Press Releases
Thune: Open the Government, Open the Discussions
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): “Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. “The Speaker is right. “We have an opportunity to pick up a House-passed bill that, if it passes the Senate, will be sent to the White House, the president will sign it, and the government will reopen. “It’s that simple and that straightforward, and that’s al… Continue Reading
10.02.25
Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show, NBC
Click here to listen The Hugh Hewitt Show and here to watch NBC. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Hugh Hewitt Show and Tom Llamas on NBC. On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government: “I just don’t know how [Democrats] sustain this position … Schumer has led them … down this rat hole. And I don’t know how they get out of it right now. But … we need five of them to flip tomorrow on the vote, and we can open up the government and get back to wo… Continue Reading
10.02.25
Thune Joins Sean Hannity on Fox News
Click here to watch. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Sean Hannity on Fox News. On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government: “[The continuing resolution is] clean, it’s nonpartisan, it is short-term, it has no gimmicks, we didn’t put any partisan riders on it. I mean, this is something that should be a no-brainer around here - and it’s something, by the way, that they did 13 times when Joe Biden was in the White House and the Democrats had the majorit… Continue Reading
10.01.25
Thune Joins Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax
Click here to watch WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax. On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government: “The other party has a decision to make: Do they want to vote to reopen the government, or don’t they? These discussions, negotiations, all the things … they want to talk about, we’re willing to do, but not until they reopen the government and quit taking the American people hostage. This is a very simple, straightforw… Continue Reading
10.01.25
Thune: Schumer Shutdown Day One
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a bicameral press conference with congressional Republican leadership: Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): “Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker and our House colleagues, for doing the work. “You sent us a clean continuing resolution. “Unfortunately, we are here this morning in a government shutdown that Democrats wanted. “Chuck Schumer, at the behest of a bunch of liberal, far-left activis… Continue Reading
09.30.25
Thune: Democrats Choose a Shutdown
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference after Senate Democrats voted to shut down the government. Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): “The Democrat caucus here in town, in the Senate, has chosen to shut down the government over a clean, nonpartisan funding bill. “That’s right - a clean, nonpartisan funding bill. “We didn’t ask Democrats to swallow any new Republican policies. “We didn’t add partisan rid… Continue Reading
09.30.25
Thune: Democrats Hold Government Funding Hostage for Radical Demands
Click here to watch the video. 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): “Well, good afternoon, everyone. “We are only hours away from a government shutdown, and the Democrats have a very clear, binary choice. “They can choose to keep the government open by voting for a short-term, nonpartisan, clean continuing resolution, 24 pages long, or they can vote to shut the … Continue Reading
09.30.25
Thune Joins Squawk Box on CNBC
Click here to watch. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Joe Kernen on CNBC’s Squawk Box. On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government: “This is something that 13 times, when [Chuck Schumer] was the majority leader, we passed short-term continuing resolutions - 13 times - and the Republicans delivered the vote for it. This is a routine thing. This is not unusual. “This is something to extend government funding until we have more time to fund or to… Continue Reading
09.29.25
Thune Joins Bret Baier on Fox News
Click here to watch. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Bret Baier on Fox News. On the bicameral meeting at the White House: “It was spirited … [Democrats have] a base that is demanding that they fight anything related to President Trump. [Democrats passed a CR] 13 times … when they had the majority … [and] Joe Biden in the White House … Well, what’s changed? Donald Trump’s the president, that’s what’s changed.” […] “There is no reason for a government… Continue Reading
09.28.25
Thune Joins Meet the Press on NBC
Click here to watch. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press. On Congress’ responsibility to fund the government: “This is a simple, seven-week funding resolution to allow us to do a normal appropriations process, something that Democrat senators have said that they want to see done, but something that Leader Schumer didn’t do when they had the majority. They didn’t do appropriation bills. This is new leadership. We’re t… Continue Reading
09.24.25
Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Hugh Hewitt Show. On funding the government: “All we need is … a handful of Democrats to come across the aisle and vote to keep the government open. A short-term funding resolution. Short-term that would enable us to finish up the other appropriations process, something that we did 13 times when the Democrats had the majority and Biden was in the White House. We did 13 short-term conti… Continue Reading
09.24.25
Thune Joins Inside Politics on CNN
Click here to watch. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Inside Politics on CNN. On funding the government: “The Democrats’ requests are completely unhinged and unreasonable and unserious, and if they want to have a serious conversation … I’m sure the president … would be happy to do that. But at least right now, what they’re asking for to keep the government open for seven weeks is over a trillion dollars in new spending and all kinds of policy riders th… Continue Reading
09.16.25
Thune: Schumer Deploys Same Old Shutdown Script
Click here to watch the video. 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): “Well, good afternoon, everyone. “I’m sure you’re all asking the question, are we or are we not going to have a Schumer shutdown? “And it sounds like, from what he is indicating, that very well may happen. “But we are going to give them every opportunity to vote for a clean CR - something that,… Continue Reading
09.15.25
Thune: Democrats Not Missing a Chance to Politicize Government Funding
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor: Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): “Mr. President, the September 30 government funding deadline is rapidly approaching, and Republicans will be putting forward a continuing resolution to fund the government until mid-November and give Congress time to complete additional work on appropriations bills. “And I hope my Democrat colleagues will … Continue Reading
09.12.25
Thune Joins Larry Kudlow on Fox Business
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business. On a nominations rules change: “The Schumer-led Democrats literally broke the system. We have to fix it, and we needed to take the steps to do that, because you’re right, the president needs to run the government. How do you do that without having your people in place? So it’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, but it required a response that it was necessar… Continue Reading
09.12.25
Thune Joins The Brian Kilmeade Show
Click here to listen to The Brian Kilmeade Show. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio. On Charlie Kirk’s impact on the conservative movement: “[Charlie Kirk] had a way of connecting with people that made them feel part of something that’s bigger than themselves. And I think most people want to be part of something that gives them a sense, a cause that’s bigger than themselves. And I think that was the real gift that he … Continue Reading
09.09.25
Thune: Senate Republicans to Restore the Senate’s Confirmation Process
Click here to watch the video. 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): “Good afternoon, everyone. “I think, as everyone knows, Senate Republicans are in the process of coming up with a solution to the Democrat blockade on nominees. “We’ve laid this out for you many times in the past, but I think, as everyone here knows, the Democrats now, for the past eight months … Continue Reading
09.04.25
Thune Joins The Hugh Hewitt Show
Click here to watch the video. WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Hugh Hewitt Show. On a nominations rules change: “[W]e’ve kind of shopped these ideas around about how to do this in a way that actually helps us clear the backlog [of nominations] and creates a way for us to confirm the rest of … President Trump’s administration, we’ve got to figure out how to make sure we’ve got the votes to move it. “And so we’ve been having those conversations her… Continue Reading
09.04.25
Senate Republicans’ NDAA Advances President Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” Agenda
THE U.S. IS CONFRONTED BY SERIOUS INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES TO ITS CORE INTERESTS ALL AROUND THE WORLD “The United States is operating in the most dangerous threat environment we have faced since World War II. The bill my committee advanced… is a direct reflection of the severity of that threat environment, as well as the rapidly evolving landscape of war.” - Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) America’s adversaries are aligned: “China’s military is getting stro… Continue Reading
09.03.25
Thune: Senate to Move Forward on Clearing Nominations Backlog and Advancing NDAA
Click here to watch the video. 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): “We just had a very productive meeting where our conference talked about clearing the nominations backlog. “And we are where we are right now because of the Democrat obstruction, which is historic and unprecedented. “We have never seen a time where the opposition party has literal… Continue Reading
