Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in his first prepared address as Senate majority leader says “preserving” the filibuster will be one of his top priorities, making an early move to quash any talk of major filibuster reform should President-elect Trump’s agenda stall in Congress.
“One of my priorities as leader will be to ensure that the Senate stays the Senate. That means preserving the legislative filibuster — the Senate rule that today has perhaps the greatest impact in preserving the Founders’ vision of the Senate,” Thune said in prepared remarks obtained by The Hill.
The Senate begins the new Congress on Friday afternoon, and Thune is expected to make the remarks from the floor sometime after the Senate opens for business at noon.
Thune and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) both pledged to preserve the filibuster when they ran in the fall to succeed outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
McConnell famously rebuffed Trump’s calls to reform the filibuster during his first White House term.
In 2017, Trump called on Senate Republicans to ditch the filibuster when it threatened to slow his agenda.
“Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time,” he wrote at the time.
Thune, however, will say Friday in his remarks that he wants to restore the Senate “as a place of discussion and deliberation.”
“That includes empowering committees, restoring regular order, and engaging in extended debate on the Senate floor, where all members should have a chance to make their voices – and the voices of their constituents – heard,” he will say.
He declares that Republicans “have a lot to do this Congress.”
He ticked off border security, extending the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, deregulation, border security and defense spending as items atop the GOP agenda.
He also pledges to restore order to the dysfunctional congressional appropriations process, which remains in a state of limbo after Congress passed a stopgap government funding measure lasting until March 14.
Thune said he wants to bring appropriations bills “to the floor for serious deliberation, so that we make the best possible use of taxpayer dollars.”
He also calls for action on “an overdue farm bill to update farm programs for famers and ranchers to reflect current agricultural needs.”
“The list goes on,” he will say.
