Category: Federal Legislator — U.S. Senator, Senate Majority Leader Role: U.S. Senator from South Dakota (2005–present); Senate Majority Leader (January 2025–present) Priority: P2

Who Is John Thune?

John Randolph Thune (born January 7, 1961, Pierre, South Dakota) is a Republican U.S. Senator from South Dakota, serving since 2005. He became Senate Majority Leader in January 2025 after Mitch McConnell stepped down from leadership. He previously served as Senate Republican Whip and Senate Republican Conference Chair. He is a graduate of Biola University and the University of South Dakota School of Business.

Documented Actions: 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill

Vote on H.R. 1: YEA (Senate roll call vote 163, July 1, 2025).

Role as Majority Leader

As Majority Leader, Thune managed the Senate floor process for H.R. 1, including the use of budget reconciliation rules to enable simple-majority passage. He set the parliamentary timeline that brought the bill to a vote on July 1, 2025.

July 30, 2025 — Senate floor speech celebrating passage

Thune characterized H.R. 1 as delivering:

“$1.5 trillion in Byrd-compliant savings to trim waste, fraud, and abuse.”

His July 30 floor remarks did not acknowledge that the savings included $186.65 billion in SNAP cuts (CBO score) or that CBO had projected approximately 2.4 million people in a typical month would lose SNAP eligibility under the bill’s expanded work requirements.

Source: thune.senate.gov, “Thune: The One Big Beautiful Bill Makes Life Better for Hardworking Americans,” July 30, 2025. https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/thune-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-makes-life-better-for-hardworking-americans

October 29, 2025 — Blocked SNAP-only funding during shutdown

During the October–November 2025 government shutdown — which coincided with SNAP benefits beginning to lapse — Thune blocked a Democratic unanimous consent request to separately fund SNAP, arguing that SNAP should only be restored as part of a broader deal to reopen the government. On the floor he said:

“SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food. People should be getting paid in this country. And we’ve tried to do that 13 times and you voted no 13 times.”

Source: ABC News, “With SNAP benefits set to halt, Thune says he can’t clarify Trump’s plan to fund program,” October 29, 2025.

Why the framing was misleading

The “waste, fraud, and abuse” framing is consistent with the broader Republican messaging on the bill, but it is contradicted by CBO’s pre-passage analysis, which explicitly modeled the SNAP cuts as falling on eligible recipients who would lose benefits through expanded work requirements, narrowed exemptions, and the state cost-share — not on improper payments. The post-implementation USDA data (May 8, 2026) confirmed that 4.3 million fewer Americans were receiving SNAP one year after enactment.

Post-implementation data

• USDA FNS (May 8, 2026): 4.3 million fewer Americans receiving SNAP year-over-year — a 10.2% nationwide decline. https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-persons-5.pdf
• ProPublica (June 17, 2026): 776,000+ children lost SNAP across 12 states. https://www.propublica.org/article/snap-benefits-children-food-stamps
• CBPP “SNAP Tracker” (May 18, 2026): 3.5+ million people lost SNAP between July 2025 and February 2026. https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-tracker-people-are-losing-food-assistance-as-the-republican-megabill
• Penn Leonard Davis Institute, July 2, 2025: Estimated 93,000 premature deaths from the SNAP and Medicaid provisions — research memo published two days before Thune voted for final passage.
• Center for American Progress (March 19, 2026): Estimated 70,000 avoidable deaths nationally by 2040 from the SNAP cuts. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/snap-cuts-could-lead-to-70000-avoidable-deaths/

South Dakota constituent impact

South Dakota’s SNAP participation declined following implementation. South Dakota’s farmers market and small-farm sector lost customer base as SNAP rolls contracted. Tribal communities in South Dakota — many with high SNAP participation rates — experienced acute food-insecurity increases.

Senate Majority Leader: Broader Record (January 2025–Present)

This section documents Thune’s totality of activity as Senate Majority Leader across the substantive areas in which the 119th Congress has acted. It is organized by legislative area, not chronology. All actions described are exercises of constitutionally and procedurally available majority-leader authority; this section is a factual record, not a normative judgment.

Leadership election and transition (November 2024 – January 3, 2025)

Senate Republicans elected Thune as Majority Leader on November 13, 2024, defeating John Cornyn 29–24 on the second ballot after Rick Scott was eliminated on the first. The vote ended Mitch McConnell’s record 18-year run as Senate Republican leader. In his first floor remarks as Majority Leader on January 3, 2025, Thune set three procedural commitments: (1) preserve the legislative filibuster, (2) restore an open-amendment process, and (3) keep the Senate distinct from the House. He framed his agenda around four substantive priorities he attributed to the incoming Trump administration: immigration enforcement, lower consumer prices, expanded domestic energy production, and permanence of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Parliamentary procedure and Senate rules

The September 11, 2025 “nuclear option” — en-bloc executive-branch confirmations

On September 11, 2025, Thune triggered the “nuclear option” to establish, by a party-line 53–45 vote, a new precedent allowing the Senate to confirm an unlimited number of sub-Cabinet executive-branch nominees in a single en-bloc cloture and confirmation vote. The change does not apply to Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, or Supreme Court Justices, who remain subject to individual votes.

Thune justified the change as necessary to clear a backlog of nearly 150 Trump nominees and pointed to the unprecedented Democratic refusal to confirm any of Trump’s second-term civilian nominees by voice vote or unanimous consent. In the weeks after the change, the Senate confirmed 48 nominees in a single bloc — including Kimberly Guilfoyle (Ambassador to Greece) and Callista Gingrich (Ambassador to Switzerland). By later 2025, more than 301 of Trump’s confirmed civilian nominees had moved en bloc, accounting for more than 60% of the Trump-era confirmations to that point.

The 2025 precedent is functionally analogous to the 2013 (Reid) and 2017 (McConnell) nuclear-option changes that lowered cloture thresholds for nominees, but is broader in scope because it consolidates multiple nominees into a single vote rather than reducing the vote threshold.

Defense of the legislative filibuster

Thune has publicly and repeatedly declined to break the 60-vote legislative filibuster, including in the face of direct pressure from President Trump on the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act,” a Republican election-administration bill. In February 2026 he told reporters there were “not even close to the votes, not even close, to nuking the filibuster,” and rejected suggestions to convert the rule into a “talking filibuster” for SAVE Act passage. He has tied this position to his November 2024 leadership-campaign pledge to protect the rule.

Congressional Review Act expansion via majority-leader points of order

Thune used the Majority Leader’s recognition and point-of-order authority to expand the CRA’s reach. Republican members referred six Biden-era Bureau of Land Management resource management plans to the Government Accountability Office, which determined the plans were “rules” subject to CRA disapproval. Thune then raised a point of order treating GAO-classified actions as entitled to CRA expedited procedures, and the Senate sustained the ruling. All six BLM plans were subsequently disapproved and signed into law, alongside other CRA resolutions on energy, appliance standards, and environmental regulation.

By December 11, 2025, President Trump had signed 22 joint resolutions of disapproval under the CRA during his second term — the second-most active CRA period in history, behind only Trump’s own first term. Independent commentary (The Regulatory Review, February 2026) characterized the 2025 use as an “expansive interpretation” of CRA scope; defenders frame it as restoring intended congressional oversight.

California EV waiver — defying the parliamentarian

In May 2025, Thune moved CRA resolutions overturning EPA Clean Air Act preemption waivers that had allowed California to set vehicle-emission standards effectively functioning as a nationwide electric-vehicle mandate. The Senate parliamentarian had advised that the waivers were not “rules” subject to CRA disapproval; Thune scheduled the votes anyway, and the resolutions passed. This was procedurally significant because it set a precedent for the Majority Leader to override the parliamentarian’s CRA-scope guidance without formally voting to overturn her.

Executive-branch confirmations

Thune managed the floor process for the entirety of the second Trump Cabinet, including the four most contested nominees:

• Pete Hegseth (Defense Secretary) — confirmed January 24, 2025, by 51–50 (VP Vance breaking the tie) over allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and charity mismanagement. Thune privately assured Trump that the votes were present before the final motion.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Health and Human Services Secretary) — confirmed despite his record of vaccine skepticism, after Senator Bill Cassidy publicly negotiated commitments on CDC vaccine-safety language.
• Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) — confirmed after Senator Susan Collins supported her despite reservations about her past statements on Edward Snowden and Section 702 of FISA.
• Kash Patel (FBI Director) — confirmed with no significant Republican defection despite his stated “enemies list” rhetoric.

Thune publicly stated that he would not delay any of the four nominations for additional vetting, and committed to Trump that he would deliver the votes.

As of late 2025, Thune had moved more than 400 Trump nominees to confirmation. Trump is the first president on record without a single civilian nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent during his term; the entire confirmation calendar has therefore run through Thune’s floor management.

Judicial confirmations

Thune restarted the judicial confirmation pipeline in July 2025 with Whitney Hermandorfer’s confirmation to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals — the first Trump second-term judicial confirmation. Working with Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, Thune had moved approximately 43 federal judicial confirmations by June 13, 2026. Unlike sub-Cabinet nominees, judges are excluded from the September 2025 en-bloc rule and remain on the individual-vote track; Thune has publicly contemplated, but not initiated, a further rules change to address what he characterizes as Democratic “obstruction” of judicial nominees.

Tax cuts and the TCJA permanence (H.R. 1 — tax side)

A primary driver of H.R. 1’s spending-cut targets was Thune’s stated priority of making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act individual and corporate provisions permanent. The Senate adopted a budget resolution on April 5, 2025, carving out $1.5 trillion for tax changes against a “current policy” baseline. Permanence within Senate reconciliation requires offsetting savings under the Byrd Rule’s long-term deficit-neutrality requirements — a procedural fact Thune publicly cited as the structural reason for the bill’s Medicaid and SNAP cuts. The bill’s main tax additions beyond TCJA permanence were Trump’s campaign promises: exemption of qualified tip income (up to $25,000/year) and qualified overtime income from federal income tax.

Medicaid cuts and OBBBA health provisions

H.R. 1’s Medicaid provisions were substantially deeper than the House-passed version. Multiple Senate Republicans, including Senator Josh Hawley, publicly stated they had been “blindsided” by the Senate draft’s Medicaid cuts. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that several House-passed Medicaid provisions did not meet the Byrd Rule and could not pass on reconciliation; Thune publicly committed not to overrule the parliamentarian — a procedural restraint he later did not extend to the EPA waiver/CRA dispute. Senators Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, and Susan Collins voted against final passage on July 1, 2025; the bill passed 51–50 with Vice President Vance breaking the tie.

Government shutdown (October 1 – November 12, 2025)

The 43-day federal shutdown was the longest in U.S. history. Thune’s negotiating posture, sustained throughout, was that Democrats must vote for a “clean” House-passed continuing resolution before any negotiations on the expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. Democrats demanded that the ACA credit extension be attached to any CR.

Throughout the shutdown, Thune branded the impasse the “Schumer Shutdown” in daily floor statements and press releases, and forced 13 cloture votes on the House CR — all blocked by Democrats. He blocked the Democratic SNAP-only unanimous-consent request on October 29, 2025 (documented above). He surprised Democrats by moving the FY2026 defense appropriations bill during the shutdown, daring them to vote against defense funding. The shutdown ended November 12, 2025, when eight Democrats — led by Angus King, Jeanne Shaheen, and Maggie Hassan — joined the Republican majority for a deal that included: (1) a guaranteed Senate vote on an ACA credits bill by mid-December, (2) reversal of shutdown-period RIF/layoff notices issued by the Trump administration, and (3) a continuing resolution through January 2026.

Tariffs and Trump emergency powers

Thune managed Senate floor votes on multiple Democratic-led resolutions seeking to terminate Trump’s invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as the basis for his global tariffs.

• April–May 2025: Thune moved to table a Democratic resolution disapproving Trump’s reciprocal and 10% baseline tariffs. The vote tied 49–49 (three Republicans crossed; two absent); Vice President Vance broke the tie 50–49, killing the resolution. Thune characterized the vote as “symbolic” and asked colleagues to give the administration “space.”
• October 30, 2025: In a single week, the GOP-led Senate passed three separate Democratic-led disapproval resolutions targeting Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Brazil, and the global 10% baseline. The global-tariff resolution passed 51–47. Four Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul) joined Democrats. Thune voted to sustain the tariffs in each instance. The resolutions had no force of law because the House did not act and Trump would have vetoed them, but the votes were a rare bipartisan Senate rebuke of a sitting Republican president on his signature economic policy.

DOGE rescission package (July 2025)

The Trump White House submitted a $9.4 billion rescission package under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 — a procedural pathway that bypasses the legislative filibuster on a simple-majority vote within a 45-day window. The package codified portions of the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to USAID, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and other foreign-assistance programs.

Thune managed the Senate floor process. To secure 50 votes amid Republican resistance, Thune stripped roughly $400 million in cuts to Gavi (the vaccine alliance) from the package after negotiations with moderate Republicans. The Senate passed the modified package overnight on July 16–17, 2025; three Republicans (Collins, Murkowski, McConnell) voted against. The House cleared the package on July 18, 2025, and Trump signed it.

Immigration enforcement

Laken Riley Act (January 2025)

The Laken Riley Act, requiring federal detention without bond of non-citizens arrested for or charged with theft, burglary, assault on law enforcement, or crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury, was the first bill passed by the 119th Congress and the first Trump signed into law (January 29, 2025). The Senate passed it 64–35 on January 20, 2025, with 12 Democrats joining all Republicans. Thune managed the floor process and accelerated the bill to Trump’s desk within a week of inauguration.

$70 billion ICE and Border Patrol reconciliation package (April–June 2026)

Thune managed a second reconciliation bill in spring 2026 funding ICE and Border Patrol at approximately $70 billion through the end of the Trump administration. The bill passed 52–47 in April 2026 with one Republican defection (Lisa Murkowski). Throughout the process, Thune publicly insisted on keeping the bill narrowly focused on enforcement funding, and pushed back on members seeking to add a permanent ban on the Department of Justice’s “anti-weaponization” fund (created by a Trump-IRS legal settlement). His stated rationale: “We are here today only because Democrats refused to appropriate a single dollar for our border and immigration law enforcement.”

National Defense Authorization Act — FY2026

The Senate passed the FY2026 NDAA 77–20 in September 2025, authorizing approximately $901 billion in defense spending — about $8 billion above the Trump administration’s request. The bill included a nearly 4% military pay increase, improved military housing, $400 million in Ukraine assistance over two years, and a restriction on U.S. investment in Chinese entities. Thune characterized the bill as containing “the most significant reforms to the way the Pentagon does business in a generation.” During the October–November 2025 shutdown, Thune separately moved the FY2026 defense appropriations bill to the floor and forced Democratic votes on it as a shutdown-pressure mechanism.

Ukraine, Russia, and foreign policy

Thune entered the Majority Leader role with a hawkish historical record on Ukraine, having repeatedly voted for Ukraine military assistance during the Biden administration. As Majority Leader, however, he has consistently subordinated Senate Ukraine-and-Russia floor action to Trump administration timing. The Graham–Blumenthal Russia sanctions bill, with 80 Senate cosponsors, has remained off the calendar at Trump’s request after the President spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Thune has publicly maintained that “if Russia is not willing to engage in serious diplomacy, the Senate will work with the Trump administration to consider additional sanctions,” while not bringing the bill to a vote. He has stated personal support for arming Ukraine, but has aligned floor scheduling with the administration.

Energy and environment — CRA resolutions

Beyond the California EV waivers (above), Thune scheduled and passed CRA disapprovals of additional Biden-era rules including Department of Energy appliance efficiency standards, EPA “major source” air-toxics rules, and the six BLM resource management plans. The Regulatory Review’s February 2026 analysis describes the 2025 CRA campaign as the broadest in CRA history both in volume and scope (extending past traditional “rules” to encompass classification opinions and resource plans).

Israel arms-sales votes

Thune voted to defeat each of the Sanders-introduced Senate resolutions seeking to block U.S. arms sales to Israel. The July 2025 vote on assault rifles drew 27 Democratic votes against the sale — the first time a majority of Senate Democrats voted to block any U.S. arms transfer to Israel. The April 2026 vote on military bulldozers failed 40–59, with seven Democrats joining Republicans to allow the sale.

Epstein files vote (September 10, 2025)

Thune managed the Senate floor when Minority Leader Schumer attempted to attach an amendment compelling Department of Justice release of the full Jeffrey Epstein investigative file. The amendment was tabled 51–49; two Republicans (Rand Paul, Josh Hawley) joined all 47 Democrats in opposing the tabling motion. Thune publicly characterized Schumer’s move as a “political stunt” and a “hostile act.” A subsequent Epstein Files Transparency Act, separately enacted in November 2025, became the subject of a December 22, 2025 Schumer resolution seeking to compel Thune as Majority Leader to initiate litigation in the Senate’s name to force DOJ compliance after the department missed a statutory disclosure deadline.

Farm bill and year-round E15 (pending in Senate, 2026)

The U.S. House passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) in spring 2026. Thune confirmed in May 2026 that the Senate would attempt to reconcile the House’s separation of year-round E15 sale authority from the broader farm bill — a sequencing issue that complicates Senate passage given the 60-vote threshold for standalone bills. Thune has publicly tied Senate farm-bill movement to South Dakota agricultural priorities; the bill remained pending in the Senate as of June 21, 2026.

Leadership style and procedural posture

Thune’s stated leadership philosophy — articulated at the November 2024 Republican Conference vote and in his January 3, 2025 floor remarks — emphasizes preservation of Senate norms, the legislative filibuster, an open-amendment process, and Conference unity. His operational record in 2025–2026 reflects a tension between that stated posture and the demands of governing with a narrow majority under an activist president:

• He has held the legislative filibuster line, including against direct presidential pressure on the SAVE America Act.
• He has used or expanded other procedural levers (the September 2025 nuclear option, the CRA point-of-order expansion, the May 2025 EPA-waiver vote over the parliamentarian’s guidance, the Impoundment Control Act bypass on DOGE rescissions, reconciliation for OBBBA and the ICE package) to advance the administration’s substantive agenda.
• He has subordinated specific Senate floor scheduling — most notably Russia sanctions — to White House preferences.

The overall pattern is one of a Majority Leader operating fully within available constitutional and procedural tools, while using the full range of those tools to deliver the administration’s substantive priorities.

Democratic Malice Assessment

Democratic Malice Assessment: No designation Ideology vs. Malice determination: The full scope of Thune’s actions as Majority Leader — managing floor passage of H.R. 1, executing Cabinet and judicial confirmations, defending the legislative filibuster against White House pressure, triggering the September 11, 2025 nuclear option on en-bloc executive-branch nominees, raising points of order expanding Congressional Review Act scope, scheduling votes on tariff disapproval resolutions, managing the 43-day government shutdown, moving the DOGE rescission package under the Impoundment Control Act, tabling the Epstein-files amendment, and subordinating floor scheduling on Russia sanctions to administration timing — were exercises of constitutionally and procedurally available majority-leader authority. None of the documented actions, individually or in combination, crosses the framework’s threshold for democratic-mechanism subversion: there is no documented refusal to certify election outcomes, no documented direction to bypass court orders, no documented obstruction of constitutionally required congressional functions, and no documented use of force or threats. Framework note (factual mischaracterization): The documented mischaracterization of $186.65B in SNAP cuts as solely “waste, fraud, and abuse” savings, and the broader “Schumer Shutdown” framing of a Republican-managed continuing-resolution standoff, are recorded as factual record. The framework does not score legislative misrepresentation or partisan blame-framing as democratic-mechanism subversion. Framework note (procedural innovation): The September 11, 2025 en-bloc-confirmation rules change, the CRA point-of-order expansion (including the BLM resource-management plans and the EPA waiver vote over the parliamentarian’s guidance), and the Impoundment Control Act use for DOGE rescissions are all functional escalations of majority procedural power. Each is, however, structurally analogous to prior nuclear-option precedents (Reid 2013, McConnell 2017, Roberts/Schumer 2022) and remains within the bounds of Senate self-governance. The framework reserves judgment on whether the cumulative weight of these innovations changes the institutional baseline; that question is treated as ongoing factual record rather than as a present malice finding. Framework disclosure: This Democratic Malice Assessment applies a published analytical framework to documented public actions by public officials. All factual predicates are cited to primary or secondary sources. This assessment is subject to update as new evidence emerges or prior evidence is corrected.

Accountability Status

Current status: Serving as U.S. Senator (R-SD); Senate Majority Leader Legal exposure: None identified Election status: Next election 2028 (Class III)

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Sources

H.R. 1 / OBBBA and SNAP

1. thune.senate.gov, “Thune: The One Big Beautiful Bill Makes Life Better for Hardworking Americans,” July 30, 2025; https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/thune-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-makes-life-better-for-hardworking-americans
2. ABC News, “With SNAP benefits set to halt, Thune says he can’t clarify Trump’s plan to fund program,” October 29, 2025
3. Senate roll call vote 163, July 1, 2025
4. Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025
5. Penn Leonard Davis Institute research memo, July 2, 2025
6. USDA Food and Nutrition Service, SNAP Persons Participating, May 8, 2026; https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-persons-5.pdf
7. ProPublica, “More Than 770,000 Children Are No Longer Receiving SNAP Benefits,” June 17, 2026; https://www.propublica.org/article/snap-benefits-children-food-stamps
8. CBPP, “SNAP Tracker,” updated May 18, 2026; https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-tracker-people-are-losing-food-assistance-as-the-republican-megabill
9. Center for American Progress, “SNAP Cuts Could Lead to 70,000 Avoidable Deaths,” March 19, 2026; https://www.americanprogress.org/article/snap-cuts-could-lead-to-70000-avoidable-deaths/
10. NPR, “Senate Republicans pass Trump tax bill with Medicaid, SNAP cuts,” July 1, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/07/01/nx-s1-5450367/senate-republicans-trump-tax-bill-medicaid
11. NPR, “Medicaid changes don’t meet Senate rules in ‘big, beautiful bill’ says parliamentarian,” June 26, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5446005/senate-republicans-parliamentarian-medicaid-reconciliation-big-beautiful-bill
12. The Hill, “GOP senators push back hard on Medicaid cuts, endangering Trump bill”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5369986-medicaid-cuts-republican-senators/

Leadership election and Senate rules

1. NBC News, “Senate Republicans elect John Thune as their new leader, replacing Mitch McConnell,” November 13, 2024; https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-choose-new-leader-mitch-mcconnell-steps-rcna179670
2. Colorado Newsline, “In first speech as U.S. Senate majority leader, Thune pledges to protect filibuster,” January 3, 2025; https://coloradonewsline.com/2025/01/03/repub/senate-majority-leader-thune/
3. CNN, “GOP goes nuclear in Senate, changing rules to speed confirmation of Trump nominees,” September 11, 2025; https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/politics/nuclear-option-senate-trump-nominees
4. NPR, “Senate Republicans turn to ‘nuclear option’ to speed confirmation of Trump nominees,” September 11, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5538448/senate-republicans-nuclear-option-confirmations
5. NBC News, “Senate confirms 48 Trump nominees at once after GOP changed the chamber’s rules”; https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-confirms-48-trump-nominees-kimberly-guilfoyle-callista-gingrich-rcna231946
6. The Hill, “GOP leader John Thune quashes Donald Trump push to reform filibuster for SAVE Act”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5777802-talking-filibuster-gop-debate/
7. CNBC, “Senate Leader Thune throws cold water on filibuster change in push for voter-ID bill,” February 10, 2026; https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/10/senate-filibuster-thune-trump-save-act.html
8. The Regulatory Review, “The Weaponization of the Congressional Review Act in 2025,” February 3, 2026; https://www.theregreview.org/2026/02/03/jones-revesz-the-weaponization-of-the-congressional-review-act-in-2025/
9. The Hill, “Thune tees up vote to nix California’s EV mandate, defying Senate parliamentarian”; https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5309338-thune-vote-california-ev-mandate-senate-parliamentarian/

Confirmations (Cabinet and judicial)

1. CBS News, “Thune has privately told Trump that Hegseth has the votes to be confirmed as Defense Secretary”; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pete-hegseth-votes-confirmation-defense-secretary-john-thune-donald-trump/
2. CNN, “How the White House convinced skeptical Republicans to back RFK Jr., Gabbard and Hegseth,” February 5, 2025; https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/05/politics/white-house-convince-republicans-back-rfk-gabbard-hegseth/index.html
3. PBS NewsHour, “Miss the confirmation hearings for Patel, Gabbard, RFK Jr.?”; https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/miss-the-confirmation-hearings-for-patel-gabbard-rfk-jr-here-are-takeaways
4. Brookings, “The Senate confirmation process after 200 days of the second Trump administration”; https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-senate-confirmation-process-after-200-days-of-the-second-trump-administration/
5. thune.senate.gov, “Thune on Confirming Qualified Judges: The Republican Senate Will Pick Up Where It Left Off,” July 2025; https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/thune-on-confirming-qualified-judges-the-republican-senate-will-pick-up-where-it-left-off
6. Axios, “Senate awaits Trump judges,” April 25, 2025; https://www.axios.com/2025/04/25/tump-judges-nominee-senate-republicans-john-thune-chuck-grassley
7. uscourts.gov, “Confirmation Listing”; https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judicial-vacancies/confirmation-listing

2025 government shutdown

1. CBS News, “Government shutdown impasse stretches on as Senate Republicans reject Democrats’ health care offer”; https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/government-shutdown-latest-senate-vote-day-38/
2. NBC News, “Thune digs in on ‘stupid’ government shutdown, says talks with Schumer ‘not going to accomplish a lot'”; https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/thune-digs-in-shutdown-talks-schumer-are-not-going-accomplish-lot-rcna235281
3. The Hill, “GOP, Thune surprise Democrats, daring them to block defense spending bill during shutdown”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5556592-thune-defense-appropriations-bill/
4. CBS News, “Senate advances funding measure with backing of 8 Democrats, moving a step closer to ending shutdown”; https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/government-shutdown-latest-senate-weekend-session/

Tariffs and Trump emergency powers

1. Roll Call, “Senate rejects resolution to stop tariffs in tie vote,” May 1, 2025; https://rollcall.com/2025/05/01/senate-rejects-resolution-to-stop-tariffs-in-tie-vote/
2. NPR, “GOP-led Senate rebukes Trump on tariffs for a third time,” October 30, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5591301/senate-trump-tariffs
3. CNN, “4 Senate Republicans rebuke Trump for a third time this week, voting with Democrats against president’s global tariffs,” October 30, 2025; https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/30/politics/trump-global-tariffs-senate-rebuke
4. Axios, “Senate GOP leaders succeed in protecting Trump tariffs,” April 30, 2025; https://www.axios.com/2025/04/30/senate-tariff-vote-gop

DOGE rescission, Laken Riley, ICE funding, NDAA

1. CNN, “Senate works overnight in bid to pass Trump’s DOGE cuts package as deadline looms,” July 16, 2025; https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/senate-trump-doge-cuts
2. CNN, “House passes Trump’s $9 billion DOGE cuts package in another legislative win for president,” July 18, 2025; https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/18/politics/house-trump-doge-cuts-bill
3. NPR, “Up First newsletter: Rescission package heads to final vote,” July 17, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/07/17/g-s1-78019/up-first-newsletter-rescission-package-israel-syria-trump-jerome-powell
4. NPR, “Congress clears Laken Riley Act with bipartisan support,” January 22, 2025; https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5253926/congress-laken-riley-act
5. The Hill, “Senate passes Laken Riley Act in first move after Trump inauguration”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5095996-senate-passes-laken-riley-act/
6. The Hill, “Senate approves immigration enforcement funding for ICE and Border Patrol until 2029”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5911411-senate-passes-reconciliation-immigration-bill/
7. CNBC, “U.S. Senate passes $70 billion ICE funding, fails to ban Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund,” June 5, 2026; https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/senate-passes-70-billion-in-new-funds-for-ice-border-patrol.html
8. The Hill, “Senate passes National Defense Authorization Act sending it to Donald Trump’s desk”; https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5652760-senate-passes-ndaa-defense-bill/
9. thune.senate.gov, “Thune: The NDAA Invests in Servicemembers, Modernizes the Military, and Strengthens America’s Security,” September 2025; https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/9/thune-the-ndaa-invests-in-servicemembers-modernizes-the-military-and-strengthens-america-s-security

Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Epstein, farm bill

1. Fox News, “Senate majority leader says Republicans ready to move on Russia sanctions bill when Trump gives green light”; https://www.foxnews.com/media/senate-majority-leader-says-republicans-ready-move-russia-sanctions-bill-when-trump-gives-greenlight
2. Roll Call, “Senators propose ‘Russia Week,’ but Trump’s stance unclear,” October 23, 2025; https://rollcall.com/2025/10/23/senators-propose-russia-week-but-trumps-stance-unclear/
3. Times of Israel, “US Senate foils effort to nix Israel arms sales, but record 85% of Democrats support the move”; https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-senate-foils-effort-to-nix-israel-arms-sale-but-75-of-dems-vote-to-block-it/
4. TIME, “The Seven Senate Democrats Who Joined Republicans in Opposing Measure to Block Arms Sales to Israel,” April 16, 2026; https://time.com/article/2026/04/16/the-seven-senate-democrats-who-caucused-with-republicans-to-continue-arms-sales-to-israel/
5. NBC News, “Senate Republicans defeat Chuck Schumer push to force release of Epstein files,” September 10, 2025; https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/schumer-epstein-senate-vote-rcna230389
6. CNBC, “Epstein Files: Schumer to force Senate vote on suing DOJ over partial release,” December 22, 2025; https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/22/epstein-files-doj-schumer-trump-democrats.html
7. Hoosier Ag Today, “Can Thune Break the Deadlock? Senate Faces Crunch Time on Farm Bill and Year-Round E15 Legislation,” May 24, 2026; https://www.hoosieragtoday.com/2026/05/24/thune-farm-bill/
8. Congress.gov, “H.R.7567 — 119th Congress: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026”; https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7567

Last Updated: June 21, 2026 Profile Status: Draft — pending review