{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1DEE36CD-A0FA-4B78-9321-60D0F143269D", "Thune: Get Ready to Work", "2024-12-17", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about next year\u2019s Senate agenda and reiterated his commitment to quickly confirming President Trump\u2019s nominees and providing him with the necessary resources to secure the border. Thune noted that the Senate Republican majority is committed to extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, advancing appropriations bills through regular order, and passing a comprehensive farm bill.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, my office recently released the 2025 Senate calendar.\n\n\u201cAs everyone now knows, our schedule next year will be aggressive.\n\n\u201cFriday votes will be the norm, and we\u2019re not going to be having much in the way of recess in the first 100 days.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because we have a lot of work to do.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to get it done on the kind of abbreviated schedule that we\u2019ve had in 2024.\n\n\u201cOne of our first priorities, of course, will be confirming President Trump\u2019s nominees.\n\n\u201cThe American people handed President Trump and Vice President-elect Vance a decisive mandate in November.\n\n\u201cAnd we are going to honor that mandate by making sure that President Trump has the people he needs in place as soon as possible \u2013 starting with the heads of the Cabinet departments.\n\n\u201cDemocrats can certainly make the schedule a little less painful if they accord the president some of the deference Republicans accorded to Cabinet nominees under President Obama.\n\n\u201cBut one way or another, we are going to get the job done.\n\n\u201cAnd if that means some nights and weekends, so be it.\n\n\u201cOur other early priority \u2013 and another reason why the schedule will be particularly aggressive in the first 100 days \u2013 is passing a reconciliation package with a once-in-a-generation investment in border security and immigration enforcement.\n\n\u201cThe border and enforcement crisis under President Biden has left a gaping hole in our national security and undermined respect for the rule of law.\n\n\u201cAnd that ends in January.\n\n\u201cEnforcing the law and protecting the integrity of our borders will become administration policy on day one, and the Senate will move quickly to back up the president\u2019s efforts.\n\n\u201cThe package we\u2019ll be taking up will \u2013 among other things \u2013 include substantial resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, increase detention space, and provide the barriers and technology we need to fully secure the border.\n\n\u201cIt will also focus on other key national security priorities, like addressing our lagging military readiness.\n\n\u201cOther priorities for the first 100 days include kicking off our efforts to use the Congressional Review Act to undo some of the Biden administration regulations that are weighing down our economy.\n\n\u201cAnd, of course, continuing work on our reconciliation package to expand the tax relief Republicans delivered for Americans during the first Trump administration.\n\n\u201cI mentioned our national security priorities, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd let me just say that national security is going to be a priority for Republicans throughout the year.\n\n\u201cWe are finally now considering the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 here in the Senate this week \u2013 almost three months into the new fiscal year.\n\n\u201cUnder Republican leadership, the NDAA will not be put on the backburner.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m also committed to ensuring that we return to regular-order consideration of appropriations bills.\n\n\u201cI will devote extensive time to floor consideration of appropriations bills when they are ready to avoid an end-of-the-year pileup and problematic continuing resolutions \u2013 something with which, right now, we are very familiar.\n\n\u201cDeciding how taxpayer money is spent is a serious responsibility, and it deserves serious floor time.\n\n\u201cMembers should plan to take a lot of amendment votes during this process \u2013 and throughout the year.\n\n\u201cThat will mean taking tough votes at times, but that, folks, is what we were sent here to do.\n\n\u201cFinally, Mr. President, members should expect to take up a farm bill in 2025.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re now more than a year overdue on the next bill, and farmers and ranchers in my state and around the country are waiting for Washington to update farm programs to reflect current agriculture needs.\n\n\u201cAnd I am committed to bringing a bill to the floor in the coming year.\n\n\u201cMr. President, there are no two ways about it, 2025 will be intense.\n\n\u201cBut we have a real opportunity here to deliver for the American people \u2013 on continued tax relief, on border security, and on national security and beyond.\n\n\u201cAnd, Mr. President, we are going to seize the day.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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=1DEE36CD-A0FA-4B78-9321-60D0F143269D"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.4114550799131393, "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"}