{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0C174FF5-0FBB-478C-8906-E73069D070D9", "Thune: Republicans Invest in Border Security, Democrats Undermine Law Enforcement", "2026-06-04", "2026", "2026-06", "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\u201cMr. President, I expect there will be a lot of amendments today on a lot of topics.\n\n\u201cSo I wanted to take just a minute to focus in on the essence of the bill that we are on, that we will be considering and voting on today.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a simple bill, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIt will do nothing more than fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the next three years.\n\n\u201cAnd why are we doing this bill, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cWhy are we doing appropriations for these Department of Homeland Security agencies separately \u2013 and for three years instead of the usual one?\n\n\u201cBecause Democrats have refused to fund border security or immigration law enforcement.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s it, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cWe are here today only \u2013 only \u2013 because Democrats refused to appropriate a single dollar for our border and immigration law enforcement.\n\n\u201cThey originally agreed to fund them, of course.\n\n\u201cBack in January, Democrats in both houses \u2013 House and Senate \u2013 signed off on an appropriations bill that included multiple reforms.\n\n\u201cBut shortly before passage, after the events in Minneapolis, Democrats reneged.\n\n\u201cThey wanted more reforms, they claimed.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans agreed to reopen negotiations.\n\n\u201cThe White House implemented a number of reforms on its own.\n\n\u201cAnd then the White House repeatedly \u2013 repeatedly \u2013 offered Democrats a robust package of legislative reforms.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats would not agree to anything.\n\n\u201cAnd eventually, they walked away altogether.\n\n\u201cPresumably because they thought that it would serve them better to have an issue for November.\n\n\u201cAlthough I would say it remains to be seen, Mr. President, how well \u2018defund law enforcement\u2019 and \u2018eliminate border security officers\u2019 play for Democrats this fall.\n\n\u201cBecause let\u2019s be very clear, Mr. President, that is what Democrats have opted for.\n\n\u201cNo \u2013 zero, no \u2013 officers at our nation\u2019s borders.\n\n\u201cAnd no officers to remove dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from our country.\n\n\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for Republicans, our nation\u2019s borders might currently be thrown wide open to drug traffickers, cartel members, terrorists, criminals, human smugglers, and other dangerous individuals.\n\n\u201cAnd dangerous criminal illegal aliens could be living freely in our country.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s, Mr. President, what no funding for border security and immigration enforcement means.\n\n\u201cAnd I can\u2019t emphasize that enough, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats had their way, our nation\u2019s borders would be completely \u2013 completely \u2013 unprotected.\n\n\u201cAnd criminal illegal immigrants would be allowed to remain in our country and endanger Americans.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 position is not just breathtakingly irresponsible; it\u2019s a betrayal of their obligation as members of our government.\n\n\u201cThis, Mr. President, is a national security issue, and Democrats have completely abdicated their national security responsibility.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as I said, I expect there will be a lot of amendments today.\n\n\u201cMany will be intended to distract from Democrats\u2019 \u2018defund law enforcement\u2019 position.\n\n\u201cSome may even echo the reforms the White House offered to Democrats \u2013 that Democrats rejected, but which they will now attempt to use to score political points.\n\n\u201cBut when all the political statements have been made, we will pass the underlying bill and be one step closer to funding border security and immigration law enforcement for the next three years.\n\n\u201cFor the next three years, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what Democrats have forced us to do.\n\n\u201cI am grateful for the law enforcement officers who have helped secure our nation\u2019s border over the past 16 months and take criminal illegal immigrants off of our streets.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful to Secretary Mullin and border czar Tom Homan for their leadership and their work to refocus things at DHS and ensure that both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are fully focused on their core mission of protecting our country.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans are going to continue to ensure that these agencies have the funding that they need to fulfill their national security responsibilities.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-05T06:35:23Z", "2026-06-05T06:36:42Z"]], "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=0C174FF5-0FBB-478C-8906-E73069D070D9"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8558991830796003, "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"}