Northeast South Dakota News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow to discuss several legislative and political topics currently before the Senate.

Addressing recent changes to nominations rules, Thune commented on actions taken by Democrats in the chamber. “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 necessary to fix the problem,” Thune said.

Thune also provided an update on Stephen Miran’s confirmation process for a federal post. He stated, “We’re set up to vote on him on Monday. It’s two votes. There’s a cloture vote and then a subsequent confirmation vote, but hopefully we’ll have him across the floor of the Senate on Monday. He’ll be ready to go.”

Reflecting on Charlie Kirk’s influence among young Americans, Thune said: “[H]e inspired a generation of Americans, Larry, to get involved in public discourse in a way that … I think part of it was that he had strength of conviction, which I think people find attractive. He inspired … young people to serve causes greater than themselves. And I think a lot of young people today are looking for that kind of motivation. And obviously he had a passion for it, for sharing it. There was a spirituality about it that I think … people today find infectious and attractive.”

Thune discussed legislative efforts tied into what he called the One Big Beautiful Bill and its potential impact: “It will be very good for the economy. It addressed all the major agenda items on the president’s agenda, including border security, national security, energy, obviously, tax relief for working families and for businesses, and then spending reductions that we haven’t seen literally in … at least a couple of decades. This is the first serious entitlement reform done in the time that I’ve been in office. So it achieved a lot of things that I think many of us who are conservatives in Congress have been trying to achieve for a long time, and it took the president to help push it across the finish line.”