{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-on-jay-claytons-nomination-and-consequences-of-democrats-fisa-lapse/", "Thune on Jay Clayton\u2019s Nomination and Consequences of Democrats\u2019 FISA Lapse", "2026-06-15", "2026", "2026-06", "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, on Thursday President Trump nominated Jay Clayton \u2013 the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York \u2013 to be the director of national intelligence.\n\n\u201cHe has an impressive resume, with experience in both the public sector and the private sector.\n\n\u201cAnd he has the kind of skill set necessary for managing issues as complex and varied as those faced by the director of national intelligence.\n\n\u201cAnd for some perspective from the other side of the aisle: the Democrat vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee noted on Thursday, and I quote, \u2018I have known and respected Jay Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans here in the Senate have built a record of acting quickly on the president\u2019s nominees, and we\u2019re going to do the same with Mr. Clayton.\n\n\u201cThe Senate Intelligence Committee has already announced that it will hold a hearing on Mr. Clayton\u2019s nomination this week.\n\n\u201cAnd once he is approved by the committee, it is my intention to bring his nomination to the floor very quickly.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope we will have bipartisan support for making that happen.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while we didn\u2019t know exactly when it would arrive, we knew a nomination like Mr. Clayton\u2019s was coming.\n\n\u201cHow?\n\n\u201cBecause the president made it very clear that his choice of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence was a temporary pick.\n\n\u201cDespite this, Democrats decided to hold Section 702 of FISA hostage over Mr. Pulte\u2019s temporary, short-term appointment.\n\n\u201cAnd thanks to their decision, as of Friday this program authorization has lapsed.\n\n\u201cWhat does that mean, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cIt means the nation is currently operating without the full capacity of its most critical intelligence-gathering tool.\n\n\u201cLet that sink in for just a minute.\n\n\u201cThanks to Democrats\u2019 actions, the nation is currently operating without the full capacity of its most critical intelligence-gathering tool.\n\n\u201cAll over a short-term, temporary presidential appointment.\n\n\u201cMr. President, you certainly don\u2019t have to take my word for it on the importance of the 702 program to the security of our nation.\n\n\u201cLet me just read a few quotes from my Democrat colleagues last time we were in danger of having the program authorization lapse.\n\n\u201cThis was from the Democrat leader, and I quote: \u2018[T]his very important tool for ensuring our national security is going to lapse, and that would be unacceptable.\u2019\n\n\u201cFrom the senior Democrat from Delaware, and I quote again: \u2018This program is critical to the security of our nation, and we could not permit it to lapse.\u2019\n\n\u201cFrom the senior Democrat from New Mexico, and I quote again: \u2018As a member of the Intelligence Committee, I\u2019ve learned the vital role that FISA\u2019s Section 702 authority plays in bolstering our nation\u2019s ability to effectively fight terrorism, disrupt foreign cyberattacks, impede drug trafficking, and protect U.S. troops. For our national security and the safety of the American people, it is simply too important of a tool to let it expire.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, just last week the Democrat vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called Section 702, and I quote again, \u2018one of the most important intelligence tools we have.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd yet despite all this, Mr. President, despite my Democrat colleagues\u2019 clear awareness and acknowledgement of the importance of this program, they voted to let the authorization for this program lapse.\n\n\u201cAnd what the consequences of that will be, we cannot fully predict.\n\n\u201cWe do know information secured through this program has been repeatedly used to help protect our nation and American lives from a range of threats, from fentanyl to cyberattacks to terrorism.\n\n\u201cAnd that information from this program is used on a near-daily basis by those entrusted with the defense of our country.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has himself referred to the suspension of FISA as, and I quote again, \u2018a high-risk proposition.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, while we can\u2019t know the consequences of Democrats\u2019 decision to allow Section 702 authorization to lapse, we do know it is almost certainly putting our nation at greater risk.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope and pray that my Democrat colleagues will rethink their decision to take this program hostage and to restore this key safeguard of our country\u2019s security.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-18T06:41:00Z", "2026-06-18T06:43:25Z"]], "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-on-jay-claytons-nomination-and-consequences-of-democrats-fisa-lapse/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6063591465353966, "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"}