INTERVIEW: Majority Leader John Thune breaks down his legislative speed to accomplish Senate GOP’s “shared agenda” with President Trump
THE LOWDOWN:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune spoke with the Washington Reporter about his breakneck legislative speed, saying President Trump and the Senate GOP have a “shared agenda.”
Thune also told the Washington Reporter that Senate Republicans “want to make the Trump tax cuts from 2017 permanent,” but also believe “permanence makes sense for the economy.”
Thune said his proudest accomplishment is the “record pace of nominations,” calling it “good team ball.”
The Senate Majority Leader also sounded off on the illicit Chinese vapes entering into the U.S., declaring that “Senate Republicans are united behind working to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from infiltrating our country and threatening our national security interests.”
As Capitol Hill gears up for another week of fun, Americans are gearing up for another week of change in Washington. With government funding and healthcare entering the congressional zeitgeist, Republican congressional leaders have a hefty plate of things to get through — something undaunting to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).
Thune, the top Republican in the Senate, has sent Democrats’ heads spinning with his breakneck legislative pace. He told the Washington Reporter in an exclusive interview that the “mandate” behind President Donald Trump requires putting the right people in the right places to push through his and the Senate Republicans’ “shared agenda.”
“Obviously you've got an administration that's moving quickly, and we have a shared agenda,” Thune told the Reporter. “With the kind of mandate that President Trump has, you've got to get people in place to do their best to implement his agenda. The Senate obviously plays a key role in all of this.”
Thune also told the Reporter that Senate Republicans “want to make the Trump tax cuts from 2017 permanent,” but also believes “permanence makes sense for the economy.”
“A temporary extension of these pro-growth and pro-family policies is a missed opportunity,” Thune said. “Businesses need certainty while investing in their companies and taxpayers should not fear tax hikes due to congressional inaction.”
Among all his many accomplishments since just January 3 — driven by an energized Senate GOP Conference working nights and weekends over a marathon 10-week session, the longest in 15 years — Thune said his proudest one is the “record pace of nominations,” calling it “good team ball.”
The Senate Republicans have started 2025 at a faster and more productive pace than any Congress in recent memory, perhaps in modern American history.
“But the confirmation process is challenging because, when the Democrats want to, they can drag it out, and they have been,” Thune said. “But we've been able to use and manage the clock and force them to concede on a lot of things, and they give us essentially what we've wanted in terms of the schedule.”
“So we got through it pretty well,” the Senate majority leader added.
Thune also said he was looking forward to learning more about President Trump’s recently established Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and about the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, an initiative spearheaded by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.). Lummis, a longtime advocate of digital currency, previously spoke with the Reporter about how she became a staunch advocate of Bitcoin.
“There’s no question digital assets, like Bitcoin, have played an increasing role as stores of wealth for investors,” Thune said. “Senators Lummis and [Bill] Hagerty have been leaders on these issues here in the Senate, and I’m interested to hear more about what the president and Secretary [Scott] Bessent are considering.”
Bitcoin is but one piece of tech the Senate is addressing under Thune’s leadership — another are the illicit Chinese e-cigarettes making their ways into American communities via the southern border.
The Senate Majority Leader also sounded off on the illicit Chinese vapes entering into the U.S., declaring that “Senate Republicans are united behind working to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from infiltrating our country and threatening our national security interests.”
“Many of my colleagues have proposals to counter the CCP across the issues of trade, fentanyl, cyber, and even land ownership, including Senator [Mike] Rounds’s (R., S.D.) [Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS)] Act, which I cosponsor, that would ban foreign adversaries from purchasing farmland near military bases and other sensitive sites,” Thune said.
“This week, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch marked up a bipartisan fentanyl bill to crack down on deadly Chinese imports,” the top Senate Republican continued. “And, of course, Republicans are pushing for robust defense investments through reconciliation to bolster our military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific, space, and the homeland, as well as to secure our border.”
The Reporter recently covered how illicit vapes are harming American communities with no regulation as to what is in them.