Rushmore State News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) addressed the Senate, focusing on efforts by Republicans to address what they describe as wasteful federal spending. Thune referenced a recent proposal from the Trump administration that seeks to cut approximately $9 billion in spending, particularly targeting certain foreign aid programs.

Thune stated, “Mr. President, since day one, the Trump administration has been focused on identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Something on which I believe the American people agree with him.”

He noted that Congress would soon consider legislation based on this rescissions package. “And last month, the administration submitted a rescissions package to Congress that would cut somewhere around $9 billion in wasteful spending, with a focus on woke and wasteful foreign aid dollars. And we’re going to consider that commonsense legislation this week,” Thune said.

Thune criticized Democratic lawmakers for their response to the proposed cuts: “I’d love to report that I expect strong support from senators from both parties. But, incredibly, Democrats are melting down at the prospect of even the most minor cuts to federal spending.” He pointed out that the proposed reductions represent only a small fraction of overall federal expenditures: “You’d think we were proposing to defund the entire government from the way they’re talking, instead of proposing cuts amounting to approximately one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget.”

He compared current proposals with actions taken during previous administrations: “Back in the day, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed into law a rescissions package that was 10 times larger as a percentage of total government spending. Yet today’s Democrats can’t bring themselves to even contemplate cutting just one one-thousandth of the federal budget.”

Thune listed several examples of what he described as questionable uses of taxpayer funds overseas and through various programs: “We’re not talking about making difficult decisions about essential federal programs or gutting foreign aid. We’re talking about modest cuts to funding that has been used for things like promoting vegan food in Zambia. Funding a pride parade in Lesotho. Teaching children how to make environmentally friendly, quote, ‘reproductive health’ decisions. Making aid more considerate of, and I quote, ‘sexual orientation and gender identity.’ Funding a ‘One Health Workforce’ curriculum, which includes material on, quote, ‘environmental racism’ and the importance of DEI.”

He continued: “Thankfully, the Trump administration has stopped these ridiculous wastes of taxpayer money. Now it’s time for those of us in Congress to do our part and make sure that the budget reflects these commonsense moves – something that every member of this body should be able to agree on.”

Addressing broader fiscal concerns following pandemic-era increases in government expenditure under President Biden’s administration, Thune said: “Mr. President, the United States is facing serious budget issues. We saw an incredible growth in spending under the Biden administration, which took what should have been a temporary elevation in spending under COVID and essentially made that the government’s new baseline – permanent spending.” He added: “In 2024, federal spending was a staggering 54 percent higher than 2019.”

Thune concluded by urging bipartisan support for reducing what he called egregious misuses of taxpayer dollars: “My Democrat colleagues may not want to acknowledge it, but we have a serious spending problem in this country... And the very least we can do in response is to target some of the egregious misuses of taxpayer dollars that we are addressing today in this bill.” Referring specifically to statements by Democratic leadership regarding efforts against wasteful government practices he said: “‘If they really support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse,’ they can join Republicans and pass this legislation.”