Rushmore State News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) marked the 200th day of the Republican majority in the Senate and six months since President Donald Trump took office by outlining legislative accomplishments achieved under their leadership.

In remarks delivered on the Senate floor, Thune detailed several bills that have been enacted or are moving forward. “We got started by sending the Laken Riley Act to President Trump’s desk during his first week in office to keep criminal illegal immigrants off our streets,” he said.

Thune also noted that President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act last week, which permanently classifies fentanyl analogues as deadly drugs. On Friday, Trump signed the GENIUS Act, a bill intended to bring digital assets into mainstream use and secure U.S. leadership in financial innovation.

The Senate has also passed its first rescissions package in three decades, which is awaiting the president’s signature. According to Thune, “We’ve passed measures to end 16 burdensome Biden-era regulations.” He highlighted other legislative efforts such as the TAKE IT DOWN Act to address nonconsensual sharing of explicit images online and a tax relief bill signed into law on July 4th.

Looking ahead, Thune referenced additional legislation being considered, including the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 reported out by the Armed Services Committee and four bipartisan appropriations bills from the Appropriations Committee.

“I said last year that I was committed to bringing appropriations bills to the floor through regular order. And we are in the process of doing exactly that,” Thune stated.

He addressed potential challenges with Democratic cooperation: “Of course, any regular-order consideration of appropriation bills is going to require cooperation from Democrats. And this week we’ll get a glimpse of where Democrats are on this issue.”

Thune criticized Democratic opposition regarding budget cuts and government funding negotiations: “It was deeply disappointing to hear the Democrat leader threaten to shut down the government if Republicans dared to pass legislation to trim just one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget.”

On nominations, Thune reported progress in confirming presidential appointees but pointed out delays caused by Democrats: “We started out the year by confirming 21 of the president’s Cabinet nominees at the fastest pace in more than two decades... We have now confirmed 96 civilian nominees, far outpacing where the Senate was at this point in the first Trump administration.”

He added: “And Democrats are using this strategy even on noncontroversial nominees. Almost a quarter of the nominees whose confirmation process Democrats have dragged out actually got more than 60 votes here on the Senate floor.”

Thune concluded his remarks emphasizing Republican intentions: “Democrats can continue to drag this process out. But Republicans are going to get these nominees confirmed.”