{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-democrats-california-dreaming-is-a-nightmare-for-americans/", "Thune: Democrats\u2019 California Dreaming Is a Nightmare for Americans", "2026-09-22", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/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, last week I came to the floor to discuss some of the things that this Republican majority has delivered over the last two years.\n\n\u201cPermanently lower taxes for families.\n\n\u201cA secure border.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve worked to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and make homeownership more affordable.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve delivered regulatory relief, and tax policies to help our nation\u2019s small businesses as well as family farms and ranches.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans have spent the last two years delivering on our agenda.\n\n\u201cAnd it should be pretty clear what we stand for.\n\n\u201cMore money in your pocket. Safer streets. And new and more opportunities to get ahead.\n\n\u201cOur Democrat colleagues, however, have spent much of the last two years opposing this agenda.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve cast a lot of no votes and criticized Republicans\u2019 agenda at seemingly every turn.\n\n\u201cSo one has to wonder, what do Democrats stand for?\n\n\u201cWhat is their vision for this country?\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, I think their last stint in power is pretty instructive:\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 vision for the country looks a lot like the big-government vision Democrats have implemented in California.\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take my word for it.\n\n\u201cA Los Angeles Times headline a few days before President Biden took office read, and I quote, \u2018Make America California Again? That\u2019s Biden\u2019s plan.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018California,\u2019 the article went on to say, and I quote again, \u2018is emerging as the de facto policy think tank of the Biden-Harris administration and of a Congress soon to be under Democratic control.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIn the words of the LA Times, Democrats leaned on California for inspiration in setting a progressive policy agenda for the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 push to raise taxes mirrored California\u2019s high tax rates \u2013 the highest individual rates in the country.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s disastrous approach to illegal immigration embraced the sanctuary policies and soft-on-crime laws for which California is the posterchild.\n\n\u201cAnd on regulation, Mr. President, Democrats were determined to follow the lead of the most regulated state in the union, especially on energy.\n\n\u201cNever mind the fact that over the years Californians have faced rolling blackouts, been asked to limit their electricity usage, and paid some of the highest energy prices in the country \u2013 Democrats still tried to take the California plan national.\n\n\u201cAnd on more than one occasion, the Biden administration basically gave the pen to California regulators to write rules that would affect all Americans.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what happened with electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration not only implemented its own California-style electric vehicle mandate; it also allowed California to impose a de facto EV mandate on the rest of the country.\n\n\u201cFortunately, Republicans \u2026 rescinded that mandate just last year.\n\n\u201cAnd our work continues to block other mandates of the same sort.\n\n\u201cWe have a number of resolutions in the pipeline to address painful California regulations that have created de facto mandates for the entire country.\n\n\u201cSenators Ricketts and Husted have resolutions related to California\u2019s strict emissions standards targeting gas-powered vehicles.\n\n\u201cSenator Schmitt has another on California\u2019s unrealistic emissions standards for cars.\n\n\u201cSenators Sullivan and Moreno have introduced resolutions related to commercial shipping vessels.\n\n\u201cAnd Senator Lummis\u2019 resolution would block a California rule restricting small motors for things like lawnmowers and leaf blowers.\n\n\u201cYes, Mr. President, as this list suggests, California will regulate just about anything that moves, ignoring the fact that these types of rules restrict consumer choice and lead to higher prices for working families.\n\n\u201cAs I mentioned, California\u2019s rush to electrification strained its power grid to the point that it faced rolling blackouts and high energy prices, and regulators had to ask residents not to charge their electric vehicles at certain hours.\n\n\u201cIt confounds me as to why we would try to do the same thing nationwide.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly, Mr. President, what Democrats tried to do during the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cMr. President, over the summer, U.S. News and World Report released its ranking of states on a number of criteria.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s how California ranked:\n\n\u201c46th in energy,\n\n\u201c41st in pre-K-12 education,\n\n\u201c48th in employment,\n\n\u201cAnd 50th \u2013 50th \u2013 in affordability.\n\n\u201cLast place.\n\n\u201cAnd I struggle to think of a Democrat who has critiqued the way California is run.\n\n\u201cInstead, as I\u2019ve said, Democrats continue to seek to impose a California-style regulatory regime on the whole country.\n\n\u201cAnd when it comes to illegal immigration, the national Democrat Party is now to the left \u2013 if you can imagine that \u2013 to the left of California.\n\n\u201cEarlier this year, national Democrats tried to completely defund Border Patrol and immigration enforcement, a move that would have effectively made America a sanctuary country.\n\n\u201cAnd I fully expect that a Democrat government here in Washington would be spending taxpayer dollars on benefits like health care for illegal immigrants, as California has done.\n\n\u201cMr. President, President Reagan \u2013 the governor of California in another era \u2013 once said, and I quote, \u2018If a State is badly managed, the people will either do one of two things: They will either use their power at the polls to redress that, or they\u2019ll go someplace else.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, Americans are leaving California in droves.\n\n\u201cIn each of the past six years, the Golden State has had the largest net loss of population on the U-Haul Index.\n\n\u201cBusinesses and employers are leaving, taking jobs and opportunities to other states.\n\n\u201cThat should be instructive \u2013 that should be instructive \u2013 to us here.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats don\u2019t \u2013 or perhaps won\u2019t \u2013 take the hint.\n\n\u201cCalifornia ranks last \u2013 dead last \u2013 in affordability \u2026 but it is the first place Democrats look to for ideas on how to govern.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we can do better.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are doing better.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s why so many Californians are moving to red states and leaving Democrats\u2019 failed policies behind.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-23T09:45:16Z", "2026-09-23T09:46:14Z"]], "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"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-democrats-california-dreaming-is-a-nightmare-for-americans/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7578111253678799, "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"}