New US Senate Republican John Thune faces a test as Trump returns By Reuters

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Incoming Republican U.S. Rep. John Thune faces a test of his career when Donald Trump returns to office next month, as he seeks to steer the new president’s agenda through Congress and protect his chamber’s control over decisions and spending. .

A 20-year veteran of the Senate, the 63-year-old South Dakotan is known as a negotiator with a knack for finding compromises between opposing factions. He will become majority leader on January 3, when his party’s 53-47 majority will be sworn in.

Thune is expected to maintain a good relationship with Trump, who at times is quiet and unpredictable and has sought impeachment and has shown little interest in the Senate as a check on the administration.

He will be tasked with overseeing the verification of the list of Cabinet appointees who are in violation of the law; delivering on Trump’s agenda of tax cuts, border security and energy cuts, and avoiding a US default on more than $36 trillion in debt next year.

“He’s entering a leadership role in one of the most contentious years the Senate has had in a generation,” said Brian Riedl, a former Senate aide who is now executive director of the right-leaning Manhattan Institute. “It’s really going to be trial by fire.”

Thune’s first attempt will be to oversee confirmation hearings for Trump Cabinet contenders including Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services and Kash Patel as director of the FBI.

Members of the Thune assembly have expressed concern about all four, whose resumes are no different from those previously appointed to powerful jobs. Since Trump’s pick, former congressman Matt Gaetz, resigned as attorney general, Trump allies have pressured Senate Republicans to get behind the nominee.

For weeks, Thune has refrained from raising concerns about the candidates’ qualifications, only to have each candidate answer questions at a public hearing and then vote on a Senate vote. Some Trump supporters say the sentiment isn’t strong enough for their tastes.

“The job of the Senate leader is to ensure that the nominees of the president’s party succeed,” said Mike Davis, a former Senate Republican aide who is the founder and president of the Article III Project.

Davis said his anti-Trump lobby group has already ordered thousands of people to call and email the embattled Senate Republicans and “highlight” them on social media.

“If the nominees fail, that’s John Thune’s failure,” Davis said.

Thune lashed out at Trump’s nominees during a Fox News interview last week, saying, “I give the president a lot of credit and respect when he makes these decisions. I make sure there’s a proper process.”

Thune survived one campaign to pressure members of Trump’s “Make American Great Again” group, who wanted Senator Rick Scott to be the leader of the chamber.

This victory came in a secret vote that was held behind closed doors, but cabinet votes will be held in public in the Senate chamber.

‘AN INSTITUTIONALIST AT HEART’

Thune, whose six-year term runs through 2028, has strong support in South Dakota, which has made him unlikely to challenge Trump in 2022 after criticizing Trump’s attempt to rig the 2020 election.

He also said he wants to protect the powers and traditions of the Senate, which include the power to confirm or reject the president’s nomination and its “filibuster” rule, which requires 60 out of 100 senators to agree on most bills – meaning they sometimes need Democratic support.

“The Senate is here to be a place where things move slowly, to be more thoughtful and to give a voice to the minority,” Thune told reporters this month. “Obviously, as we’ve said before, the filibuster is non-negotiable.”

Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, said he “respects” the filibuster and has a “very good relationship” with Thune.

Thune entered the Senate in 2005 with the reputation of a top assassin, having ousted Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who had led the Democrats in the chamber for the past decade.

Daschle paid tribute to Thune in an interview.

“I have confidence in John Thune,” Daschle said. “He’s a professional at heart.”

Thune’s supporters say the former high school basketball star has more experience than lawmakers who don’t want to pursue tough votes. That’s a skill that Thune and his House of Representatives counterpart, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, who started the year with a 217-215 majority, will need next year.

“What you see in him at times is the athleticism. It’s the same spirit,” Republican Senator Kevin Cramer told reporters. “I doubt he has sharp elbows on the basketball court.”

Trump, and his supporters, can expect less — and he appears ready to push back if some Senate Republicans try to undermine his priorities. Mr Trump has previously said he will change the timetable for appointing nominees if the Senate does not agree to his nominations.

“They are both well-qualified men and women who have the talent, skills and abilities needed to Make America Great Again, and we hope the members of the Senate will recognize that during the confirmation process,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokesman Colton Snedecor said in a statement. words.

Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said Thune could be pressured by hard-liners who don’t care about Senate traditions: “There are a lot of dangerous people coming into the new administration who think of Congress as a pain in the butt.”