Thune Joins America’s Newsroom on Fox News

Click here to watch.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined America's Newsroom on Fox News.

On the War Powers Act:

"I think that the Democrats … are almost cheering against American success in this region, which obviously strikes at the very heart of America's national security interest. So it's really unfortunate they continue to put up these show votes. The president is operating under his authority, the Article II branch of the government as commander in chief, and doing what needs to be done to ensure that America's vital national security interests are preserved and protected."

[…]

"I think that the rhetoric on the floor, the rhetoric in media interviews, and obviously these perpetual War Powers votes that they're forcing us to take on the floor of the Senate are designed to do one thing, and that's to appease and satisfy a very far-left base, liberal base in this country the Democrats are all having to answer to and trying to appease."

On Democrats' defund the police agenda:

"[Democrats] did not want to fund law enforcement … This is all about open borders and defund the police. That is the Democrat agenda when it comes to our border here in the homeland, when it comes to national security interests - that is the Democrat agenda. And so we're having to do this the hard way. I would rather do it the easy way. We tried to do it with Democrats. We tried to do it in a bipartisan way. They walked away from the table, so now we're being forced to do it with Republican-only votes …

"We are going to forward-fund ICE and CBP, the two agencies that are critically important when it comes to law enforcement on our borders, and ensure that through the end of the Trump presidency, that they're funded … I don't see any scenario where Democrats ultimately are going to say, 'We are going to fund these agencies.' They can't do it.

"It's the same thing I mentioned earlier. It's their far-left base that is … running the show around here and forcing these Democrats into positions where they can't even do basic things like fund government. So we're going to forward-fund it for three years and make sure … that ICE and CBP have the resources they need to do the job that we ask them to do, and that is to keep our borders safe and secure and our streets safe."

On Democrats' DHS shutdown:

"DHS has been unfunded for longer … this fiscal year, than it's been funded. So these employees … have been going without pay for more than they've been getting paychecks, if you can imagine that. Now, fortunately for ICE and CBP, because of what we did last year [in the Working Families Tax Cuts] … those two agencies are currently getting funded.

"There is a bill in front of the House of Representatives right now that would fund the other agencies, and they are awaiting action on the Senate to forward-fund ICE and CBP to act on that.

"[Secretary Mullin] is absolutely right … they're running out of money. These agencies need to be funded. They're vital to America's national security interests. We've made it possible for that to happen, and we're going to continue doing that by voting on a budget resolution, hopefully sometime tomorrow, that ensures for the next three years, ICE and CBP in particular are funded into the future."

Permalink: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2026/4/thune-joins-america-s-newsroom-on-fox-news