{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-republicans-work-to-make-americans-safer-and-more-prosperous-ahead-of-america-250/", "Thune: Republicans Work to Make Americans Safer and More Prosperous Ahead of America 250", "2026-06-23", "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 or on the picture 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\u201cThis is an exciting season of our year.\n\n\u201cWe are heading up now on the 250th anniversary, a celebration for our country.\n\n\u201cAnd I think I can say that we are very fortunate to live in the greatest land, in my view, in the history of the world.\n\n\u201cAnd we can be enormously thankful and grateful to those who have come before us, who have sacrificed and served to make that possible for the rest of us.\n\n\u201cAnd as we think about this 250th anniversary, it\u2019s also a good time to reflect on many of the things that we\u2019ve been able to accomplish and the issues that we\u2019ve been trying to address here in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cFirst and foremost, of course, right now, as you know, is the housing bill.\n\n\u201cIt just passed; it\u2019s going to be taken up by the House later and hopefully signed into law by the president.\n\n\u201cIt gets at the very heart of an issue that I think is really important to the American people, and that\u2019s the issue of affordability.\n\n\u201cYou know, homeownership has always been considered to be part of that American dream, and to be able to, you know, put your flag in the ground and have someplace where you can take care of your family \u2013 this legislation is going to make that more possible.\n\n\u201cAnd I can\u2019t think of anything that is a better way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this country than \u2026 making it easier for people to pursue the American dream of homeownership.\n\n\u201cAnd as we think about wrapping up this session of the Congress, as we get into the upcoming election, Republicans continue to stay focused on keeping our country safe, on safe streets, on the American people having more money in their pockets, and better opportunities to get ahead.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what our focus has been and will continue to be, and we look forward to, you know, the days ahead, and hopefully more victories for the American people.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cA year ago, we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, and we will celebrate the one-year anniversary of that on July 1 here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cBut one of the things that came out of that were these Trump Accounts, and those Trump Accounts go live on July 4, and that\u2019s an opportunity for people in this country to save and to provide a better future for their kids.\n\n\u201cAnd so that was just one feature of the many that were included in that legislation.\n\n\u201cAnd so we will be celebrating 250 years of American history and freedom, and the sacrifices that those who came before us made \u2013 we\u2019ll also be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-24T06:25:30Z", "2026-06-24T06:26:49Z"]], "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-work-to-make-americans-safer-and-more-prosperous-ahead-of-america-250/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9866429027169943, "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"}