{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["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last year cleaning up from the consequences of Democrats\u2019 big-government philosophy.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump has repealed a number of burdensome regulations and rules.\n\n\u201cAnd here in Congress, we\u2019ve used the Congressional Review Act to repeal rules, regulations, and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"]], "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/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0616C348-3F5F-4452-8ADD-A3D48C20B41A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7430079858750105, "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"}