{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-republicans-thwart-democrats-pursuit-of-defund-the-police-2-0/", "Thune: Republicans Thwart Democrats\u2019 Pursuit of \u201cDefund the Police 2.0\u201d", "2026-06-08", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cOn our watch, there will be agents at our borders to prevent terrorists, traffickers, and other dangerous individuals from making their way into our country, and there will be agents to take criminal illegal immigrants off of America\u2019s streets.\u201d\n\nClick 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, sometimes I have to wonder if Democrats remember the last election \u2013 and how four years of record-breaking illegal immigration on President Biden\u2019s watch helped hand the House, the Senate, and the White House to Republicans.\n\n\u201cBecause to watch the Democrat Party right now, you\u2019d think that 2024 never happened.\n\n\u201cDemocrats not only haven\u2019t rejected the open-borders philosophy of the Biden administration, they\u2019ve doubled down.\n\n\u201cAt least we had the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Biden.\n\n\u201cNow every Senate Democrat is on record as wanting to shut down those agencies.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cDemocrats voted to defund \u2013 to defund \u2013 the agents who stand guard on our nation\u2019s borders and help prevent dangerous individuals from entering our country.\n\n\u201cThey voted to defund the agents who remove criminal illegal immigrants who do make their way into the United States.\n\n\u201cAnd when I say defund, Mr. President, I mean defund.\n\n\u201cDemocrats opposed giving these agencies a single dollar.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope \u2013 I really hope \u2013 that my Democrat colleagues are not going to attempt to defend themselves by claiming that they simply wanted reforms of these agencies, and that Republicans wouldn\u2019t give them.\n\n\u201cBecause as the record amply \u2013 amply \u2013 reflects, Democrats were offered reforms again and again.\n\n\u201cThe White House not only made reforms on its own, it repeatedly offered Democrats a robust legislative package.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats weren\u2019t interested.\n\n\u201cPresumably because they somehow thought that \u2018defund law enforcement\u2019 and \u2018abolish border security\u2019 would play well for them in November.\n\n\u201cOf course, I\u2019m pretty sure most Americans don\u2019t think we should eliminate security at our nation\u2019s borders, or open the floodgates for unchecked illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cBut that hasn\u2019t stopped Democrats from embracing Defund the Police 2.0.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I am happy to report that as of Friday, Democrats\u2019 crusade to defund border security and law enforcement is well on its way to failure \u2013 for now, at any rate.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans passed legislation to fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the next three years, to ensure that Democrats can\u2019t try defunding these agencies again this fall.\n\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, it is deeply disturbing that we are in this position \u2013 that we are having to use the reconciliation process just to get normal appropriations passed for border security and immigration enforcement.\n\n\u201cThe damage that Democrats caused in the 2026 fiscal year has been immense.\n\n\u201cTwo record-breaking government shutdowns.\n\n\u201cCritical workers at DHS left for months without pay.\n\n\u201cGovernment workers lined up at food banks.\n\n\u201cTSA agents quitting in droves.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s not to even mention what [could] be irreparable harm to the appropriations process here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s our subject today, Defund the Police 2.0 \u2013 Democrats\u2019 resolute refusal to spend a single dollar protecting our nation\u2019s borders or deporting criminals here in our country illegally.\n\n\u201cIt is absurd, Mr. President, that Republicans are having to act unilaterally to fund basic national security responsibilities.\n\n\u201cWhat is the Democrat Party going to propose defunding next?\n\n\u201cThe DEA? The FBI? Our nation\u2019s military?\n\n\u201cWhere exactly does this insanity end?\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader has repeatedly attempted to cloud the issue \u2013 going so far as to make the insane suggestion that Congress somehow has to choose between our national security responsibilities and addressing the challenges facing hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cTo which I say, not only can we walk and chew gum at the same time, but we have an obligation to do so.\n\n\u201cIt is our responsibility as members of Congress to work to alleviate not only the economic challenges facing Americans but to protect our nation\u2019s security \u2013 and that includes securing our borders and attempting to ensure that criminals, drug traffickers, terrorists, and other dangerous individuals do not make their way into our country.\n\n\u201cAnd that if they do make their way in, they are identified and deported.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as long as Republicans are in charge, we will be focused on both the economic challenges facing our country and on securing peace and safety for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cOn our watch, there will be agents at our borders to prevent terrorists, traffickers, and other dangerous individuals from making their way into our country, and there will be agents to take criminal illegal immigrants off of America\u2019s streets.\n\n\u201cI wish I could say the same of our Democrat colleagues.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-27T20:01:11Z", "2026-06-28T06:33:41Z"]], "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-republicans-thwart-democrats-pursuit-of-defund-the-police-2-0/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7937890477478504, "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"}