John Thune
01/26/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/26/2025 15:40
Thune Joins Maria Bartiromo on Fox News
Thune Joins Maria Bartiromo on Fox News
"This doesn't come along all that often, and sometimes doesn't last that long, and so we want to make sure the president has his team in place so he's able to deliver on the agenda that he talked with the American people about and that they voted for in November."
January 26, 2025
Click here to watch the video.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Maria Bartiromo on Fox News.
On confirming President Trump's nominees to enact his agenda:
"Well, we need them in place, Maria. I think, as you know, in order to implement that agenda, you've got to have new leadership in those departments and agencies. And of course, we're starting with the national security positions, which are critically important with everything that's going on in the world and everything that's going on at our southern border, which is why it was important that we get Governor Noem in at DHS. But as we move forward, we've got Treasury, Bessent, coming up, Sean Duffy at DOT, a whole bunch more that we're queuing up, teeing up to get done, and it's just really important that they get in place, Maria, because, you know, you have a window of time."
On the timing of confirmation votes:
"Well, actually, we're ahead of schedule. We're going back to what is the Obama standard. Obama got 12 of his Cabinet nominees through in 15 days. It took Trump 43 days to get his first 12 through back in 2017. So, we are pushing hard, and obviously there are constraints that are imposed by the rules of the Senate. The minority of the Senate has ways it can slow things down and drag it out, but we're actually, at the current point, ahead of the Obama standard, and so we're going to keep moving aggressively, moving quickly, forcing people to stay and to take votes on weekends, which we did this weekend, and we'll get them in place as quickly as we possibly can. But we are on the schedule that we laid out, and one that I think enables these folks to get through the process in time to deliver for the president, for the American people."
On strengthening our military:
"Well, obviously, our Navy, and if you look at the number of ships we have relative to our adversaries, particularly China, that's something the president is interested in, an American Iron Dome concept. But frankly, the thing we've got to do, Maria, is we've got to increase the topline. We have not, we have underfunded, and in the Biden budget, there wasn't a single Biden budget that kept up with the rate of inflation when it comes to the military. And so, we've got some making up to do. We need to spend it wisely and well, and make sure that we're investing in our military in a way that keeps our warfighter capable for whatever the threat metrics is out there that we're dealing with."