Thune Joins Breitbart News Saturday With Matt Boyle
“[A]s we head into this next week, I’m fully confident we’re going to be ready to roll … we have to be, we’ve got to deliver.”
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Breitbart News Saturday with Matt Boyle.
On Republicans’ priorities:
“[T]his is the fulfillment of the president’s agenda. This is what he ran on. This is what the people voted for, and that’s securing our border, making a generational investment there, and providing infrastructures for … the president’s term in office to make sure that … he has all the resources he needs to keep that job, keep doing what he’s doing, which has been a remarkable, unbelievable turnaround from where we were during the open border … Biden years.
“And then, of course, modernize our military, which is something he campaigned on, extending tax relief, preventing a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of the year, and extending tax relief to middle-income and working Americans, and no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reducing taxes on Social Security. Those are all things he campaigned on.
“And then … spending reduction. This will have the largest spending reduction in history, which will get us on a more sustainable fiscal path, which we have to do, and we can’t continue on the path that we’re on. So those are all things that the president campaigned on.
“I would add to that energy dominance, which helps lower inflation. [For] most Americans, energy is a big part of their daily consumption … You also think about the incredible demand we’re going to have in the future for affordable energy and reliable energy. And the president ... working with us in this bill, is going to accomplish this objective as well.”
On passing the bill by July 4:
“We have a more complicated process in the Senate. We’ve got laws and restrictions and … procedures that we have to operate under that are different than the House, so some of that takes a little bit longer. But as we head into this next week, I’m fully confident we’re going to be ready to roll … we have to be, we’ve got to deliver. And the one thing I’ve discovered in my time in Washington is if you don’t put deadlines out there, nothing gets done, and this stuff can drag on and on endlessly.
“If we want to get the One Big, Beautiful bill done, the Senate is going to have to act, and we’re going to hopefully act in a way that will … enable the House, when we send it back over there to them – because they have to pass the same bill that we do – can pick it up, pass it, and send it to the president. So ... that’s our schedule. We’re on it. We’re adhering to it, and we think it’s important that we get this on the president’s desk as soon as possible.”
On providing resources to secure the southern border:
“[T]his is cleaning up a mess that the previous administration left, and we’re working with the president and his team over there to ensure that he has the resources for the full four years that he’s the president to ensure that border security continues to be a priority for our country.
“We cannot have what we’ve had under the Biden four years, which is a completely wide-open southern border and all kinds of criminal elements and cartel activity and smuggling of … weapons and drugs and human trafficking. All those things that have been an epidemic at the border, and much of which has gotten into our country, is now the problem the president’s trying to clean up, and so he’s going to need the resources to do that. This is a generational investment in border security, which, in my view, is long overdue.”
On restoring American energy dominance:
“[W]e want America not only to be energy independent, but to be energy dominant, and we have the resources and the technical know-how and the capital out there to do that. What we need is our policies and regulations that enable that instead of stifle it. And … for four years, the Biden administration stifled energy development.
“Trump is opening that up and making America energy dominant in a way that not only takes care of our own needs, but hopefully can help us with our allies around the world who become way too dependent upon other countries like Russia, for example… In our country, with the demand for artificial intelligence … data centers, crypto, all those things are incredibly energy intensive, and we’ve got to be looking for ways to meet that demand – and in an affordable way and in a reliable way – and get away from any dependence upon foreign countries.
“That’s what that particular provision the bill is all about. We are going to make it easier, not harder and less expensive, not more expensive, for people to develop our energy resources. And that is what the president committed to, that’s what he campaigned on, and I believe that’s what the American people expect us to do.”
On strengthening Medicaid:
“[W]e’re trying to … get everybody at a place where we’re targeting waste, fraud, and abuse in the program … But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that this doesn’t hurt beneficiaries. And what’s being said out there by the Democrats is totally inaccurate, because ... it doesn’t cut Medicaid. We are continuing to grow Medicaid, we’re just growing at a slower rate than what has been allowed for under the existing law, which, by the way, grew Medicaid in the last five years at 50 percent.
“We can’t sustain that, and a lot of that’s because when Obama and Obamacare and then Biden … expanded the definition, [they] got a lot of able-bodied adult males eligible, and got people on the program – illegal immigrants, people who weren’t eligible, people who should … at least have some work requirement if they’re going to be in the program. It dramatically expanded it in a way that took it away from its original purpose.
“So what we’re talking about here is getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse, strengthening and improving the program for the people who need it the most and for whom it was intended, and really making this program more solvent for the long term…
“On the rural hospital issue, since you mentioned it, that is something we’re … coming up with a solution for, we’re going to try and address the issue. If there are rural hospitals adversely impacted – I’ve got a lot of them in my state – we want to ensure that they’re taken care of, but I think we can do that without hurting beneficiaries. And at the same time we are strengthening, improving this program and getting rid of a lot of the Biden-era waste, fraud, and abuse that exists in Medicaid today.”
On U.S. involvement in Iran:
“I think that the Israelis have done a masterful job of gaining air superiority over Iran and taking out a lot of their ballistic missile launchers, launchers and their capabilities. What’s left, of course, is the nuclear enrichment plant at Fordow … and that’s where I think is Israel’s capabilities probably don’t quite reach what is going to be necessary to get that done.
“So the president, at some point, will have to make that decision, if the Iranians decide not to come to the table. They can decide to come to the table and negotiate a deal, and the president’s more than willing to do that. President Trump made it very clear for some time that he’s willing to negotiate that and end to Iran’s nuclear program. So I'm supportive of … whatever decision he ultimately makes.
[…]
“What’s really dangerous is [Iran] with a nuclear weapon. And that, to me, is the end state here, whether it’s at the negotiating table, diplomatically, or whether the president makes a different decision. Iran just can’t have nuclear weapons … As Netanyahu has said, the only thing standing between … Iran and the United States is Israel, and he’s absolutely right about that … I’m supportive of what they’re doing and everything the president’s done so far, and I’m quite confident they’ll take whatever steps are necessary to keep not only America, but American interest in that part of the world safe.”
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