{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F7F3E0AB-9008-4884-A130-44E652EB17F3", "Thune: It\u2019s Clear Democrats Would Rather See No COVID Relief Than Compromise With Republicans", "2020-10-20", "2020", "2020-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed Democrats\u2019 unwillingness to negotiate in good faith on a new COVID relief bill. For months, Republicans have been willing to compromise in an effort to find common ground on much-needed relief, but Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they would rather have a political issue than find a real solution.\n\nThune also discussed last week\u2019s successful Judiciary Committee hearing and highlighted the qualifications of Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Thune expressed his support for Judge Barrett, and he thanked her for her willingness to serve and for the experience and knowledge that she will bring to our nation\u2019s highest court.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, last week, the Judiciary Committee held its hearing on Judge Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s nomination, and it was easy to see why Judge Barrett is held in such respect by her colleagues, students, and peers \u2013 and why the American Bar Association gave her its highest rating of \u2018well-qualified.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe knew long before the hearing that Judge Barrett possesses an extraordinary intelligence and a comprehensive command of the law.\n\n\u201cBut over three days of testimony, Americans got to see her qualifications for themselves.\n\n\u201cAnd they saw why she has been described as \u2018a jurist of formidable intellect,\u2019 a \u2018brilliant and conscientious lawyer,\u2019 and \u2018a staggering academic mind.\u2019\n\n\u201cEven the Democrat ranking member on the committee, the senator from California, couldn\u2019t hide the fact that she was impressed.\n\n\u201cMost importantly, however, Americans saw that Judge Barrett understands the proper role of a judge in our system of government.\n\n\u201cAs Judge Barrett made clear, she understands that the job of a judge is to interpret the law, not make the law.\n\n\u201cTo call balls and strikes, not rewrite the rules of the game.\n\n\u201cOr as Judge Barrett said to the Democrat whip at the hearing last week, \u2018I apply the law, I follow the law, you make the policy.\u2019\n\n\u201cJudge Barrett has made it clear that when cases come before her on the Supreme Court, she will consider the facts, the law, and the Constitution \u2013 and nothing else.\n\n\u201cNot her personal beliefs.\n\n\u201cNot her political opinions.\n\n\u201cJust the law and the Constitution.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of justice all of us \u2013 Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative \u2013 should want.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I could spend hours highlighting all the extraordinary tributes to Judge Barrett that have poured in since her nomination \u2013 from lawyers and scholars of every background and political persuasion.\n\n\u201cBut I don\u2019t want to tie up the Senate floor.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019ll just mention one piece of testimony that struck me in particular.\n\n\u201cAs I mentioned, the American Bar Association released its rating of Judge Barrett last week \u2013 a rating that the Democrat leader has called the \u2018gold standard\u2019 by which judicial candidates are judged.\n\n\u201cThe ABA gave her its highest possible rating \u2013 \u2018well-qualified.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the chairman of the American Bar Association\u2019s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary \u2013 the ABA committee that issues these ratings \u2013 testified before the Judiciary Committee during Judge Barrett\u2019s hearing.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to read from the testimony he submitted to the committee \u2014 and I quote:\n\n\u201c\u2019Lawyers and judges uniformly praised the nominee\u2019s integrity. Most remarkably, in interviews with individuals in the legal profession and community who know Judge Barrett, whether for a few years or decades, not one person uttered a negative word about her character. Accordingly, the Standing Committee was not required to consider any negative criticisms of Judge Barrett.\u2019\n\n\u201cHis testimony went on:\n\n\u201c\u2018All of the experienced, dedicated, and knowledgeable sitting judges, legal scholars, and lawyers who have worked with or against Judge Barrett had high praise for her intellect and ability to communicate clearly and effectively. \u2026 Given the breadth, diversity, and strength of the positive feedback we received from judges and lawyers of all political persuasions and from so many parts of the profession, the Standing Committee would have been hard-pressed to come to any conclusion other than that Judge Barrett\u2019s has demonstrated professional competence that is exceptional.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, we are fortunate to have a nominee like Judge Barrett.\n\n\u201cAnd I look forward to confirming her to the Supreme Court in the very near future.\n\n******\n\n\u201cMr. President, in addition to considering Judge Barrett\u2019s nomination this week, the Senate will once again be taking up coronavirus relief legislation.\n\n\u201cWe tried this in September, of course, but Senate Democrats filibustered our relief bill.\n\n\u201cBut we\u2019re going to try again.\n\n\u201cBecause we believe there are priorities that need to be met \u2013 priorities that everyone should be able to agree on.\n\n\u201cThings like helping the hardest-hit small businesses.\n\n\u201cGetting schools the resources they need to safely reopen and safely operate.\n\n\u201cAnd providing additional health care resources to fight the virus.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, of course, have spent a lot of time talking about how we need to pass additional coronavirus relief.\n\n\u201cBut despite being given every opportunity to come forward with a realistic compromise bill, they\u2019ve continued to insist on bloated legislation that would not only spend taxpayer dollars on non-coronavirus-related measures, but would not have a chance of becoming law.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s very difficult for me to understand Democrats\u2019 thinking \u2013 if, that is, they really want to get more COVID relief to Americans and don\u2019t just want to use this as a political issue.\n\n\u201cI realize that Democrats would like to pass exactly the bill they want.\n\n\u201cBut their liberal wishlist simply wouldn\u2019t make it through Congress.\n\n\u201cDemocrats could, however, get something through Congress.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have made it clear from the beginning that we\u2019re willing to compromise with Democrats if they will just come to the table with a reasonable offer.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats have so far decided that they\u2019d rather see Americans get no relief than compromise with Republicans.\n\n\u201cAnd that is really difficult to understand \u2013 unless, as I said, Democrats aren\u2019t really interested in getting more COVID relief to Americans.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 position makes a lot more sense if they\u2019re just trying to exploit this crisis for political gain.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans are going to try again this week.\n\n\u201cThe bill we\u2019re bringing up would address some of the nation\u2019s most important coronavirus priorities.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope that some Democrats will join us to get additional relief to the American people.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leadership may be holding coronavirus relief hostage, but rank-and-file Democrats don\u2019t have to.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-28T00:34:36Z"]], "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=F7F3E0AB-9008-4884-A130-44E652EB17F3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9517930448055267, "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"}