• last month
Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the next Senate majority leader, completing a momentous shift in their leadership that elevates a top deputy of Sen. Mitch McConnell into a key position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Transcript
00:00We have the team assembled. Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. It's a new
00:08day in the United States Senate and it's a new day in America. The American people have
00:12loudly rejected the failed policies of the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda. And this Republican
00:20team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get
00:25to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump's agenda. We have a
00:31mandate from the American people. A mandate not only to clean up the mess left by the
00:37Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda, but also to deliver on President Trump's priorities. We will make
00:45sure that the President and his team have the tools and support that they need to enforce
00:49border security laws and to remove the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every
00:54one of our states. We will work to make America prosperous again by streamlining the bureaucratic
01:00machine and overturning costly Biden-Harris regulations. And we will work to restore American
01:08energy dominance. Not just our energy security, but energy dominance, which will lower costs
01:15and bolster our national security. I'm excited to get to work with this team right away and
01:22I want to thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as leader. And
01:26to those who were supporting another candidate, I promise to be a leader who serves the entire
01:33Republican conference. Well, as you know, the Senate has an advise and consent role
01:38under the Constitution, so we will do everything we can to process his noms quickly, get them
01:44installed in their positions so they can begin to implement his agenda.
01:49Leader Thune, you've said that recess appointments are on the table. That's a key demand from
01:54President-elect Donald Trump. Will you move forward with that?
01:57Well, what we're going to do is make sure that we are processing his nominees in a way
02:02that gets them into those positions so they can implement his agenda. How that happens
02:07remains to be seen. You know, obviously we want to make sure our committees have confirmation
02:11hearings like they typically do, and that these nominees report it out to the floor.
02:17I've said this, and I mean it, that we expect a level of cooperation from the Democrats
02:23to work with us to get these folks installed. And obviously we're going to explore all options
02:29to make sure that they get moved and that they get moved quickly.
02:31How do you intend to balance maintaining the independence of the Senate with passing the
02:36President-elect's agenda?
02:37Well, I mean, the Senate, as you know, is by the founder's design a place where the
02:43minority has a voice in our process. And we will do the job that the founders intended
02:50us to do in the United States Senate and that the American people intend us to do. And that,
02:54right now, after this mandate election coming out of the American people, is to work with
02:59this president on an agenda that unwinds a lot of the damage of the Biden-Harris-Schumer
03:04agenda and puts in place new policies that will move our country forward in a different
03:09direction.

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