2026 [I]t\u2019s in [the Democrats\u2019] hands right now. It\u2019s up to them to end it.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Johnson\u2019s Shutdown Fairness Act:\n\n\u201cI think this vote today is a really challenging one for the Democrats. It\u2019s very hard to defend voting against. Ron Johnson is offering a counter proposal \u2026 that \u2026 would pay everybody who\u2019s working \u2026\n\n\u201cThe Democrats are going to try and counter it with a political gimmick which would pay federal employees once, but then continue the shutdown. They\u2019re trying to have it both ways \u2026 this is all about politics for them.\n\n\u201cIf [Democrats] \u2026 open up the government, their left-wing base goes nuts. If they don\u2019t vote for Ron Johnson\u2019s [bill] or something else, then a lot of the federal employees are going to be without pay.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B6DCE19C-3301-4168-BE93-3D9D61A5B4EC", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 23", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, there was a time when Democrats opposed government shutdowns.\n\n\u201cAnd not just opposed.\n\n\u201cDemocrats were critical of holding government funding hostage to political demands.\n\n\u201cOur Democrat colleague from Michigan said that funding the government is \u2018Congress\u2019 most basic responsibility.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe senior senator from Massachusetts \u2013 a leading Democrat \u2013 said, and I quote, \u2018The least we can do \u2013 the bare minimum that we can do \u2013 would be to pass a \u201ccontinuing resolution\u201d to keep the doors open and the lights on.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the Democrat leader \u2013 just last year \u2013 decried the \u2018chaos and pain and needless heartache\u2019 that a shutdown brings to American families.\n\n\u201cSo, what\u2019s changed?\n\n\u201cWhy are Democrats in 2025 suddenly comfortable shutting down the government and subjecting Americans to all that chaos, pain, and heartache that the Democrat leader described?\n\n\u201cWhy did Democrats instigate the longest full government shutdown in history?\n\n\u201cWell, they\u2019d like you to believe that it\u2019s about health care.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have been perfectly clear that we\u2019re willing to have a discussion about health care \u2013 just not while government funding is being held hostage, and all the federal employees that come with that.\n\n\u201cSo if this were really about health care, Democrats would be voting in favor of the clean CR as the quickest way to reopen the government and start the discussions.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not where we are.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s because what\u2019s really driving Democrats isn\u2019t health care.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a desire for negotiations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s politics and far-left activists who demanded a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cThe real reason we\u2019re now in the longest full government shutdown in history is because Democrats are afraid of backlash from the far left if they stand down.\n\n\u201cOne Democrat senator was quoted this week saying, and I quote, \u2018\u201cPeople are going to get hammered\u201d if they vote for the House-passed bill to reopen the government and keep it funded through Nov. 21.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018People are going to get hammered\u2019 if they vote for the clean continuing resolution.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s from a Democrat senator, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cHammered by outside groups.\n\n\u201cHammered by left-wing political activists.\n\n\u201cOr take it from one of the organizers of Saturday\u2019s No Kings rally who said, and I quote, \u2018I\u2019m telling every elected I talk to:\u2019 \u2013 that is, every elected official that I talk to \u2013 \u2018millions will be out cheering you on, or they\u2019ll be calling for new leadership.\u2019\n\n\u201cDemocrats, Mr. President, are keeping the government shut down because they\u2019re scared.\n\n\u201cScared of a primary from the left.\n\n\u201cScared of losing fundraising dollars.\n\n\u201cScared that the far left will punish them if they don\u2019t appear to be fighting President Trump hard enough.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, Mr. President, Democrats\u2019 political games are having real consequences.\n\n\u201cAirport tower staffing shortages have caused thousands \u2013 thousands \u2013 of flight delays nationwide.\n\n\u201cMedicare patients and people in rural areas are dealing with the elimination of telehealth services.\n\n\u201cMilitary families have turned to food banks in \u2018unprecedented\u2019 numbers.\n\n\u201cAnd things are about to get worse.\n\n\u201cThe nutrition assistance programs that millions of Americans depend on to feed their families are in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cAnd tomorrow, federal workers will miss a full paycheck because of the Democrat shutdown.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cTomorrow, federal employees will miss a full paycheck thanks to Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans want to do something about this.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d love to pass the clean, continuing, nonpartisan resolution, which would pay everyone.\n\n\u201cPassed the House a long time ago, we\u2019ve voted on it 12 times here now.\n\n\u201cThey continue to, with three exceptions, to block vote against it.\n\n\u201cTwelve times now, Democrats have blocked just paying our federal employees.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, it\u2019s federal employees all throughout the federal workforce, which literally is millions of Americans.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s people right here.\n\n\u201cPeople in this chamber, people in this building, had to stay here night before last, all night \u2013 all night \u2013 to listen to some Democrats drone on.\n\n\u201cOne Democrat senator read the same poem four times.\n\n\u201cThey were here all night, not getting paid \u2013 335, exactly, federal employees \u2013 in this building, had to stay here all night, work through the night and into the next day so [the Democrats] could make some campaign political speech or point in the middle of the night.\n\n\u201cThat nobody\u2019s listening to, obviously, which is why I guess you read the same poem four times, four different times, reading from books while the people sitting here doing the work aren\u2019t getting paid.\n\n\u201cAnd so today, Mr. President, we\u2019re going to have a vote on Senator Ron Johnson\u2019s bill that would guarantee pay for federal employees who are working through the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe 335 people who had to be here night before last to listen to that, they would finally get paid.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s also people like air traffic controllers, TSA agents, park rangers.\n\n\u201cFederal law enforcement, ICE, Border Patrol \u2013 people putting their lives at risk to keep Americans safe.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019ll see what Democrats do.\n\n\u201cDo they think that people that are working ought to get paid?\n\n\u201cWell, to date Democrats have rejected every opportunity they\u2019ve been given to put the American people ahead of their far-left base.\n\n\u201cAs I said, they\u2019ve rejected a clean CR, now, 12 times.\n\n\u201cA CR, a continuing resolution that would fund the government until November the 21st to give us time to finish the appropriations process.\n\n\u201cA clean CR, a nonpartisan CR, a CR that has no partisan riders, no policy gimmicks.\n\n\u201cThat came over from the House, just clean, just fund the government straight-up, sitting right here at the desk of the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cFive Democrats could help us pass it today.\n\n\u201cWe could send it to the president.\n\n\u201cHe would sign it into law.\n\n\u201cThe government opens up.\n\n\u201cAnd all the people here and across our federal government would get paid.\n\n\u201cLast week, the Democrats blocked the bipartisan defense appropriations bill that would have paid our troops.\n\n\u201cIt came out of the Senate Appropriations Committee by a vote of 26-3.\n\n\u201cVery bipartisan on the floor \u2013 should have been, usually is, usually gets 80-plus votes on the floor of the Senate.\n\n\u201cBut they blocked it.\n\n\u201cWould have paid our troops, defense appropriations bill.\n\n\u201cSo today [they\u2019re] going to have another opportunity to show whether they stand on the side of hardworking Americans or remain beholden to their far-left base.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, we\u2019ve heard Democrats this week criticize Senator Johnson\u2019s bill because it would provide pay only to workers who continue to work through the shutdown.\n\n\u201cThey say they want everybody to get paid.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve got great news for them:\n\n\u201cThe clean continuing resolution sitting at the desk would pay everybody!\n\n\u201cEverybody!\n\n\u201cWe just need five more Democrats to support it.\n\n\u201cFive more gets us to 60. Takes a supermajority in the Senate.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are the only thing standing in the way of the outcome that they say they want \u2013 which is for everybody to get paid.\n\n\u201cSo Mr. President, the clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution sits right there at the desk.\n\n\u201cThe president, President Trump, is ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cThe shutdown could be over in a matter of hours if just five Democrats would agree.\n\n\u201cBut unfortunately, the shadow of Democrats\u2019 far-left base continues to stand in the way.\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take it from me.\n\n\u201cAs one source familiar with Democrats\u2019 thinking told The Hill this week, and I quote, \u2018\u201cWe would have enough votes\u201d to reopen the government \u201cif people were not terrified of getting the guillotine.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cWe would have enough votes to reopen the government if Democrats were not terrified of getting the guillotine.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we just need five Democrats to show some courage.\n\n\u201cThis was a statement made yesterday by a Democrat House member.\n\n\u201cAnd sometimes people around here say the quiet part out loud, sometimes they just, it\u2019s just kind of subconsciously.\n\n\u201cAnd this is what she said \u2013 she\u2019s a member of the Democrat leadership in the House of Representatives \u2013 \u2018Of course there will be families that are going to suffer \u2026 but it is one of the few leverage times we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cBoy, just take that in.\n\n\u201cTake that in.\n\n\u201c\u2018Of course there will be families that are going to suffer,\u2019 but we don\u2019t want to give up our leverage!\n\n\u201cLeverage for what? Leverage for what?\n\n\u201cMr. President, we need five Democrats to show a little courage.\n\n\u201cReopen the government, and let\u2019s get to work.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-house-gop-colleagues-send-letter-president-trump-following-reports", "Johnson, House GOP colleagues send letter to President Trump following reports of potential beef imports from Argentina", "2025-10-22", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and seven of his House Republican colleagues sent a letter to President Trump urging him to give American producers an opportunity to meet increased demand following reports that the United States may import beef from Argentina.\n\nJohnson was joined by U.S. Representatives Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Troy Downing (R-MT), Gabe Evans (R-CO), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Jeff Hurd (R-CO), and August Pfluger (R-TX). In the letter, they highlight how American ranchers supply the world\u2019s highest-quality beef and should not be undercut by foreign imports produced under lower standards. They call on the administration to ensure that any future trade decisions are made with \u201cfull transparency, sound science, and a firm commitment to the U.S. cattle industry.\u201d\n\n\u201cSouth Dakota's cattle producers set the standard for quality and safety in beef production,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI understand the President\u2019s efforts to strengthen trade and keep food affordable, but those efforts should not undermine the farmer and ranchers who put dinner on our tables. Any decision to import foreign beef must hold countries to the same gold-standard regulations our producers meet every day. American ranchers play by the rules, produce the best beef in the world, and they deserve a fair shot to compete.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve all received a number of questions and calls from our constituents over the last few days, so we are asking for clarity on the administration\u2019s long-term plans. Our farmers and ranchers stand ready to deliver on the President\u2019s America-First agenda,\u201d saidFedorchak. \u201cNorth Dakotans take great pride in producing the safest, highest-quality beef in the world\u2014and we should be building on that success. When it comes to beef, no one does it better than the United States.\u201d\n\nKey Letter Excerpts:\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s cattle producers are among the most resilient and hardworking in the nation. They\u2019ve endured droughts, blizzards, and volatile markets while continuing to raise safe, high-quality beef that feeds families across America and around the world. Their work is a source of immense pride to our districts and to the broader U.S. agriculture community.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe United States maintains the gold standard for food safety and animal health. These safeguards are enforced daily by USDA inspectors and are a key reason consumers trust American beef. Any import policy must hold foreign suppliers to those same rigorous standards. Introducing beef from countries with inconsistent safety or inspection records could undermine the confidence that U.S. ranchers have worked decades to earn.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s producers can compete with anyone in the world. If given an opportunity, they will continue to respond quickly to the market demand for more quality American beef in our grocery stores.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-mackenzie-lead-effort-pay-troops-federal-employees-during-government", "Johnson, Mackenzie Lead Effort to Pay Troops, Federal Employees During Government Shutdowns", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) introduced the Shutdown Fairness Act to pay federal employees and armed services members who are required to work during government shutdowns.\n\n\u201cHardworking federal employees and our military men and women didn\u2019t ask to miss a paycheck, and they shouldn\u2019t have to suffer because Congress didn\u2019t do its job,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cMy bill would make sure none of these employees are working without pay, unable to make ends meet for themselves and their families.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmerican workers don\u2019t deserve to be held hostage by partisan games,\u201d said Mackenzie. \u201cThroughout the Schumer Shutdown, federal employees have continued to enforce the law, keep us safe, and deliver essential services to the American people. Many of these workers are now wondering how they will pay their bills and provide for their families. This bill stands up for those who show up\u2014paying federal workers what we owe them, shutdown or not.\u201d\n\nRep. Johnson has filed the necessary paperwork to ensure his pay is withheld throughout the shutdown.\n\nThe Shutdown Fairness Act is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Tony Wied (R-WI), Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Tracey Mann (R-KS), Austin Scott (R-GA), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).\n\nSenator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is leading this bill in the Senate.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-discusses-argentinian-beef-imports-with-president-trump-secretary-rollins", "Rounds Discusses Argentinian Beef Imports with President Trump, Secretary Rollins", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) issued a statement following his discussions with President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins regarding Argentinian beef imports:\n\n\u201cI spoke with President Trump and Secretary Rollins today about the concerns I\u2019ve heard from hundreds of South Dakota ranchers over the last two days regarding importing additional Argentinian beef. We agree that we need an America First game plan that prioritizes American ranchers. After today\u2019s meeting, I am encouraged by the desire of President Trump and Secretary Rollins to do right by the American producer. I encourage patience as we await final details to be released, and in the meantime, continue to share your opinions with the administration.\n\n\u201cAt a White House meeting today, I had the opportunity to share with the President our concern specifically on this issue. I suggested that energy prices across the country are down not because we imported additional energy from other countries, but because we started producing more energy right here in the United States. The same rule should apply for American beef. We must place an emphasis on creating better conditions for American farmers and ranchers to drive prices down by increasing their ability to supply more product.\n\n\u201cAmerican cattle producers have been at a disadvantage for far too long. Opening the market to even more foreign beef, which American consumers cannot differentiate because of current labeling rules, would only exacerbate the problem and hurt domestic producers. Our producers will compete all day long, but only if there is a level playing field.\n\n\u201cAs I have said repeatedly, consumers should drive demand and the market should be able to work on its own. Unfortunately, the policy of Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL), a commonsense policy that empowers consumers to choose, continues to sit on the shelf. The Packers and Stockyards Act continues to be ignored, as four companies, two of which are Brazilian-owned, monopolize the beef processing market. This issue cannot be resolved by displacing American beef with foreign beef. It will only be resolved when consumers are able to differentiate where their product is coming from.\n\n\u201cI might sound like a broken record, but there are only nine states where cattle outnumber people. We make up only 18 of the 100 U.S. Senators. The government shutdown has clearly illustrated the need for support from 60 members to pass any meaningful reforms in the U.S. Senate. That means if we want to accomplish any long-term solutions for the cattle market, we need to broaden our base and shift our message to focus on the benefits that policies like MCOOL would have on American consumers. We can do this with strong support from the Trump administration.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-works-with-white-house-and-usda-secretary-to-reopen-fsa-offices-during-shutdown", "Rounds Works with White House and USDA Secretary to Reopen FSA Offices During Shutdown", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) issued a statement following U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins\u2019 announcement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be reopening Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices for a few days a week during the government shutdown:\n\n\u201cAfter our meeting with Secretary Rollins this morning and multiple discussions with the White House, I\u2019m pleased that the Department of Ag will be reopening Farm Service Agency offices for a few days each week during the shutdown. We\u2019ve heard from producers who are selling their livestock and their grain who can\u2019t get their checks endorsed while the government has been shut down, resulting in missed loan payments. Many producers use the FSA as a lender and they need to be able to release these funds as their loans are paid off.\n\n\u201cThis is another real example of the harmful effects the Schumer shutdown is having on the American people. Time for Democrats to get serious and reopen the government.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=108CC075-263E-42F8-AE71-FA6EE549E509", "Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Hugh Hewitt Show.\n\nOn Democrats prioritizing their far-left base:\n\n\u201cRepublicans want our troops to get paid. We want the men and women of the Border Patrol getting paid. We want TSA agents, ATC, air traffic control, every federal employee to get their paychecks \u2026\n\n\u201cThey want \u2013 the Democrats, that is \u2013 far-left progressive activists to be less mad at them. I mean, that\u2019s really what we\u2019re talking about here. So I just think in the end, Hugh, that it\u2019s a simple choice for them, and they can get the government back open, or they can choose to keep letting the far left call the shots. I think the majority of the country is starting to see through this, and is going to continue to move against them, but it doesn\u2019t seem like they care.\n\n\u201cI think they are so fearful, so afraid, so running scared, from that far-left base, which is where, you know, the money in Democrat politics is, you know, the small donor stuff, it\u2019s where the activists, it\u2019s where the energy is, and frankly, that\u2019s where a lot of people end up getting primaried. And I think these Democrats here in the Senate are afraid of that.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear. I\u2019ve been willing to sit down with Democrats. They want to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare, and I\u2019ve said I\u2019m willing to give them a vote. But it\u2019s under one condition: They\u2019ve got to end the Schumer shutdown, open up the government \u2026\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t negotiate under hostage conditions, and that\u2019s where we are right now. As you know, we have a bill to fund the government passed the House, sitting on the desk at the Senate, the president\u2019s ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cThe government could open up today. We just need a handful of Democrats to join us, because \u2026 it takes a supermajority, 60 votes in the Senate, to pass anything consequential. And Democrats continue to resist.\n\n\u201cThey just voted for the 11th time to keep the government shut down. [The shutdown] has a lot of impacts on a lot of people, including federal employees who aren\u2019t getting paid.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThey want \u2013 the Democrats, that is \u2013 far-left progressive activists to be less mad at them. I mean, that\u2019s really what we\u2019re talking about here \u2026 It\u2019s a simple choice for them \u2026 they can get the government back open, or they can choose to keep letting the far left call the shots.\n\n\u201cI think the majority of the country is starting to see through this, and is going to continue to move against them, but it doesn\u2019t seem like [Democrats] care. I think they are so fearful, so afraid, so running scared, from that far-left base, which is where \u2026 the money in Democrat politics is \u2026 the small donor stuff, it\u2019s where the activists, it\u2019s where the energy is, and frankly, that\u2019s where a lot of people end up getting primaried \u2026 I think these Democrats here in the Senate are afraid of that.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Johnson\u2019s Shutdown Fairness Act:\n\n\u201cRon Johnson has a proposal \u2026 it pays everybody who is, \u2018excepted,\u2019 in other words, everybody who is an essential employee that\u2019s still working. So if you\u2019re working \u2013 it doesn\u2019t cover furloughed employees, they\u2019ll get back pay \u2013 but if you\u2019re working, you should get paid \u2026 We\u2019re gonna see what the Democrats do with that one.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=22D5257A-48ED-420C-8228-6CEA38C9E96D", "Thune to Senate Democrats: Time to Stop the Political Theater and Reopen the Government", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference at the White House with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWe just had a great opportunity to meet with the president and talk about something that unifies all Republicans.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans, House Republicans, and the president of the United States are all in favor of reopening the federal government \u2013 in fact, so much so that we\u2019ve now all voted 11 times to reopen the federal government.\n\n\u201cBut the longer the federal government stays closed, the more the impacts are being felt: travel delays, benefit delays, you know, farmers are being impacted, millions of people going without paychecks.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what this government shutdown, Democrat government shutdown, is bringing to the American people.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019re hopeful that this will be the week when we break out of this and the Democrats come to their senses and decide to open up the government.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to give them several opportunities, as you know, to do that.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll have another vote on the continuing resolution tomorrow \u2013 which is sitting at the desk of the Senate, can be sent down here to the White House, signed into law, the government would open up immediately.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re also going to vote on a Ron Johnson resolution that essentially would pay anybody who\u2019s currently working.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019ll see how the Democrats react to that.\n\n\u201cBut the truth of the matter is, you have a bunch of people here, a united team that believes profoundly that we need to get our government open.\n\n\u201cAnd if the Democrats want to talk about subjects unrelated to \u2026 getting the government open again, we\u2019re happy to have those conversations, but we\u2019ve repeatedly now gone through this, and at some point the Democrats are going to have to [take] yes for an answer.\n\n\u201cWe want a normal appropriations process.\n\n\u201cWe want to give them an opportunity to sit down and litigate some of the issues they want to talk about, but that can\u2019t happen until the government gets opened up again.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5E5470DF-355B-492E-ADBA-AB20E37E9492", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 21", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, three weeks.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been three weeks since Democrats shut down the government.\n\n\u201cSince Democrats chose to put the demands of far-left activists ahead of serving the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd over the last three weeks, Mr. President, it\u2019s the American people who have borne the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cThousands of flights have been delayed.\n\n\u201cNutrition assistance for millions of needy families is in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cMilitary families are turning to food banks in \u2018unprecedented\u2019 numbers.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats are apparently willing to prolong the suffering until their far-left base is satisfied.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019ve given Democrats here in the Senate numerous opportunities to end the shutdown.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve held, now, 11 votes on a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution to end the shutdown and the pain that comes with it.\n\n\u201cAnd they said no every time.\n\n\u201cWe gave Democrats an opportunity to consider the bipartisan defense appropriations bill \u2013 something that, I might add, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee 26-3, in an overwhelming bipartisan vote.\n\n\u201cWe gave them an opportunity to consider that here on the floor, so we can at least protect our national security and pay our troops.\n\n\u201cDemocrats called it \u2018unacceptable\u2019 and a distraction to pay the troops.\n\n\u201cWe even offered to give them a vote on a health care proposal of their own design if they vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cThe answer again was no.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I don\u2019t know what Democrats are looking for.\n\n\u201cBut if they\u2019re looking for Republicans to give in to their hostage-taking, they should think again.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear since the beginning.\n\n\u201cOn the first day of this shutdown, I said Republicans would be perfectly willing to discuss the issues Democrats are raising \u2013 but only after we reopen the government.\n\n\u201cI said, and I quote \u2013 quoting myself here \u2013 \u2018we\u2019re not going to engage in bipartisan discussions while Democrats are holding the federal government hostage to their partisan demands.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd interestingly enough, Mr. President, that\u2019s the exact same position the Democrat leader espoused during the 2013 shutdown.\n\n\u201cHe said then, and I quote, \u2018As we said a thousand times, we are happy to discuss how to fund the government [but] not with a gun to our head. Open up all of the government, and then we can have a fruitful discussion \u2026 Then we will discuss things, but \u2013 as has been said over and over \u2013 not with a gun to our heads.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, from the Democrat leader back in 2013.\n\n\u201cHe espoused the same position, interestingly enough, again in 2019, noting, and I quote again: \u2018We cannot \u2013 cannot \u2013 ever hold American workers hostage again.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd yet here he is, in 2025, holding American workers and government funding hostage.\n\n\u201cI guess he\u2019s forgotten his own words.\n\n\u201cOr maybe it\u2019s just situational, like a lot of things.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve just adopted a political position, not a real one.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans are ready to sit down with Democrats just as soon as they stop holding the government hostage to their partisan demands.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we\u2019ve actually offered to guarantee them a vote on the Obamacare issue that they are raising.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats continue to dig in.\n\n\u201cThey say we have to agree to their demands before they\u2019ll agree to pay our troops.\n\n\u201cBefore federal workers can have certainty about putting food on the table and paying their bills.\n\n\u201cBefore needy families can be sure that nutrition assistance will be there for them.\n\n\u201cThey say all of this has to wait until after we fix a problem Democrats created.\n\n\u201cBecause let\u2019s be clear, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThe Obamacare cliff that Democrats are so worked up about is the result of their own choices.\n\n\u201cDemocrats wrote Obamacare.\n\n\u201cThey passed Obamacare without a single Republican vote.\n\n\u201cThey created the Obamacare COVID credits without a single Republican vote.\n\n\u201cAnd then they extended the COVID credits, and they chose the expiration date \u2013 without a single Republican vote.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThey chose the expiration date.\n\n\u201cAnd then they chose not to address that expiration date when they had the majority here in the Senate for the last four years!\n\n\u201cBut now they want you to believe that this is somehow a \u2018Republican health care crisis.\u2019\n\n\u201cGive me a break.\n\n\u201cGive me a break.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if Democrats truly want a discussion on how to fix the health care mess they created, then they should be voting to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAnd we have a bill right there at the desk that will do just that.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s clean.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nonpartisan.\n\n\u201cIt has no Republican policies.\n\n\u201cIt has no partisan policy riders.\n\n\u201cIt just extends current funding levels for a few short weeks, until we get an opportunity to finish the rest of the appropriations process.\n\n\u201cAnd right now, Mr. President, we are just five Democrat votes away from passing that here in the Senate and sending it to the White House for President Trump to sign.\n\n\u201cAnd if just a handful \u2013 a handful \u2013 of Democrats would step forward, we could reopen the government literally in a matter of hours. Today.\n\n\u201cAs I said, Mr. President, from the very beginning of this shutdown I have made it clear that if Democrats reopen the government, we can immediately sit down and talk about the Obamacare cliff they\u2019ve created.\n\n\u201cInstead, Democrats have wasted now one, two, three weeks when we could have been having those discussions.\n\n\u201cAnd while the American people have suffered, Democrats have been courting praise from the far left.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve spent their time looking to be praised for fighting against President Trump when they could have been working with him and with Republicans on solving a problem that they claim to be concerned about.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ll say it again: Republicans are ready to go to work.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been ready.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re just waiting for Democrats to take \u2018yes\u2019 for an answer.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C5D4C4B1-6642-4F58-A34F-DB05BED56C75", "Thune: Republicans Want to Reopen the Government, Get Back to Work for the American People", "2025-10-21", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at the White House with President Trump:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cThank you, sir.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, thank you for having us.\n\n\u201cThis is the fourth week of the Democrat shutdown, but we are all here today because your Republican team in the Senate is unified.\n\n\u201cThis is now the longest full shutdown in history.\n\n\u201cBut everybody here has voted now 11 different times to open up the government.\n\n\u201cAnd we are going to keep voting to open up the government.\n\n\u201cAnd eventually, the Democrats \u2013 hopefully, sooner or later \u2013 are going to come around.\n\n\u201cBut Mr. President, your agenda is the right one for this country.\n\n\u201cThis is your team.\n\n\u201cWe are your partners in achieving and implementing the agenda that you campaigned on and the American people voted for.\n\n\u201cAnd you just mentioned, it has been a series of promises made and promises kept.\n\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s national security, whether it\u2019s the border, whether it\u2019s the economy, taxes, regulations, energy, Trump newborn accounts, school choice.\n\n\u201cYou look at what we\u2019ve accomplished so far, it is a remarkable, remarkable team and a record of accomplishment that can\u2019t be matched \u2013 and I would argue, at least in my time here, but perhaps in all of history.\n\n\u201cSo thank you for your leadership, and we will continue to be good partners and work with you to get the work done for the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd let\u2019s hope that the Democrats get wise, and starting perhaps even today, vote to reopen the government so we can get back to work for the American people.\n\n\u201cMr. President, thank you for having us at your home. You have beautiful homes.\n\n\u201cAnd thank you for everything you\u2019re doing to make this such a beautiful place.\n\n\u201cThis is America\u2019s house. We\u2019re delighted to be here. Thank you.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=779F809B-1A25-4676-9CF6-49D56B19E37B", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 20", "2025-10-20", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, you have to give the Democrats credit for one thing, and that\u2019s a healthy dose of gall.\n\n\u201cBoth the House and the Senate Democrat leaders were out last week claiming that they can\u2019t fund the government until \u2013 get this \u2013 we solve the \u2018Republican health care crisis.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThe Republican health care crisis.\n\n\u201cIt is truly amazing how a program Democrats created and tax credits that they chose to sunset have now become the Republicans\u2019 crisis.\n\n\u201cRepublicans, in fact, never had anything to do with it.\n\n\u201cDemocrats created Obamacare \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cThey implemented the enhanced tax credits \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cAnd they chose a sunset date for those tax credits \u2013 alone.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are solely \u2013 solely \u2013 responsible for the Obamacare tax credit cliff.\n\n\u201cAnd yet they\u2019re trying to pin this disaster on Republicans while at the very same time they\u2019re asking Republicans to bail them out.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really kind of ironic, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNow, Democrats may not win a lot of points for truthfulness, but you have to give them credit for gall.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while Democrats may have created this health care situation, I have made it clear from the beginning that Republicans are willing to have a discussion about how to address it.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I\u2019m perfectly willing to guarantee Democrats a vote.\n\n\u201cBut none of that is going to happen until Democrats reopen the government.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to negotiate on anything until Democrats stop holding government funding hostage.\n\n\u201cAnd if they really want to address their Obamacare mess, they should stop running out the clock on a deal.\n\n\u201cAll they\u2019re doing by that action, Mr. President, is keeping the government shut down and enhancing \u2013 enhancing, believe it or not \u2013 the chances this situation doesn\u2019t get fixed.\n\n\u201cBecause the clock is running.\n\n\u201cMr. President, before I leave the subject of health care, I do have to mention the irony that while Democrats claim they\u2019re defending Americans\u2019 health care, their shutdown has actually suspended valuable health care services for a lot of Americans.\n\n\u201cMedicare and rural patients are currently dealing with the elimination of telehealth services thanks to the government shutdown.\n\n\u201cTelehealth, of course, increases the accessibility of care, and lets those who live far from medical treatment \u2013 or who otherwise struggle to travel \u2013 to conduct prescription refill appointments or other visits from the comfort of their home.\n\n\u201cBut that assistance is currently being denied to them thanks to the Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019m not sure why I\u2019m talking about shutdown costs.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have made it very clear that they don\u2019t care about the costs of the shutdown \u2013 to anyone.\n\n\u201cDemocrats used to care, of course \u2013 or so they claimed.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I could fill a book with Democrat quotes on how shutdowns harm hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut over the past three weeks, it\u2019s become clear that Democrats\u2019 previous concerns had more to do with politics than with principle.\n\n\u201cDemocrats were against shutdowns when it served their purposes, and now that it serves their purposes \u2013 or so they think \u2013 to keep the government closed, they\u2019re all for shutdowns.\n\n\u201cNo matter how many Americans have to suffer in the process.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve talked about health care today.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats would definitely like Americans to think that that\u2019s what this shutdown is about.\n\n\u201cBut of course the biggest driver of this shutdown is not health care or any other issue, it\u2019s the Democrats\u2019 far-left base.\n\n\u201cLeft-wing activists demanded a showdown with President Trump, and Democrats fell in line.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why you see the Democrat leader, who actually voted to fund the government in the spring, leading the shutdown brigade this time around.\n\n\u201cFar-left groups were rallying this weekend, and the Democrat leader and other Democrat senators were out paying homage.\n\n\u201cAnd if these same left-wing groups have their way, Democrats will be keeping up the shutdown for a long time to come.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t really care about a solution, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThis is about politics.\n\n\u201cFor the sake of the American people, let\u2019s hope that there are some Democrat senators who will eventually put the needs of their constituents over the demands of their far-left base, and work with Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding measure that is sitting right here in front of us today.\n\n\u201cAnd when passed, will be sent to the president and signed into law, and this government will open up again.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=DCDC2BEE-36EF-41F8-8D79-E5C8A320FD1B", "Thune Joins Larry Kudlow on Fox Business", "2025-10-20", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201c[Democrats] had their big \u2026 protest this weekend, got all their left-wing groups satisfied all over the country, and it seems like at least now they ought to come back to their senses and realize that shutting down the government\u2019s not good for anybody, and I think they\u2019re starting to feel the heat on that.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just not a defensible position in the long term \u2026 If they don\u2019t vote to open up the government \u2026 they\u2019re going to have to start explaining to the American people why they consistently vote to shut down the government at a time when there are important priorities that need to be funded \u2013 whether that\u2019s air traffic control, or TSA, or Border Patrol, law enforcement, our troops, obviously, first and foremost.\n\n\u201cThose are all things that very shortly here are not going to get paid if \u2026 the government doesn\u2019t open up.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 health care crisis:\n\n\u201c[Democrats are] trying to hijack the federal government in exchange for $1.5 trillion in new spending and to bail out a program that is failing and is driving insurance premiums up for people in the individual marketplace \u2013 I don\u2019t know how you defend and explain that.\n\n\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s starting to sink in with the American people. The Democrats are \u2026 going to own this. And like I said, we\u2019ll give them another vote this evening to open up the government; see what they do.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to have the conversation about the unaffordability of Obamacare and what we might be able to do to fix that, but you can\u2019t do that while the government is being held hostage \u2026 They want a guaranteed outcome. That\u2019s what they continue to insist upon \u2026 I\u2019ve offered them a vote \u2026\n\n\u201cBut so far, they seem dug in \u2026 I think this is a lot less about a solution to that problem that they say they are trying to fix, and a lot more about having a political issue and satisfying that far-left base that was \u2026 marching in places around the country last weekend.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=DA8D5066-5F77-4915-84D4-81A3E4425A73", "Thune Joins The Briefing with Steve Scully", "2025-10-17", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to listen to The Briefing with Steve Scully\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Briefing with Steve Scully on SiriusXM radio.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 historic obstruction:\n\n\u201c[T]he politics around it is \u2026 largely different.\u201d\n\n[T]he Democrats are under an enormous amount of pressure from their hard left, and they\u2019ve got this big rally in town this weekend, and, you know, they\u2019re just demanding that they fight, no matter what the issue is, the president, on pretty much \u2026 whatever comes up in the Senate these days.\n\n\u201c[N]othing is as it\u2019s been in the past in terms of moving legislation, moving executive branch nominations, everything is much harder than it used to be. I think part of it is \u2026 it\u2019s the politics of the moment \u2026 but regrettably, we\u2019re in a situation right now where a lot of federal workers aren\u2019t getting paid. And the way to change that is to open up the government.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201c[Y]ou know \u2026 nobody wins. I\u2019ve said that before, and that used to be a view that was held by our colleagues on the other side, by the Democrats. But it seems, at least now, that there is a \u2026 partly, I think, around this big event this weekend here in Washington, with all the left-wing activist groups coming to town, a real sense that they needed to not do anything until that rally was over.\n\n\u201cAnd even then, I mean, they\u2019re just under a tremendous amount of pressure just to resist and fight. And I think at this point, even the simple things that normally, like we just tried to get on the defense appropriations bill, which should be legislation that, most years, gets 80-plus votes in the Senate, and the Democrats blocked even proceeding to it.\u201d\n\n\u201c[A] handful of folks on the other side have to come to their senses.\n\n\u201cWe have a bill that\u2019s sitting at the desk in the Senate. You\u2019ve covered this place long enough to know that we could pick that up today, pass it, send it to the president, he would sign it into law, and the government would open up again.\n\n\u201cSo for now \u2026 we need five more Democrats. We\u2019re at 55 votes in the Senate, and five more Democrats give us the requisite 60 to open up the government.\u201d\n\nOn rising health care costs:\n\n\u201c[W]e want health care premiums to be lower, not higher, and health care to be more affordable, not less. And I think one of the challenges we have right now is the way some of these programs are designed.\n\n\u201c[T]he specific question we\u2019re dealing with right now are the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, or what we call the covid subsidies, that were put in place by the Democrats just a few years ago. They set the expiration date. The reason we\u2019re dealing with this expiration date at the end of the year is because they put that in place. But that program, for example, is so inflationary. I mean, there isn\u2019t anything in there to contain costs. The payments are made directly from the government to the insurance companies. The insurance companies go out and automatically enroll people. There are zero-premium policies. People don\u2019t even know they have coverage. And there\u2019s no income cap \u2026\n\n\u201cSo it\u2019s a program in desperate need of reform and I think there\u2019s a path forward to be able to do that, but you know, you can\u2019t do it while the government is shut down.\n\n\u201cAnd I think right now \u2026 the big question is going to be, will the Democrats open up the government so that we can actually address this health care issue before \u2026 the end of the year, which is when \u2026 the deadline \u2026 for this program, expire.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=43BFF203-09A2-4642-BECB-A8A0C4C5ECEB", "Thune: Democrats Block Bipartisan Defense Bill to Pay Our Troops", "2025-10-16", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, the Democrat Party is the party that will not take \u2018yes\u2019 for an answer.\n\n\u201cWe offer Democrats a clean, nonpartisan CR \u2013 no Republican policies for them to swallow, nothing for them to object to.\n\n\u201cThey said no.\n\n\u201cWe offer to accommodate their health care demands by guaranteeing them a vote on their proposal if they vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cThe answer is no.\n\n\u201cOkay, fine.\n\n\u201cSo we thought, if they don\u2019t want to fund the government via continuing resolution, we\u2019ll give them the chance to fund the government a different way, by attempting to move forward with regular-order appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cAnd once again, the answer was no.\n\n\u201cDemocrats just voted to block the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill \u2013 a bill, I would add, that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a robust bipartisan margin.\n\n\u201cTwenty-six to three, I think it was.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAfter voting last week for an authorization bill to increase troop pay, Democrats just voted against the bill that would actually pay the troops.\n\n\u201cYou have to ask the question, \u2018Why?\u2019 Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBecause, to quote a recent news story \u2013 this is a direct quote \u2013 \u2018voting to proceed with the defense bill relinquishes some of the party\u2019s leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Relinquishes some of the party\u2019s leverage.\u2019\n\n\u201cI mean, who really cares, right, if the troops are paid as long as the Democrats are able to get what they want?\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, I offered up \u2013 and I had conversations with Democrats here on the floor \u2013 that if we could get on the defense appropriations bill, the interest they have in adding other bills, I would certainly accommodate.\n\n\u201cAnd I suggested that that was the business model that we adopted when we passed the first three-bill package.\n\n\u201cWe got on the MilCon-VA appropriations bill, and then we worked collectively, both sides, to try and clear adding the Ag appropriations bill, the Leg Branch appropriations bill.\n\n\u201cWe tried to add the CJS appropriations bill, which was objected to by one member on the Democrat side.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s how we fashioned getting these appropriation bills on the floor and getting them voted on.\n\n\u201cNow, if anything should be clear by now \u2013 if anything should be clear by now \u2013 it\u2019s that I am interested in doing a normal appropriations process!\n\n\u201cUnlike what happened when they had the majority, which was the Appropriations Committee would report bills out \u2013 11 of the 12 last year.\n\n\u201cNot a single one was brought to the floor of the Senate.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done three bills.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to go to conference on them.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re blocking that!\n\n\u201cSo now we bring up the defense appropriations bill, something that should get 80 votes on the floor of the Senate, that, as I said, came out of the committee 26-3 \u2013 and they\u2019re blocking it.\n\n\u201cNow, there\u2019s a path forward here to do appropriations: Get on the bill.\n\n\u201cAnd then we\u2019ll try and add other appropriations bills as we work with both sides to clear objections and concerns that people have.\n\n\u201cThe fact of the matter is, Mr. President, they didn\u2019t have to block us even moving to the bill, because there are multiple opportunities \u2013 60-vote threshold opportunities \u2013 for them to block it later on if they don\u2019t like what happens.\n\n\u201cThis is politics!\n\n\u201cIf anything was needed to demonstrate just how fundamentally uninterested Democrats are in supporting our troops \u2013 and defending our country \u2013 just take a look at this vote!\n\n\u201cMere months ago, Mr. President \u2013 I say, mere months ago \u2013 Democrats were complaining about all the damage shutdowns do to hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cI literally could fill the rest of this hour with Democrat quotes from the past few years about the devastating impacts of shutdowns.\n\n\u201cNow?\n\n\u201cDemocrats couldn\u2019t care less.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re happy to sacrifice any American and evidently any principle to their political goals.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats like to position themselves as the party of the little guy and the defender of hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut, as this vote makes clear, who do Democrats really care about?\n\n\u201cDemocrats.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=86EA7FB0-59E7-4FBE-93A1-E97B2F01473B", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 16", "2025-10-16", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, this morning we will offer my Democrat colleagues yet another opportunity to vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cTo vote to reopen the government with a clean, nonpartisan CR.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not asking Democrats to swallow any new Republican policies.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not asking them to swallow any partisan policy riders.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re simply asking them to extend current funding levels for a few weeks while we work on full-year appropriations.\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take my word for it.\n\n\u201cEveryone from the president of the Teamsters union to mainstream media outlets has confirmed that the CR Republicans have put forward is a clean CR.\n\n\u201cBut Senate Democrats chose to shut down the government anyway.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, Democrats\u2019 ostensible reason for their 16-day shutdown is because they want Republicans to agree to bail out the health care mess that Democrats created \u2013 first with Obamacare, and then by passing and then sunsetting enhanced Obamacare tax credits that were put in place for the covid emergency, which I think as we all know, is long behind us.\n\n\u201cAnd despite the fact that we\u2019re only in this position because of Democrats\u2019 poor policy choices, Republicans are ready for that discussion.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m ready.\n\n\u201cMy colleagues are ready.\n\n\u201cThe speaker and the president are ready.\n\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, only once we\u2019ve reopened the government.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not conducting negotiations in a hostage situation.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to pay a $1.5 trillion ransom to get Democrats to reopen government operations.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President \u2013 $1.5 trillion.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what Democrats are demanding.\n\n\u201cBetween their Obamacare bailout and the other partisan policies that they\u2019ve included, they want a $1.5 trillion ransom to reopen the government for a handful of weeks.\n\n\u201cNow, to put that number in perspective, that\u2019s equivalent to almost one-quarter of the 2024 federal budget.\n\n\u201cAgain, just to reopen the federal government for a handful of weeks.\n\n\u201cNow, think about that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cTheir proposal: $1.5 trillion in new spending, free health care benefits for noncitizens, to open the government until October 31.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what their proposal is.\n\n\u201cSo literally, the American taxpayer is supposed to pay $1.5 trillion so that the Democrats can open the government until Halloween \u2013 two weeks from now.\n\n\u201c$1.5 trillion for two weeks. That\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here.\n\n\u201cNow, just imagine this for a minute, Mr. President, what might happen if we pay that ransom and agree to the Democrats\u2019 $1.5 trillion demand.\n\n\u201cWell, what\u2019s going to happen the next time we need a continuing resolution?\n\n\u201cHow much are Democrats going to demand then?\n\n\u201cWill we have to add another $1.5 trillion every time we want to fund the government?\n\n\u201cAnd they want to do it for two weeks! 1.5 trillion for two weeks.\n\n\u201cI mean, where does this end?\n\n\u201cWhen taxpayers and our economy have been totally destroyed by Democrats\u2019 profligate spending?\n\n\u201cIs that where it ends?\n\n\u201cNo, Mr. President, while I am more than happy to discuss ways to alleviate Democrats\u2019 health care mess, we\u2019re not paying \u2026 a $1.5 trillion ransom to reopen the federal government.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, as frustrated as I am with their continued refusal to reopen the government, I do have to say that I have some sympathy for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cWhile they may claim health care is the driver of what they\u2019re doing, we all know that the primary reason we\u2019re in this mess is because Democrats\u2019 far-left base demanded a showdown with President Trump.\n\n\u201cJust seven months ago, the Democrat leader voted with Republicans to keep the government open because, he said, while he didn\u2019t like the CR, a government shutdown would be, quote, \u2026 \u2018far worse.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut he caught a whole lot of flak for that decision from the far left.\n\n\u201cAnd so now he\u2019s leading the shutdown charge.\n\n\u201cAnd he\u2019s not the only Democrat who voted to fund the government in March who\u2019s now a member of the shutdown brigade.\n\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, no matter how much pressure their far-left base is exerting, we still need some Democrats to do the right thing.\n\n\u201cIt would take just a handful of Democrats to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cJust a handful of Democrats to enable us to resume paying air traffic controllers, law enforcement officers, and all of the other federal workers.\n\n\u201cJust a handful of Democrats to get the federal government working again for the American people.\n\n\u201cLater today Democrats are going to have another opportunity to make the right decision.\n\n\u201cTwo opportunities in fact.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re going to have a chance to vote on the clean, nonpartisan CR \u2013 which, as I said in the past, sits right there at the desk, which has passed the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cWe can pick this up, with five more Democrat votes pass it today, send it to the president, the president signs it into law, and the government reopens.\n\n\u201cSo, they\u2019re going to have a chance to vote on that yet again.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019re going to have a chance to vote to advance full-year defense appropriations legislation \u2013 so that if we can\u2019t reopen the entire government, we can at least make some progress toward securing paychecks for our troops and for defending our country.\n\n\u201cJust last week the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act \u2013 which is essential legislation, something that we do every year \u2013 to authorize defense spending and to authorize a pay raise for our troops.\n\n\u201cSo this is Democrats\u2019 chance to make good on that promise by funding the raise.\n\n\u201cThe authorization bill authorized it; the defense appropriations bill that we will vote on here later today will actually fund that raise so our troops can get paid.\n\n\u201cNow, again, I realize that Democrats\u2019 far-left base is rallying in D.C. this weekend, which puts extra pressure on Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut I hope they\u2019ll do the right thing anyway and vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cAll we need is five.\n\n\u201cThe bill\u2019s right there.\n\n\u201cGoes to the president, he signs it into law, the government reopens.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the American people are depending on some, I\u2019m hoping, Democrats who are willing to put the interests of the American people ahead of the interests of their far-left base.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D764C6AD-5F84-4C96-941F-2740673947A0", "Thune Joins Ali Vitali on MSNBC", "2025-10-16", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Ali Vitali on MSNBC\u2019s Way Too Early.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 health care crisis:\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think you can do \u2026 a straight-up extension of the ACA tax credits, premium tax credits, they are enhanced subsidies, so they are over and above the base Obamacare program, which was available to people up to 400 percent of poverty.\n\n\u201cWhat the Democrats did a couple years ago was they took the income cap off, so now you\u2019ve got people [that] make five or $600,000 a year that are eligible for \u2026 subsidies under this program. You\u2019ve also got insurance companies that are benefiting enormously because \u2026 they\u2019re incentivized to sign people up, because the federal government is making direct payments to the insurance companies.\n\n\u201c[Insurance companies] go out and auto-enroll people. There are tons of people out there who have these [subsidies] who don\u2019t even know they\u2019re covered. So this is a program that's desperately in need of reform.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cDemocrats created the expiration date when they did this. They could have done this permanently and they didn\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to see anybody\u2019s premiums go up \u2026 And that\u2019s not going to be attributable exclusively to these enhanced credits. The insurance companies are raising rates everywhere every year anyway. Part of the reason for that is the basic program is flawed.\n\n\u201cPeople ought to be able to buy the insurance that they want. And you know, they are in the exchanges and every year these premiums [are] going up \u2026 That\u2019s not the way this ought to work.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cAt some point, Democrats have to take yes for an answer \u2026 [Republicans] are all about getting health insurance down, making it affordable for more people. Premiums shouldn\u2019t be going up \u2026 and one of the reasons they are is because there is waste, fraud, and abuse of this program. The incentive structure is skewed to the insurance companies, so insurance auto-enroll people, and they\u2019re making bank doing it.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThese were covid subsidies \u2026 this was in response to covid. Covid is no longer with us \u2026 the people who were designed to take advantage of this program are people with 400 percent of poverty and under. Now you\u2019ve got people making half a million, 600,000 a year, that are benefiting from the subsidy \u2026\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a program that needs to be reformed \u2026 get the government open again and let's have a conversation about how to fix it.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cThere is a bill sitting at the desk right now that opens up the government, and you all know that. The president would sign it today. It\u2019s simply a function of five Democrats joining the three Democrats who are already voting to open up the government. And I think that\u2019s the quickest way to end this \u2026\n\n\u201cAt some point, reasonable Democrats are going to have to come to the conclusion that this doesn\u2019t benefit anybody. I don\u2019t believe government shutdowns benefit anybody, and that used to be a position that was held by the Democrat leadership. I think right now they\u2019re very beholden to, and there\u2019s this big rally this weekend with all these left-wingers that are in town, and I think it\u2019s gonna be very hard for them to agree to something prior to that rally happening \u2026\n\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping that once that\u2019s \u2026 in the rear-view mirror, that we\u2019ll be able to sit down \u2026 I\u2019ve had this conversation with \u2026 Democrats in the Senate, that the solution isn\u2019t going to come through the [Democrat] leadership, it\u2019s going to come through the rank-and-file [senators]. I think it\u2019s going to be a number of Democrats who are willing to \u2026 figure out a way to be comfortable with what the path forward is on some of these issues, to be able to vote to open up the government.\u201d\n\nOn restoring the appropriations process:\n\n\u201cIf we get back to doing the appropriations process, which we can do once we open the government up, and in the traditional way, which is having a transparent, open process where the committees function, Democrats and Republicans weigh in, and then we put it on the floor, we have an open amendment process [and] fund the government the old-fashioned way \u2026\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI want a normal appropriations process. I\u2019ve made that very clear to my colleagues on both sides the aisle. I think they both want that, and I think we can accomplish that. And I promised it.\n\n\u201cAnd that is something, frankly, that we didn\u2019t do last year when the Democrats had the majority. We didn\u2019t put a single appropriations bill on the floor. We passed three [this year]. There\u2019s a bunch more I want to do.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5F7718E7-8C19-4CA3-8E53-FB675749AF00", "Thune Joins The Brian Kilmeade Show", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto listen to The Brian Kilmeade Show.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio.\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201c[Democrats have] got to vote to open up the government \u2026 this hostage-taking has to stop \u2026 They\u2019re asking for \u2026 $1.5 trillion in new spending \u2026 [and] all kinds of \u2026 provisions in there that would allow illegals to have free health care. Those are all just non-starters, and that\u2019s where their leadership is \u2026\n\n\u201cI think a real solution and the way out of this is going to come from rank-and-file Democrats who are tired of sort of following their leadership over the cliff and are ready to make a deal to get the government back open again and get us actually doing the work we need to be doing on behalf of the American people.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWhat the Democrats are doing here is entirely wrong \u2026 nobody benefits from a shutdown \u2026 Chuck Schumer described it a few years ago as \u2018political idiocy\u2019 to shut down the government, to take it hostage to try and achieve other political objectives, and that\u2019s essentially what they\u2019ve done here.\u201d\n\nOn how the shutdown is impacting national security:\n\n\u201cGetting the defense authorization bill \u2026 [is] something we have to do every year, and then the defense appropriation bill actually writes the check that enables all those priorities to be funded \u2026\n\n\u201cThis is going to be an opportunity for the Democrats to show whether or not they\u2019re serious about what they say about wanting to have a regular appropriations process where we fund the government through what we call regular order \u2013 which is \u2026 allowing the committees to work, putting bills on the floor, opening up the amendment process.\n\n\u201cThe Democrats are going to have a chance to vote to get on that bill. That vote will \u2026 happen tomorrow \u2013 but we\u2019ll see where they go.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThe Democrats are reluctant to do much of anything until that group gets here [on Saturday] and has their day and they can all \u2026 celebrate that they\u2019re fighting Trump, but at some point we have to govern the country, and that starts with national security.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always said that if you don\u2019t get national security right, the rest is conversation. You\u2019ve got to be able to defend the country. And so moving the defense authorization bill last week was really important.\n\n\u201cThe defense appropriations bill, which funds all those things, is what we\u2019re trying to tee up this week. So we\u2019ll see \u2026 where the Democrats are, but I think in the end \u2026 if they\u2019re sincere about wanting to actually fund the government the old-fashioned way, this is a chance to do it.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown:\n\n\u201cNobody wants to see anybody lose a job, which is why it\u2019s so important that we open up the government. But I also understand that the administration, in the case of a shutdown, has a job to do. They\u2019ve got to try and figure out how to move money around. They\u2019ve moved some money around to help pay the troops at least for another couple of weeks \u2026\n\n\u201cThey have to make decisions about which departments and agencies get prioritized, which employees are essential, which aren\u2019t \u2013 and that happens when you get into a shutdown posture. So the administration is acting in a way that former presidencies \u2013 and I\u2019ve been through a number of these shutdowns and administrations \u2013 have acted, and that is, they\u2019re going to take care as much as they can of their priorities and those might in some cases \u2026 be at odds with what the Democrats want to see happen \u2026\n\n\u201c[The administration is] being put into this position because of the shutdown, and that\u2019s why \u2026 it\u2019s so important that five Democrats cross the aisle, show a little backbone and some courage, and vote with us to get the government open.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D70EDFDB-C7E7-4D50-8BE9-EEC15625BE6A", "Thune: Schumer Celebrates the Government Shutdown While Families Suffer", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWell, good afternoon.\n\n\u201cI think the American people are wondering when the Senate Democrats are going to end their temper tantrum and vote to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cEvery day that goes by, there are more and more Americans who are getting smaller and smaller paychecks, people who work for the federal government.\n\n\u201cNow, fortunately, the Trump administration has been able to make sure that our troops, our military, gets paid for a while longer, but there are limits to what they can do.\n\n\u201cAnd you\u2019re already seeing, and I\u2019m sure you\u2019re going to see more.\n\n\u201cThere have been thousands of flight delays across the country, and the longer this drags on the more of that you\u2019re going to see.\n\n\u201cSo what the Democrats need to do is to vote for a clean, short-term, nonpartisan funding resolution sitting at the desk right now in the Senate.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve showed it to you before, 24 pages long.\n\n\u201cAll they have to do, we pick it up, we vote on it today, we send it to the president, the president signs it into law, the government reopens, and then we can be happy to have all the conversations the Democrats want to have about other issues.\n\n\u201cBut they will have a ninth opportunity today to vote to open the government.\n\n\u201cThey had an eighth opportunity yesterday.\n\n\u201cAnd they will have, if necessary, a 10th opportunity to reopen the government tomorrow.\n\n\u201cAll we need \u2013 all we need \u2013 are five courageous Democrats with a backbone who aren\u2019t afraid to buck their leadership, who are marching them right over a cliff.\n\n\u201cSo, we\u2019re willing to have, as I said, conversations about all the other issues that they want to talk about, but \u2026 that can\u2019t happen while they are holding the federal government, and all these federal employees, and our troops, and our air traffic controllers, and our TSA agents, and our Border Patrol officials hostage.\n\n\u201cOpen up the government.\n\n\u201cEvery day that this goes on, the problems are compounded for federal workers and for ordinary Americans.\n\n\u201cChuck Schumer may think that every day gets better for them politically, but I can tell you that is not the experience of the American people.\n\n\u201cThis needs to end.\n\n\u201cWe can end it today.\n\n\u201cThe bill is sitting at the desk.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to get a chance to pick it up and pass it, open up the government, and get to work for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=DE91FEE3-3AB4-4FC9-B4A2-BD30F9BB1096", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 15", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats are dug in.\n\n\u201cFifteen days into a government shutdown, and Democrats show no sign that they\u2019re ready for it to end.\n\n\u201cNot even the prospect of military families going without a paycheck was enough for Democrats to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cNor are Democrats concerned about needy families uncertain about the future of nutrition assistance.\n\n\u201cOr Americans in flood zones, who are unable to update their insurance or close on a home in the midst of hurricane season.\n\n\u201cNo, Democrats are dug in.\n\n\u201cAnd all those Americans living in uncertainty?\n\n\u201cWell, they\u2019re just going to have to wait until Democrats\u2019 far-left base is satisfied.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats attempt to defend their funding blockade by complaining that Republicans won\u2019t negotiate.\n\n\u201cBut what exactly is there to negotiate?\n\n\u201cNegotiation happens when you have two sides each with its own demands.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have no demands.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve offered Democrats a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, on the other hand, are insisting on $1.5 trillion in new partisan spending in exchange for their votes.\n\n\u201cNow, think about that, Mr. President. Let\u2019s put that in perspective.\n\n\u201c$1.5 trillion in new spending \u2013 in their proposal, to keep the government open for four weeks, until the end of October.\n\n\u201cWell, we\u2019re already at the middle of October.\n\n\u201cSo basically, they\u2019re saying they want $1.5 trillion in taxpayer dollars to keep the government open for the next two weeks!\n\n\u201cThink about that one.\n\n\u201cAs our colleague from Louisiana put it, you need a spreadsheet to keep track of everything they\u2019re asking for.\n\n\u201cThe truth is that what Democrats really want is something Republicans can\u2019t give them \u2013 and that\u2019s the approval of their far-left base.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re looking for praise from the likes of MoveOn.org and Indivisible.\n\n\u201cThis weekend, Indivisible is holding rallies around the country.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats\u2019 motivations are laid bare by what one of the leaders of that far-left group told CNN last week.\n\n\u201cHe said, and I quote, \u2018I\u2019m telling every elected I talk to: millions will be out cheering you on, or they\u2019ll be calling for new leadership.\u2019\n\n\u201cCheering you on, or calling for new leadership.\n\n\u201cMr. President, that\u2019s Democrats\u2019 motivation.\n\n\u201cPleasing their far-left base and preserving their political careers.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, we\u2019re reading stories about military families lining up at food banks.\n\n\u201cFlight delays because of understaffed airport towers.\n\n\u201cNeedy families uncertain about the food assistance they depend upon.\n\n\u201cBut our Democrat colleague from Rhode Island says, and I quote, \u2018[for] Democrats, it\u2019s so far, so good.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018[S]o far, so good.\u2019\n\n\u201cI doubt military families and federal workers would agree.\n\n\u201cIf there was ever anything to make it clear that Democrats are in this for their own political advantage, it is callous comments like this one \u2013 or the Democrat leader\u2019s statement that, and I quote, \u2018Every day gets better\u2019 for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while Democrats may be basking in praise from their far-left base, polls show that most Americans want this shutdown to end.\n\n\u201cTwo-thirds of voters think Democrats should reopen the government rather than hold out for their partisan demands.\n\n\u201cAnd if just five more Democrats would show some courage, we could do just that.\n\n\u201cWe need five more Democrats to say enough is enough.\n\n\u201cTo put the American people ahead of the far left.\n\n\u201cAnd to support this clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution sitting right there at the Senate desk.\n\n\u201cReady to be picked up and passed today, put on the president\u2019s desk, signed into law, and the government reopens.\n\n\u201cIf just five more Democrats would show some courage, we could do just that.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, five more votes, this bill could be on its way to the White House.\n\n\u201cAs I said, President Trump stands ready to sign it.\n\n\u201cIt is clean.\n\n\u201cIt is nonpartisan.\n\n\u201cIt has no policy riders.\n\n\u201cNo partisan gimmicks.\n\n\u201cIt simply funds the government for a foreseeable time, to November the 21st, to give us an opportunity to finish the appropriations process under regular order.\n\n\u201cAnd to deal with the funding of the government in the way that it should be funded \u2013 in an open, transparent process that uses the committees under regular order, the Appropriations Committee, subcommittees, the floor, open to amendments.\n\n\u201cAgain, I know that\u2019s a novel concept.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a novel concept compared to the way the Democrats did it when they had the majority.\n\n\u201cEven though the Appropriations Committee did its work last year \u2013 11 of the 12 appropriations bills were reported out \u2013 not a single one was brought to the floor of the Senate.\n\n\u201cBecause they like to negotiate behind closed doors, with a handful of people deciding on behalf of everybody else.\n\n\u201cThat is not the way this place ought to work, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cTroops need to get paid.\n\n\u201cFamilies need to get the help they need.\n\n\u201cAll this uncertainty for the American people needs to go away.\n\n\u201cAnd we can get back to work on the things that really matter.\n\n\u201cBut the question is, are Democrats interested in that?\n\n\u201cOr are they more interested in being cheered by far-left groups at Saturday\u2019s rally?\n\n\u201cWell, I guess we\u2019ll see soon enough.\n\n\u201cWill today be day 15 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown?\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll have another opportunity later today to vote on that bill sitting right at the desk.\n\n\u201cFive more Democrats, it passes.\n\n\u201cIt goes to the White House, gets signed into law by the president, and the government opens up.\n\n\u201cWill today be day 15 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown?\n\n\u201cOr will it be the day we reopen the government and get back to the business of serving the American people?\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-office-now-accepting-spring-2026-internship-applications", "Johnson\u2019s Office Now Accepting Spring 2026 Internship Applications", "2025-10-14", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) announced that his office is seeking internship applicants for the spring in his Washington, D.C., Rapid City, Aberdeen, and Sioux Falls offices.\n\nDuties of a congressional intern will include researching legislation, attending committee hearings and briefings, leading tours of the U.S. Capitol, handling constituent phone calls, sorting mail, and providing support to the staff and the Congressman. Interns will work closely with staff while developing their research, writing, and communications skills. Most importantly, they will gain an in-depth understanding of the federal legislative branch while helping to serve South Dakota constituents.\n\nApplicants interested in federal tribal relations or Native American issues are encouraged to apply for the Ben Reifel Internship based in the Washington, D.C. office. The ideal candidate will intern for a minimum of six weeks and have a desire to serve South Dakota\u2019s tribal communities.\n\n\u201cOur interns get to experience what it\u2019s like to work in an award-winning Congressional office,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cFrom constituent service and hospitality to being one of the most effective offices in numerous policy areas, our office goes above and beyond, and the interns are an integral part of our team. Motivated interns get a hands-on experience with projects that give them a behind-the-scenes look at Congress, both in D.C. and in South Dakota.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0D9CA1DA-935D-4E7C-8F14-5F06B17745CB", "Thune Joins Harris Faulkner on Fox News", "2025-10-14", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Harris Faulkner on Fox News.\n\nOn the Gaza peace deal:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s historic \u2026 it is really an epic development, Harris. You think about thousands of years of history and the warring that\u2019s been going on in that region and more recently \u2026 the terrible attacks from a couple of years ago \u2026\n\n\u201cWhat the president has been able to achieve here is nothing short of remarkable, and he builds on the success of the Abraham Accords from his first term in office. But this truly is historic. [President Trump]deserves a tremendous amount of credit, and his team, who worked diligently and successfully to broker this deal.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201c[Democrats] don\u2019t want to give [President Trump] credit for anything. This is historic \u2013 an achievement \u2026 that will mark his administration \u2026 It\u2019s something that is achieved when you try to make sure that your policy is one of peace through strength, Harris. That\u2019s the policy of this administration. It\u2019s been on display. And one of the reasons this was possible is because of the action the president took in Iran, and that enabled a lot of this to happen \u2026\n\n\u201cThe president, and his team, is intent on ensuring that they are trying to bring about peaceful outcomes in some of these war-torn areas of the world and to save lives. And this is going to save hundreds and thousands of lives in that area.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cThere is nothing to negotiate. This is a straightforward proposition, something that [Democrats] did 13 times when Biden was in the White House and when they had the majority in the Senate, there was a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. That\u2019s all this is. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else \u2026\n\n\u201cThey should take this, get the government opened up again, and then we can talk about all these other issues they want to talk about. But this is an indefensible position \u2026 they are in a tough, tough spot. And I don\u2019t know how you\u2019re going to walk down to the floor tonight and know that there are five Democrats who can open up the government today, and vote against it again. They cannot defend that position.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re only stuck as long as a handful of Democrats decide they want to follow the leader and play politics rather than do the right thing on behalf of the American people and open up the government \u2026\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to vote again today. We have 55 of 100 United States senators voting to reopen the government. We need five more Democrats. It takes 60 to do most things in the United States Senate, and all we need is five Democrats. But their leadership is intent on pacifying and trying to appease this far-left base. [Democrats have] got this big rally coming up next Saturday, which everybody thinks they want to get behind them before they do anything to open up the government \u2026\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really straightforward \u2026 This is the legislation right here. It\u2019s 24 pages long. It is clean, it is nonpartisan. It has no policy riders, no partisan gimmicks. This is a straightforward way to open up the government. It has passed the House. It is sitting at the desk in the Senate. We can pick it up and pass it today, the president will sign it into law today, the government opens up \u2026\n\n\u201cAll these questions about who gets paid, who doesn\u2019t get paid, which agencies and departments are going to be prioritized, those all go by the wayside. It is that straightforward. [Republicans] are trying to open up the government. The Democrats are not. They are playing politics. It needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=39007B93-9477-41D3-9FDF-408D031B4D14", "Thune on the Gaza Peace Agreement", "2025-10-14", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I want to join my colleague, Senator Grassley from Iowa, and before I begin, mention the release of the hostages on Monday.\n\n\u201cAfter more than two years in captivity, the final 20 living hostages were returned to Israel and reunited with their loved ones.\n\n\u201cTo see the peace process moving forward is an occasion for immense gratitude.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope that both sides will adhere to the terms of the agreement so that this can mark the beginning of an end to the bloodshed.\n\n\u201cThat includes the prompt and respectful return by Hamas of the remains of the deceased hostages.\n\n\u201cI know that President Trump \u2013 without whom this would not have happened \u2013Secretary Rubio, and others continue to work to hammer out the remaining steps of the peace process.\n\n\u201cThat will have to include disarming Hamas, and ensuring that the organization plays no future role in governance in the Gaza strip.\n\n\u201cMy prayers are with the president, Secretary Rubio, and all of those on both sides who are working to make peace a reality.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A07D8BAC-B566-461E-8C72-5BF633365F1D", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 14", "2025-10-14", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, \u2018every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo said the Democrat leader in an interview published on Thursday \u2013 hours before Democrats once again voted to keep the government closed and to deny service members a paycheck.\n\n\u201cFederal workers \u2013 including law enforcement officers \u2013 missed part of their pay last Friday.\n\n\u201cBut hey, at least life is getting better for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cMr. President, a CNN article from Thursday said that Democrats are preparing to keep on with this shutdown for, and I quote, \u2018several more weeks.\u2019\n\n\u201cI guess Democrats are not going to be satisfied until military families and government workers are lining up at food banks or visiting payday lenders or simply charging necessary items like milk and bread on their credit cards, to be repaid later \u2013 if they can \u2013 along with the big interest charges that come with that.\n\n\u201cBut hey, while military families and government workers may be deeply stressed, at least life is getting better every day for Senate Democrats.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I could at least understand a little bit more where Democrats are coming from if Republicans were asking them to swallow a lot of new Republican policies to reopen the government.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans aren\u2019t asking Democrats for anything.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not asking them to support any new Republican policies.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not asking them to swallow any partisan policy riders.\n\n\u201cWe have put forward \u2013 and the House has passed \u2013 a clean, nonpartisan CR.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the bill Democrats are rejecting.\n\n\u201cAnd by the way, you certainly don\u2019t have to take my word for it that we put forward a clean bill.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s what one mainstream news publication said last week, and I quote, \u2018It\u2019s important to note that Democrats instigated this shutdown. They rejected a \u201cclean\u201d funding proposal and demanded significant and expensive health care policy changes in exchange for their votes.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It\u2019s important to note that Democrats instigated this shutdown. They rejected a \u201cclean\u201d funding proposal and demanded significant and expensive health care policy changes in exchange for their votes.\u2019\n\n\u201cYeah, that pretty much captures it right there in a nutshell, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cDemocrats like to whine that Republicans aren\u2019t negotiating.\n\n\u201cBut negotiation, Mr. President, is what you do when each side has a list of demands and you need to meet in the middle.\n\n\u201cRepublicans, as I and a lot of other people have pointed out, haven\u2019t put forward any demands.\n\n\u201cOnly Democrats have made demands \u2013 and, by the way, very expensive demands.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019ve taken government funding hostage in an attempt to force through their partisan measures.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I remember when Democrats used to care about the effects of a government shutdown.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I could fill a whole speech \u2013 many speeches, actually \u2013 with quotes from Democrats talking about how terrible shutdowns are.\n\n\u201cI used to think they were sincere in those opinions.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s become abundantly clear that their previous statements weren\u2019t based on principle, but on political advantage.\n\n\u201cDemocrats were against shutdowns when it suited their political purposes, and now that it suits their political purposes \u2013 they think \u2013 to keep the government closed, now they support shutdowns.\n\n\u201cI suspect their political calculations are flawed.\n\n\u201cAfter all, 65 percent of voters think Democrats should reopen the government instead of holding out for their partisan demands.\n\n\u201cBut I guess, Mr. President, Democrats are more worried about gaining the approval of their far-left base than about getting the approval of everyday Americans.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s day 14 of Democrats\u2019 shutdown.\n\n\u201cOur economy is losing billions of dollars.\n\n\u201cFederal workers \u2013 including law enforcement officers \u2013 are going without pay.\n\n\u201cCritical government programs are in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cBut hey, at least life is getting better every day for Senate Democrats.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-secures-south-dakota-wins-in-senate-passed-fy26-ndaa", "Rounds Secures South Dakota Wins in Senate-Passed FY26 NDAA", "2025-10-10", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, released the following statement on the full Senate\u2019s passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026. This is the 11th NDAA that Rounds has helped author as a member of SASC, and the 65th consecutive NDAA passed by the full Senate.\n\n\u201cThe NDAA is a critical piece of legislation passed each year which authorizes funding for our national security, as well as our servicemembers and their families,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cJust like our committee version of the bill, we secured many wins for South Dakota, including $378 million for construction projects at Ellsworth to prepare for the B-21, $28 million for the Watertown Army National Guard vehicle maintenance facility and $3.4 billion for procurement of B-21 aircraft. The NDAA also authorizes funding to support a 3.8 percent raise for military members. This NDAA keeps the U.S. ahead of the curve and takes care of our men and women in uniform who fight every day to protect our freedoms. I\u2019m hopeful that these provisions will remain as we conference this bill with the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cThe full Senate\u2019s version of the NDAA also includes my legislation to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land and businesses located near sensitive military sites. Our near-peer adversaries are looking for any possible opportunity to surveil our nation\u2019s capabilities and resources. This is a preventative measure to keep these nations out of our business and away from our most critical resources.\n\n\u201cDespite what my Democrat colleagues want the American people to think, we can still do bipartisan work in the Senate. Leader Thune has worked hard this year to get the Senate back to regular order, in which we pass appropriations bills on a bipartisan basis every year. The NDAA is a great example of that. As we remain in a government shutdown, I hope my Democrat colleagues decide to work with us to open the government up. After that happens, we can continue to work through the pressing issues that are facing the American people.\u201d\n\nIn March, Rounds was named as the 6th most effective member of the United States Senate on defense and national security issues for the 118th Congress. Read a list of his provisions in this year\u2019s NDAA below.\n\nRounds\u2019 South Dakota Victories:\n\nFully authorizes the B-21 Raider program, including over $2.59 billion for procurement and $862 million in advanced procurement.\n\nAuthorizes $378 million in military construction projects to support the B-21 Raider housed at Ellsworth.\n\n$63 million for B-21 Flight Simulator 2.\n\n$71 million for B-21 Alert Facility.\n\n$75 million for B-21 Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\n$88 million for B-21 South Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\n$81 million for B-21 West Alert Apron & Environmental Protection Shelters.\n\nAuthorizes $28 million for Watertown Army National Guard Vehicle Maintenance Shop.\n\nEstablishes a pilot program within the Department of Defense (DOD) to partner with communities, universities, and industry to establish Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF). This has been a major priority for many South Dakota universities and defense companies seeking to establish or deepen their relationship with the DOD.\n\nUpdates the State Partnership Program so that states with only one partner are given priority when a new foreign partner is being considered for the program. This will directly benefit the South Dakota National Guard.\n\nModifies the Defense Community Infrastructure Program in order to make South Dakota schools more competitive in receiving grants.\n\nRequires the Navy Personnel Command\u2019s Records Analysis Branch to develop a plan to address their delays and backlogs to provide members of Congress and their constituents answers and corrections to casework, record requests, and record adjudication. This will help our South Dakotan veterans dealing with frustrating bureaucracy.\n\nIncludes the ROAD to Housing Act, which contains four of Rounds\u2019 bills to improve housing access and affordability in South Dakota.\n\nIncludes language from Rounds\u2019 Native American Rural Homeownership Improvement Act which would expand an existing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pilot program, in which the USDA has partnered with Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to leverage their deep ties in local communities and deploy loans to eligible Native borrowers.\n\nRounds\u2019 Major National Defense Victories:\n\nIncludes Rounds\u2019 Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land and businesses located near U.S. military installations or sensitive sites.\n\nProtects national security spectrum from interference from commercial interests so that critical defense and intelligence capabilities are not degraded.\n\nAuthorizes $5 million for Wing-level additive manufacturing capability.\n\nAuthorizes $10 million for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for hypersonic weapons.\n\nAuthorizes $5 million for Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.\n\nAuthorizes $20 million for University Consortium for Cybersecurity.\n\nCreates a Cyber Command A.I. industry collaboration roadmap. This requires the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, in coordination with senior DOD A.I. and research officials, to develop a roadmap for industry and academic collaboration on AI-enabled cyber capabilities for cyberspace operations.\n\nCreates an Artificial General Intelligence Steering Committee. This establishes an Artificial General Intelligence Steering Committee in the DOD to analyze AI trajectories and develop DOD adoption strategies with Deputy Secretary of Defense and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as co-chairs.\n\nProtects the dual-hat leadership arrangement between U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.\n\nProvides authority to the Department of Defense and military to conduct military operations in defense of critical infrastructure.\n\nRequires a bomber aircraft force structure and transition roadmap, to include training packages and other measures, to make sure our bomber crews are as well-trained and equipped as possible.\n\nProcess to improve Foreign Military Sales to our partners and allies.\n\nModernization of the Department\u2019s cyber and network security policies on full content inspection, to include A.I. capabilities to be included in the program.\n\nRequires the Department to identify how they will achieve implementation of zero trust cyber and network security by December 2025.\n\nRequires budget coordination of the Cyber Mission Force to increase mutual support between U.S. Cyber Command and cyber elements of the reserve component.\n\nProvides a pathway for men and women who may be medically disqualified for serving in the active duty military to serve in the Department of Defense or other military services as a civilian.\n\nImplements significant DOD cyber personnel related reforms to include establishing a Cyber Excepted Workforce (CEW) Interchange Agreement and increased flexibility regarding the pay and benefits for cyber personnel.\n\nStrengthens the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy \u2014 a position Senator Rounds created.\n\nRounds-Supported Victories:\n\nAuthorizes funding to support a 3.8 percent pay raise for military members.\n\nNo restrictions on supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with deportations, including the use of military air.\n\nProhibits DOD from paying for sex change surgeries for military personnel.\n\nIncludes an additional $6 billion for munitions \u2013 in concert with $25 billion in reconciliation, which effectively doubles last year's munitions budget.\n\nExpands Navy fleet with an additional two destroyers and funds wage improvements for conventional surface shipbuilders (destroyers, amphibious ships, and more).\n\nClearly authorizes key portions of President Trump\u2019s Golden Dome, the missile defense program for our country\u2019s national security.\n\nClarifies the timing for operational certification of the B-21 bomber with the AGM-181 Long Range Standoff Weapon, which will make the B-21 more lethal and at longer distances.\n\nIncludes a Comprehensive Cyber Workforce Strategy. This would require the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive cyber workforce strategy.\n\nEncourages the Department to use multi-modal Large Language Models for foreign language translation.\n\nDirects the Secretary of Defense, as part of the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework, to design and implement a program for active management of cyber talent transitioning out of active duty and into the reserve force.\n\nIncludes report language that directs the Secretary of Defense to assess how to better synchronize the Defense Cyber Crimes Center under the Air Force with the Defense Cyber Defense Command (DCDC) to maximize protection of the Defense Industrial Base.\n\nDirects the Secretary of Defense to facilitate the integration of existing commercially available AI capabilities to assist with logistics in two relevant DOD exercises.\n\nDirects the Secretary of Defense to evaluate the establishment of a Joint Task Force-Cyber in each of the geographic Combatant Commands to serve as the operational cyber component.\n\nIncludes report language that will direct the Department of Defense to issue a report on the competition, barriers to entry, and market share of cloud service providers, AI providers, and data services providers.\n\nDirects the Secretary to develop standards and a strategy associated with digital provenance.\n\nIncludes report language that emphasizes the importance of authentication and directs the Secretary of Defense to establish a strategy to establish phishing resistant authentication.\n\nProhibits any use on any DOD system of a large language model created by a Chinese or other covered entity, specifically DeepSeek. It also prohibits contractor use of these models.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A9C09FB6-4962-40C5-901E-9E5F8917943F", "Thune Joins Martha MacCallum on Fox News", "2025-10-10", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhere to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Martha MacCallum on Fox News.\n\nOn Congress\u2019 responsibility to fund the government:\n\n\u201cDemocrats have to decide whether they want to deliver the five votes that we need to open up the government. We have \u2026 55 out of 100 senators. The House has passed it, it\u2019s sitting on the desk at the Senate \u2026\n\n\u201c[Democrats] have to think long and hard about what they\u2019re doing, and unfortunately, the consequences of this are becoming very real \u2026 for a lot of federal workers. We want our troops to get paid, we want our TSA agents to get paid, our Border Patrol agents to get paid, air traffic controllers to get paid.\u201d\n\nOn Democrats\u2019 shutdown hypocrisy:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve made it very, very easy. It\u2019s a nonpartisan, short-term, clean continuing resolution to keep the government open. Democrats now have voted against it seven times \u2013 something that they voted for 13 times under Joe Biden when he was president and Chuck Schumer was the majority leader in the Senate.\n\n\u201cThis is a routine thing. What they\u2019ve decided to do is hijack it, and they\u2019ve consistently now, seven straight times, voted it down.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cDemocrats have concluded \u2026 that they think this is a political game. I mean, the statement that Chuck Schumer said \u2026 to the press about, \u2018this gets better for us every day.\u2019 I mean, that is a cynical statement, and honestly, they ought to be ashamed, because this is a real thing for a lot of families across this country that could be completely eliminated.\n\n\u201cAll they simply have to do is vote for the bill that\u2019s right at the Senate desk. All we need is five of them right now to get it done.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cThe president, like us, just wants to see the government opened up again \u2026 The Democrats are asking for $1.5 trillion in new spending. They\u2019re asking for free health care for noncitizens in their counter proposal. Those are not things that\u2019re going to go anywhere. It\u2019s not serious.\n\n\u201cWe have in front of them a serious proposal to open up the government. They just simply need to take it, and then let\u2019s go to work on health care.\u201d\n\nOn the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown:\n\n\u201cI think the president \u2013 and to give him credit for this \u2013 for 10 days now, they have held off on making hard decisions with regard to agencies and departments and moving money around and deciding what gets prioritized and what doesn\u2019t, and which employees are essential and get paid and which don\u2019t.\n\n\u201cThose are all hard decisions, and the Democrats have put the administration in that position. But for 10 days, they have resisted making any decisions like that. [The administration is] now going to be forced to make those kinds of decisions, and that\u2019s really unfortunate.\u201d\n\nOn the preserving the legislative filibuster:\n\n\u201cEvery single Democrat, with the exception at the time of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema \u2013 voted to get rid of the filibuster, and every single one of them today, if they had that same opportunity, would vote to keep the legislative filibuster, because it\u2019s situational for them \u2026\n\n\u201cThis is the ultimate hypocrisy, and we\u2019ve been consistent. The filibuster is something that protects the minority in the United States Senate. It enables us to work in a constructive, bipartisan way to get things done, and it\u2019s just something that we\u2019re not going to do \u2026\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have to do it. All we have to have are five courageous Democrats with backbone who are willing to cross the far-left activist groups who are calling the shots, and they\u2019re dancing to their tune, and just come up here and vote to get the government open. It\u2019s that simple \u2026 this isn\u2019t a complicated thing.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"], ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=CF75528C-7927-430E-A34B-D0687F29E1E2", "Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day 10", "2025-10-10", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.).\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cWell, good morning.\n\n\u201cLeader Chuck Schumer may think that every day that goes by, the shutdown gets better for the political prospects of the Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut every day that it goes by, it gets a lot worse for the American people.\n\n\u201cNow, Democrat senators might start to feel that a little bit personally when they try to fly out of airports, and you see some of the impacts that are already occurring with respect to TSA and air traffic control.\n\n\u201cAnd families around the country are already seeing the impacts, and it\u2019s about to get a whole lot worse.\n\n\u201cBecause we just needed five more votes \u2013 five more Democrat votes \u2013 that the Democrats wouldn\u2019t give us yesterday.\n\n\u201cThe American people are going to \u2026 feel a lot more pain and miss a lot more paychecks in the very near future.\n\n\u201cSo, shame on the Democrats.\n\n\u201cShame on the Democrats for doing this to the American people.\n\n\u201cI mean, look at that.\n\n\u201cReally?\n\n\u201c\u2018Every day gets better for us?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Every day gets better for us.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s their thought about what this shutdown means.\n\n\u201cSo, shame on the Democrats for what they\u2019re doing to the American people.\n\n\u201cRepublicans want our troops to get paid.\n\n\u201cWe want our air traffic controllers to get paid.\n\n\u201cWe want our TSA agents to get paid.\n\n\u201cWe want our Border [Patrol] agents to get paid.\n\n\u201cAnd we have voted that way now in the United States Senate seven times, to open up the government.\n\n\u201cDemocrats in the Senate are the last hurdle, the last hurdle to getting the government open again and the American people back to work.\n\n\u201cBut, what?\n\n\u201cInstead, they\u2019ve decided to pander to their far-left activist base, who are cheering \u2013 cheering \u2013 what\u2019s going on here.\n\n\u201cAnd the Democrats tend to be so afraid \u2013 I guess, is the only thing, or running scared from \u2013 that far-left activist base that they are willing to put that ahead of what\u2019s in the best interest of the American people.\n\n\u201cWell, it\u2019s time for them to get a backbone.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really time for the Senate Democrats to show a little courage and put the American people ahead of their far-left activist base.\n\n\u201cThey have a simple choice in front of them:\n\n\u201cOpen up the government.\n\n\u201cQuit playing politics.\n\n\u201cQuit talking about how \u2018it gets better for us, because we\u2019re looking at the polling and we think that we\u2019re winning.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis is all that\u2019s between this country and their government being open again.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s this bill. You\u2019ve seen it before.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s passed the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s sitting at the desk of the Senate.\n\n\u201cIt could be picked up and passed today, put on the president\u2019s desk, where he has said he will sign it into law.\n\n\u201cThe government opens back up, people get paid, troops get paid, air traffic controllers get paid, TSA agents get paid, Border Patrol agents get paid, and we get back to working on behalf of the American people.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what, that\u2019s really, this is it.\n\n\u201cThis is all that is between this country being back to work again, and it\u2019s five Democrats in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cWe have a majority of United States senators \u2013 55 out of 100 senators \u2013 are voting to open up the government.\n\n\u201cWe need five bold, courageous Democrats with a backbone, who are willing to take on their far-left activist base.\n\n\u201cJoin us in passing this.\n\n\u201cCould do it anytime, anytime.\n\n\u201cSend it to the president, he\u2019ll sign it in law.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s that simple.\n\n\u201cSomething they\u2019ve done 13 times when they had the majority here in the United States Senate and President Biden in the White House.\n\n\u201cThirteen different times.\n\n\u201cContinuing resolutions are a routine practice around here.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t get hijacked for extraneous policy riders, and we didn\u2019t do that.\n\n\u201cNo gimmicks, no policy riders, no partisan attachments to the bill that came over that the speaker and the House passed and sent to the Senate.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a straight-up bill to keep our government open so we can continue the appropriations process and get back to work for the American people.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "truncated": false, "filtered_table_rows_count": 525, "expanded_columns": [], "expandable_columns": [], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "units": {}, "query": {"sql": "select url, title, date, year, month, party, chamber, state, member_name, bioguide_id, domain, scraper, source, date_source, text, has_text, collected_at, updated_at from releases where \"party\" = :p0 and \"state\" = :p1 and \"year\" = :p2 order by date desc limit 101", "params": {"p0": "Republican", "p1": "SD", "p2": "2025"}}, "facet_results": {"party": {"name": "party", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025", "results": [{"value": "Republican", "label": "Republican", "count": 525, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?state=SD&year=2025", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "chamber": {"name": "chamber", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025", "results": [{"value": "Senate", "label": "Senate", "count": 435, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025&chamber=Senate", "selected": false}, {"value": "House", "label": "House", "count": 90, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025&chamber=House", "selected": false}], "truncated": false}, "state": {"name": "state", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025", "results": [{"value": "SD", "label": "SD", "count": 525, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Republican&year=2025", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "year": {"name": "year", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025", "results": [{"value": "2025", "label": "2025", "count": 525, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}}, "suggested_facets": [], "next": "2025-10-10,https~3A~2F~2Fwww~2Ethune~2Esenate~2Egov~2Fpublic~2Findex~2Ecfm~2Fpress-releases~3FID~3DCF75528C-7927-430E-A34B-D0687F29E1E2", "next_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Republican&state=SD&year=2025&_next=2025-10-10%2Chttps~3A~2F~2Fwww~2Ethune~2Esenate~2Egov~2Fpublic~2Findex~2Ecfm~2Fpress-releases~3FID~3DCF75528C-7927-430E-A34B-D0687F29E1E2&_sort_desc=date", "private": false, "allow_execute_sql": true, "query_ms": 114.42175786942244, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}