Thune: There’s a Bipartisan Annual Appropriations Process Within Reach for the First Time in Years
“[W]e’re going to keep grinding and work as hard as we can on the Republican side, if we’re not going to get any cooperation from the Democrats, to get the president’s team in place.”
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:
Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):
“Afternoon, everyone.
We’re doing something this week in the Senate that is a bit unusual, that we haven’t done in a while.
“We’re actually teeing up an appropriations bill to vote on on the floor and have an amendment process. We’re going to try and get consent.
“We’re going to be on the MilCon-VA legislative appropriations bill and then hoping that we can get consent … to add a couple of other bills into the package, so that we can be voting on appropriations bills for the first time in a long time.
“And the reason I say that is because, as you all know, last year, when Chuck Schumer was running the Senate, the Appropriations Committee reported out 11 of the 12 … appropriations bills … all with bipartisan support – and not a single one of them was put on the floor for a vote.
“So, we’re fixing to change that.
“We think that there ought to be a regular appropriations process around here.
“The Democrats have indicated, because they’re so upset over the rescissions bill last week – which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1 percent of all federal spending – that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government.
“We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us.
“And we’re trying to give them what they’ve been asking for, is a bipartisan appropriations process, which, frankly, I think a lot of us around here think is long overdue.
“The other thing I want to mention quickly is the nominations process.
“Obviously, there’s been a lot of conversations around that here lately.
“And the thing that strikes me, again, about the Democrats’ behavior relative to nominations is a little data point, and that data point is that President Trump will be the first president in history – in history – not to have a single one of his [civilian] nominees confirmed either by voice vote or unanimous consent, which is typically what happens around here, particularly with nominees that have pretty broad bipartisan support, which a lot of these nominees that we’re trying to advance do.
“So this is clearly an attempt to block and delay and obstruct.
“It is an example of Trump Derangement Syndrome on steroids and it’s unfortunate, because there are a lot of people out there who’ve been nominated to positions, and positions in our government that, frankly, need to be filled.
“They’re important positions that need to be filled, and the Democrats continue to try and delay and obstruct.
“So we’re going to keep grinding and work as hard as we can on the Republican side, if we’re not going to get any cooperation from the Democrats, to get the president’s team in place.”
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