John Thune · TranslatePolitics.com

Senate

Recognizing the 100th Anniversary of Northwest Mississippi Community College

2026-08-05

“I want the resolution to pass. No debate.”

“I want the Senate to consider a resolution. The clerk will read the title of the resolution.”

Senate

Farm Bill

2026-08-05

“I want this farm bill to pass. It will spend money on many programs. I am happy about the Spending Families Tax Cuts. Farmers and ranchers are important. This bill will change many programs. I have many bills that I want to pass. The farm bill will spend money on many things. I am excited about the E15 change. This is good news for farmers and for us all. I want to help farmers and ranchers. They know I will do that.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, America's farmers and ranchers got some good news at the end of last week. After a lot of hard work from members of the Agriculture Committee, Chairman Boozman released the text of a 5-year farm bill, which is slated for a markup tomorrow, and it will, I hope, be headed soon to the floor. As someone who hails from an ag State who has been part of the drafting of now five farm bills, I know how important the farm bill is and how much work goes into getting it right. As I made clear at the start of this Congress, America's farmers and ranchers are a priority for this Senate majority. That started last year with the Working Families Tax Cuts, which strengthened the farm safety net, bolstered critical farm programs, and delivered tax relief to America's agriculture producers, including relief from the unfair death tax and making the 199A deduction permanent. It continues this year with this farm bill, which builds on the important measures in the Working Families Tax Cuts in order to give farmers and ranchers certainty into the future. After the Working Families Tax Cuts raised reference prices last year, this farm bill makes further improvements to commodity programs as well as crop insurance--cornerstones of the farm safety net. It modernizes farm loan programs to get America's next generation of farmers and ranchers off to a strong start, and it strengthens other programs that producers depend on. It improves the Emergency Assistance for Livestock Program, so it covers the cost of hauling feed or water and opens the program to producers dealing with drought or other adverse weather conditions. It includes my CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act, which will make the Conservation Reserve Program a more working lands-oriented option for producers. CRP plays a very significant role in South Dakota's economy by helping to provide habitat for pheasants, but producers in my State have been frustrated for years with how the program is managed--in particular by the fact that its restrictions on land use can be excessive. That is why I introduced the CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act. My bill allows grazing options, including fencing and water distribution, on all CRP acres. On top of that, it increases the annual CRP payment limits for the first time in the program's 40-year history. This bill will make CRP an attractive option for more producers and open up access for livestock forage in drought conditions. The farm bill also includes a number of bills I have worked on that make it easier for producers to do business and get their products to market. It includes a bill that I worked on with Senators Grassley, Klobuchar, and Baldwin that establishes reporting requirements on fertilizer prices, which will bring more transparency to the fertilizer marketplace by helping producers to make more informed and cost- effective choices for their operations. Another bill of my mine, the Promoting Precision Agriculture Act, will facilitate the creation of industry-led, voluntary standards for precision ag technology that will help more farmers adopt this promising tool. My Strengthening Local Processing Act gives smaller processors access to critical information and allows more meat products approved by a State inspector to be sold across State lines. The farm bill is about more than just what happens on a farm or a ranch; it also supports America's rural communities. That includes water infrastructure, rural development, and healthcare, among other critical services. It also includes our continued effort to provide broadband in unserved communities, and I am pleased that this bill will help ensure that broadband dollars are going to communities that need it in places where 90 percent or more of the residents lack access to basic internet services. There is a lot more I could talk about with this bill--a lot more. This is a bill that will provide real support and certainty for America's farmers and ranchers. That is good news for all Americans who depend on our hard-working producers for food, fuel, and fiber. Fuel is the final thing I want to discuss this morning. For decades, the seasonal sale of E15 has been a win-win for America's farmers and for the American people. It has strengthened the agriculture economy while providing the American people with an affordable source of homegrown energy. For many years, it has been a priority for me and for many of my colleagues here to allow E15 to be sold all year. It has taken a lot of work to get here, but I am very proud that this farm bill delivers permanent--permanent--year-round E15. This is something that is going to further help producers and help bring down fuel costs for all Americans. I want to thank Chairman Boozman as well as Senators Daines, Capito, and Fischer for all of their hard work on this issue. I am looking forward to getting it across the finish line. I spend a lot of time with farmers and ranchers back home in South Dakota, and they have talked to me about the uncertainty and the headwinds they face. I have listened to their priorities and made them my own. As I said, America's farmers and ranchers are a priority for this Senate majority, and with the Working Families Tax Cuts and now this farm bill, we are making real progress on the challenges facing our producers. But, of course, our work is never finished. There will be more to do in the future to support and strengthen American agriculture, and America's producers can be confident that their needs will always be at the top of my list. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Senate

Adjournment Until 10:30 A.M. Tomorrow

2026-08-04

“I want the Senate to end for today. Let's meet again tomorrow at 10:30 in the morning.”

Senate

Orders for Wednesday, August 5, 2026

2026-08-04

“I want the Senate to meet on Wednesday. Senators should talk about a spending bill. Senators should vote on a nominee. If we confirm a nominee the President should know.”

Official Congressional Record

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, postcloture, upon conclusion of leader remarks; further, if cloture is invoked on the Schwartz nomination, the Senate vote on confirmation of the nomination at 2:15 p.m.; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Wednesday's session of the Senate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

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Senate

Unanimous Consent Agreement--S.j. Res. 187

2026-08-04

“I want someone else to be able to call a vote tomorrow.”

Senate

National Plan for Epilepsy Act

2026-08-04

“I want this epilepsy bill to pass without more debate. I don't want to talk about it more.”

Senate

Recognizing the 80th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program

2026-08-04

“I want this resolution to pass with no debate.”

Senate

AGOA EXTENSION ACT--Motion to Proceed

2026-08-04

“I want to talk about how our government is spending your money. I want to talk about the Working Families Tax Cuts. Our government made some taxes lower. Our government made some taxes stay lower forever. We made some taxes go away. We made some taxes stay away forever. We want you to have money. We want you to spend money on your family. Our government wants to help you save money for your children. We want our government to spend money on children. Our government wants to spend money on old people. We want our government to spend more money on education. Our government wants to help workers. Some workers got some money back. Our government wants to help more workers. Our government wants to spend more money.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, a week or 2 ago, I came down to the floor and talked about growing up in a small town in South Dakota. As I said in those remarks, I carry those South Dakotans with me in a special way in my work here in Washington. When I consider bills or look at regulations, I think about what kind of impact they will have on those Americans, on hard-working people without a lot of extra money in the budget, on people living paycheck to paycheck or, as was the case with some of the farmers I grew up with, harvest to harvest. I think about how to ensure that government isn't standing in their way or taking up all the extra money in their budget. And it was hard-working Americans like the South Dakotans I grew up with who were at the top of my mind when Republicans drafted our landmark tax relief legislation back in 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut tax rates across the board, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. It put more money in hard- working Americans' pockets, money that they were able to use for their particular needs--from childcare to home repairs, to medical bills, to a family vacation. And those same hard-working Americans were our focus last year when we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts. Our first aim with the Working Families Tax Cuts was making the 2017 tax relief permanent, and that is exactly what we did. We made the lower tax rates permanent. We made the increased child tax credit permanent. And we made the increased standard deduction permanent. But that was just the beginning. We weren't content with a permanent extension of the 2017 tax relief. We wanted to do more for working families, and so that is what we did. As I said, our 2017 tax relief bill doubled the child tax credit. Well, the Working Families Tax Cuts not only made that permanent; it increased the child tax credit even further and then indexed it to inflation so its value will never go down. I said the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction. Well, the Working Families Tax Cuts boosted the standard deduction even further. And we didn't stop there. We instituted two big new tax relief measures: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. That meant major new tax relief for a whole host of working Americans--waiters, delivery people, bartenders, Uber and Lyft drivers, nurses, factory workers, paramedics, police officers, and many others. And that still isn't all. We instituted a new $6,000 bonus deduction for seniors, and we created new tax-advantaged investment accounts to help parents save for their children's future, starting with an initial $1,000 investment from the Federal Government for babies born between 2025 and 2028. And that is far from the only thing we did to help the next generation get a headstart on their American dream. The Working Families Tax Cuts also made some significant improvements to the traditional 529 education savings plan, allowing those savings to be used for a greater variety of education-related expenses, like tutoring or home school materials and vocational and continuing education. On the higher education side, we implemented accountability and reforms and put downward pressure on the cost of college degrees. We also made permanent a policy I authored that allows employers to pay off a portion of their employees' student loans, without the employee having to pay taxes on the repayment amount. And on top of all that, we created the Workforce Pell Program, which will provide financial assistance to Americans in shorter term skills and career training programs, whether they are just starting out or looking to switch careers or develop new skills in their current field. This tax season, more than 35 million seniors claimed the new bonus deduction for older Americans. More than 29 million American workers were able to deduct overtime pay from their taxes, resulting in substantial tax savings. And more than 7.5 million workers deducted their tips on their taxes, ensuring they were able to keep more of their hard-earned money. And that is not to even mention the countless hard-working Americans who were able to take advantage of the increased standard deduction and the enhanced child tax credit. Tax refunds were up this season, and it is no surprise. It is the Working Families Tax Cuts at work. I may live in Sioux Falls now, which is one of South Dakota's bigger cities, but I spent a lot of time in smalltown South Dakota. And whenever I am there, I am proud to be able to share the details of the Working Families Tax Cuts and report that Republicans are delivering for working families. And we are going to continue to build on the Working Families Tax Cuts to expand opportunity and make life more affordable for hard- working Americans. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Senate

Trump Administration

2026-08-03

“I am bragging about how many nominees we confirmed. We confirmed a lot of people. We did better than other presidents. Democrats made it hard. They were partisan. We still did it. We did a lot. We will keep doing it.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, this week, we will move our fifth block of civilian nominees, which includes 74 well-qualified individuals. By the end of the week, we will have cleared 95 percent of the civilian nominees who are eligible for floor consideration--95 percent. At this same point in President Trump's first term, there were 155 unconfirmed nominees on the calendar. This year, that number is on track to be about 10. It is the best confirmation track record in a quarter century. As I said, we will have confirmed 95 percent of the civilian nominees available for confirmation, meaning that we are doing better at this point than we were during President Obama's first term, President Trump's first term, or President Biden's. It didn't always look like we would be able to achieve this. From the very beginning of his second term, Democrats met President Trump's nominees with a historic level of obstruction. And when I say historic, I do mean historic. Up until extremely recently, President Trump was the only President on record--the only President on record--not to have had any civilian nominees approved by unanimous consent or voice vote. That used to be the standard way of approving these nominations. During President George H. W. Bush's 4 years in office and President Clinton's first 4 years, both Presidents had 98 percent of their civilian nominees--98 percent--confirmed through unanimous consent or voice vote. President George W. Bush and President Obama both had 90 percent. And then we get to President Trump's first administration. Democrats introduced an unprecedented new level of partisanship into the historically bipartisan confirmation process, forcing time-consuming votes on civilian nominees who would once have gone by unanimous consent or by voice vote. But despite this--despite this new level of partisanship--both President Trump in his first term and President Biden had more than half of their nominees confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote. And then we get to President Trump's current administration. As I said, until recently, he had not had one single nominee confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote--zero. So the fact that we are standing here today with a civilian nominations calendar about to be essentially cleared is pretty impressive. But we have been on a mission to ensure that the President has his nominees in place so that he can do the job the American people elected him to do. That included taking action to restore the Senate tradition of en bloc confirmation of largely noncontroversial nominees. And, most of all, it included putting in the work--lots of work in committees, lots of work on the floor, and lots of votes--lots and lots of votes. That has paid off. We have confirmed 52 article III judges, 91 percent of the U.S. attorneys that have made it out of committee this Congress, 23 Cabinet members, and the list goes on. And we are going to continue to ensure that nominees are confirmed in a timely fashion and that the President is able to have his team in place. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Senate

Government Funding

2026-08-03

“I want this bill to pass. It spends money. People from both parties like to spend money. I want to thank the people who wrote the bill for spending money.”

Senate

Adjournment Until Monday, August 3, 2026, at 3 P.M.

2026-07-30

“I want the Senate to take a break until Monday, August 3, 2026, at 3 p.m. I don't think there is any more business for the Senate to do today.”

Senate

Orders for Monday, August 3, 2026

2026-07-30

“I want the Senate to adjourn until Monday. On Monday the Senate will open at 3pm. At 5:30pm the Senate will vote on a motion to proceed to a House bill. The rest is procedural details.”

Senate

Tribute to Jayden Bender

2026-07-30

“I want to talk about someone who has helped my office. Jayden Bender is her name. She is from South Dakota. She goes to college in South Dakota. She works hard and wants to learn a lot. I appreciate her help. I hope she does well.”

Senate

Executive Calendar

2026-07-30

“I want the Senate to quickly confirm a large group of Foreign Service nominations all at once, without debate or reconsideration. Then the White House will be told right away, and the Senate can get back to passing bills.”

Senate

EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Executive Session)

2026-07-30

“I want the Senate to quickly approve a long list of military appointments and promotions we are considering today. Let's confirm them all at once, without a lot of arguing or taking time for individual votes.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 878 through 880, Calendar Nos. 882 through 892, Calendar Nos. 894 through 898, Calendar No. 881, with the exception of Stephen P. Snelson; and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, with the exception of PN970-2 and PN1151, Omar Vargas; Army, with the exception of PN1015-2, Mark R. Berube and Mandi A. Samples; PN1017-2, Joel A. Arends and Michael D. Thompson; PN1061-2, Theresa M. Long; PN1065-2, Samuel A. Smith; PN1072-2, Philip T. Buckler; PN1104, Austin D. Roberts and John A. Goodwin; PN1105, Justin M. Smith; Navy, with the exception of PN835-2, PN925, PN990-2, Robert J. Moreno and Joshua Q. McCright; PN1029-2, Kelly Cruz; and Space Force; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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Senate

Resolutions Submitted Today

2026-07-30

“I want the Senate to quickly pass these resolutions without objection.”

Senate

Appropriations (Executive Session)

2026-07-30

“I want to avoid a government shutdown. Shutdowns are bad. They hurt many things. I want a bill to fund the government until the election. I hope many people will vote for it. Funding the government is our job. We should do our job.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, next week, our top priority will be funding the government until the November election. The American people have faced two--two--recordbreaking government shutdowns in the past 10 months. We need to ensure that they do not face a third. We owe the American people some certainty here. They should not have to be hoping and praying that on September 30, the government will get funded and that government services will continue. I don't think I need to tell anybody in this body that government shutdowns serve no one--not Members of either party and, most of all, not the American people. Shutdowns strain our national security agencies. They threaten military, law enforcement, and civilian pay. They endanger nutrition benefits, farm programs, and a whole lot of other stuff. They are bad for our economy, and they snarl air travel. I could go on. Shutdowns hit our country--they hit the American people--hard, and we owe it to the American people to ensure that they do not face another shutdown this fall. That is why Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Collins has been hard at work drafting a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through the November elections. I appreciate everything she has done to make this happen--engaging with Members of both parties and working through the necessary anomalies from the Office of Management and Budget--and I intend to bring the CR to the floor for a vote next week. Again, I would emphasize that the appropriators are working in good faith to produce a clean, bipartisan product that is free of poison pills, and I hope that will ensure a robust bipartisan vote next week so that the American people don't have to spend the next 2 months wondering if the Senate is going to do its job, because that is what this is--our job. Funding the government is our most basic responsibility as Members of Congress, and we owe it to the American people to get that job done and done now. I urge all of my colleagues to support the clean, bipartisan continuing resolution and get our government funded. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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Senate

Tribute to Ava Powell

2026-07-29

“Ava Powell worked in my office. Ava was a good intern. My office was better because of her work. I want to say thank you to Ava.”

Senate

Recognizing the 125th Anniversary of Peever, South Dakota

2026-07-29

“I want the town of Peever, South Dakota to get recognition from the government. They are having a celebration soon. They have overcome many obstacles. I want to congratulate them.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, today I recognize Peever, SD. The town of Peever will be celebrating its quasquicentennial on August 8, 2026. Peever will host anniversary events, including a parade, an antique tractor-pull, live music, and much more. Peever is located in Roberts County and is nestled at the edge of the beautiful Coteau Hills in the northeastern corner of South Dakota. The town of Peever is named after settler Thomas Henry Peever, an entrepreneur who cultivated the community's growth through railroad development and early commerce. As part of the Lake Traverse Reservation, the area is deeply tied to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and holds valued Tribal history. Despite a devasting fire, floods, and droughts, this community has continued to be a true testament to the resilience and tenacity seen across South Dakota. Home to more than 180 South Dakotans, Peever is known for its rich agricultural and Native American heritage. Since Peever's beginning 125 years ago, the community continues to exemplify South Dakota's strong values, emboldened traditions, and enduring spirit. I offer my congratulations to the citizens of Peever on their town's quasquicentennial and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.

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