{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/op-eds?ContentRecord_id=0B8E7059-1A23-4B1B-8965-5481BBE0CFC3", "Fighting for What Matters", "2016-12-02", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sen. John Thune \r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\tIf you tuned in to C-SPAN today, you\u2019d find a much different Senate than the one that existed just a few short years ago. In 2013 and 2014, under Democrat leadership, the Senate repeatedly chose politics and partisanship over bipartisanship and efficiency. The legislative process, including the important work done in our committees, nearly ground to a halt. Only backroom, cherry-picked bills chosen by Democrat leaders made it to the floor. The Senate wasn\u2019t passing the important pieces of legislation that it should have been, and senators were often backed into take-it-or-leave-it scenarios created by politically orchestrated cliffs and countdown clocks.\r\nRepublicans told the American people that if we were given the opportunity to lead in the Senate, we would do things differently. We would focus on the issues that mattered to the people. We would help give them the voice they deserved. After Republicans regained the majority in January 2015, we quickly got to work. Republicans and Democrats were able to participate in the legislative process and offer proposals they thought would make bills better for the people they served. Ideas were debated and considered in committee, and bills that were sent to the floor were better for it.\r\nWe passed a balanced budget, appropriations bills, and the first major energy bill in more than a decade. The Commerce Committee, which I chair, worked hard to get a Federal Aviation Administration bill with major airport security provisions through the Senate and onto the president\u2019s desk. And the committee delivered the same result on the first long-term transportation bill since 2005. I\u2019ve always believed that hard work delivers positive results, and there\u2019s no better proof than what we\u2019ve accomplished in the last two years in the Senate.\r\nWe\u2019re just getting started, though, and I\u2019m glad Republicans will have the chance to continue working toward our goal of creating greater economic and national security for the American people. That starts with rolling back some of the Obama administration\u2019s most onerous regulations, particularly the Waters of the United States rule. We\u2019ll work toward repealing and replacing Obamacare, which has been a huge drag on family budgets in South Dakota and across the country. And we\u2019ll continue to protect our nation\u2019s borders and address the threats posed by terrorist groups like ISIS.\r\nRepublicans plan to start the 115th Congress in January the same way we\u2019re ending the 114th this month \u2013 with a lot of hard work and determination. We\u2019re going to have a long list of items to tackle, including confirming a Supreme Court nominee who will judge based on the law and the Constitution. January will be here in no time, and I\u2019m looking forward to hitting the ground running and advancing our pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-America agenda in 2017 and beyond.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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/op-eds?ContentRecord_id=0B8E7059-1A23-4B1B-8965-5481BBE0CFC3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1727279052138329, "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"}