Thune Joins Martha MacCallum on Fox News
“There are a whole bunch of features of this bill, and perhaps even most importantly to a lot of people, is it’s got the biggest spending reduction in history and reforms to programs that haven’t been attempted around here in decades.”
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Martha MacCallum on Fox News.
On Senate Republicans’ priorities:
“[T]he American people won’t have a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of the year if the Big, Beautiful Bill passes. That’s what we’re trying to prevent and avoid. [The bill] also adds a number of new tax pieces. It ends its tax on, as the president has indicated, tax on tips, tax on overtime, lowers taxes on Social Security recipients. There are a bunch of things in there, Martha, that benefit middle-income families.
“There’s an increase in the child tax credit, for example. So it’s preventing a huge tax increase, getting more relief to the American people in the form of tax relief and putting more money in their pockets so they’re sending less to Washington – that’s what, first and foremost, it’s about.
“But it’s about securing the border, it’s about modernizing our military, it’s about making sure that we are energy dominant heading into the future. There are a whole bunch of features of this bill, and perhaps even most importantly to a lot of people, is it’s got the biggest spending reduction in history and reforms to programs that haven’t been attempted around here in decades.
“This is a piece of legislation that we need to get across the finish line. It’s harder in the Senate; we have different rules that we have to comply with than they do in the House, and we’re in the process of working through it, but in the next couple of weeks, I expect to get it done.”
[…]
“[T]here’s a lot of work between now and the July 4 break … We’re going to get this done, and it’ll be out of the Senate, and hopefully we’ll get it on the president’s desk before the Fourth of July.”
On spending cuts within the reconciliation bill:
“[T]his [bill] will reduce the deficit, not increase it. And the reason for that is, one, we are going to have the biggest spending reduction in history. But secondly, all the other things I mentioned, Martha, are going to generate growth in the economy. And when the economy is growing and expanding and people are investing, you get more government revenue.
“The standard rule of thumb is, for about one percentage increase in GDP in growth in the economy, you get about $3 trillion of additional tax revenue. So the goal here is pro-growth policies that will get the economy growing and expanding, coupled with more fiscal austerity, fiscal responsibility.
“There will be a trillion and a half to $2 trillion in spending cuts in here, biggest spending reduction … in American history. And I think those two things together will mean that we will be reducing and getting that deficit trending down instead of trending up.
“What a lot of those folks don’t do is they don’t take into consideration what happens when you put pro-growth policies in place – and that is, you get economic growth, and you get more government revenue. So most of them are using static models.”
On U.S. negotiations with Iran:
“I think the Iranians ought to take the president up on [a deal]. The president is prepared to make a deal, and this can happen one of two ways, Martha. It can happen diplomatically, voluntarily, by Iran choosing to end its nuclear program – or it can happen by force, which is what the Israelis are in the midst of right now. And one, you avoid a lot of death and destruction, and I would hope that the Iranians are wise enough to take the president up on his offer and to sit down and negotiate this out. But it’s got to end with … Iran not possessing a nuclear weapon. That’s the simple end state of this, and that’s the reality that we all have to head toward.”
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“I think that [the president] needs to be able to have all options on the table available to him. And clearly, Fordow needs to be dismantled. That’s … probably one of the most important pieces of Iran’s nuclear program. So one way or the other, that has to end, and the Israelis, obviously, are making great progress toward that.
“But I think at the same time, the U.S., which right now is largely in a defensive posture, at some point may be asked to take more of an offensive tack there. But I think … those are ultimately decisions the president and his team and DOD would have to make. But … at the end of the day, Martha, this has to end with Iran giving up their nuclear program.”
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