Thune Confident Budget Bill Remains on Track for Senate Passage

Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared determined on Tuesday to keep the budget reconciliation bill on track to be passed in the Senate by July 4, even as he acknowledged that some Senate Republicans might in the end vote against the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.

“Could be,” Thune, R-S.D., said at the weekly Senate Republican press conference when asked whether he expected that two or three members of the Republican caucus in the Senate would vote against the budget reconciliation bill. 

“Well, we’ve got a lot of very independent-thinking senators,” he said.

The majority leader acknowledged that legislating was an imperfect process that was not going to satisfy every senator.

“But at the end of the day, this is a process whereby not everybody is going to get what they want,” Thune said.

The Senate majority leader touted how the budget bill fulfills the Trump administration’s priorities for a safe and prosperous America.

“Well, I just think, when push comes to shove, you know you’re looking at whether or not you’re going to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. And there are a lot of things in this bill, as I pointed out. It modernizes the military. It secures the border. It brings tax relief to working families. It has the biggest spending reduction in history, and it restores energy dominance for our country.”  

President Donald Trump has taken a personal interest in the bill, using his bully pulpit to cajole senators.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” the president posted on his platform Truth Social.

“Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.” 

Thune said that Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent had also spoken to the Republican members of the Senate on Tuesday about why it was important to get the bill done soon.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairwoman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said, “I really do think this will be a historic week, because what’s going to happen with the American family, whether it’s keeping taxes low as we did in 2017; keeping those, whether it’s the child tax credit, making it permanent, which will give families a lot of reassurance as they move into the … paying their taxes. We also create a savings account for every child born in this country.”

Capito went on to say the bill also helps with adoptions. “This is a family bill from beginning to end,” she said. 

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said that Republicans were elected to provide safety and prosperity for the American people.

“Democrats lost the last election because they were the party of high prices and open borders,” Barrasso explained. 

On the Israel-Iran conflict, Thune deferred to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., for more specifics on the strike’s damage, but did note that the Iranian regime’s nuclear capabilities appeared to have been seriously weakened. 

“We know for sure that their nuclear program was set back significantly,” the Senate majority leader explained.

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