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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we are now at the 6-month mark of the 119th Congress, and it has been an incredibly productive 6 months here in the Senate.

We had the longest continuous work period in 15 years. We have taken more rollcall votes so far this year than at the same point in any year since at least 1989.

We confirmed the 21 members of the President's Cabinet at the fastest pace in more than 20 years. We passed 18 measures to overturn the burdensome Biden administration regulations. We confirmed 10 Ambassadors in the President's first 100 days--the most since at least the Reagan administration.

We passed two budget resolutions to advance President Trump's tax relief agenda. We passed multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation. That includes the Laken Riley Act, which requires detention for illegal immigrants who steal, assault a law enforcement officer, or seriously injure or kill a person; the HALT Fentanyl Act, which permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances as the most deadly type of drug and gives law enforcement a critical tool to prosecute those who bring those deadly substances into our country; and the GENIUS Act, which will help ensure that the United States can continue to be a leader in financial innovation and will allow Americans to exercise financial freedom with confidence.

And then, of course, we passed our reconciliation bill, which the President signed into law on July 4. This major piece of legislation permanently extends the 2017 tax relief to prevent a $4 trillion tax hike on the American people.

It permanently extends the lower rates. It permanently extends the increased standard deduction, and it permanently extends the doubled child tax credit. It also makes the 2017 small business tax relief permanent to set us up for a future of economic growth.

And that is not all. It implements additional tax relief for parents, seniors, and other hard-working Americans. It includes new pro-growth policy to help grow our economy and complement the 2017 pro-growth tax policies that we made permanent.

It implements a program to create savings accounts for newborns, with an initial deposit of $1,000 to help parents save and invest for their children's future needs--and so much more.

That is just on the tax front. The bill also makes a generational investment in securing our borders. It takes a significant step forward on addressing our readiness deficiencies and ensuring that our military will be prepared to deter and defeat any threat.

It unleashes American energy, and it achieves significant savings-- $1.5 trillion in Byrd-compliant savings, to be exact--and that is including the first real entitlement reform literally in decades.

So it has been a great 6 months. But as good as it has been, we still have a lot of work to do, and we are getting on it right away. That starts with funding the government, and that will start, as it should, in committee.

This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee is marking up 3 of the 12 fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills. And the Senate Armed Services Committee is marking up the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funding that will later be appropriated in Defense appropriations legislation.

I am hopeful for a robust regular-order process, with full committee consideration and debate and amendment on the Senate floor. That will, of course, require bipartisan work.

I was disappointed to see the Democrat leader in his recent ``Dear Colleague'' letter implicitly threaten to shut down the government, but I am hopeful that that is not the position of the Democrat Party, the Democratic conference here in the Senate, and that we can work together in the coming weeks to pass bipartisan appropriations bills.

Funding the government is our chief priority before October, but that won't stop us from considering additional measures. We will continue to confirm the President's nominees, including his judicial nominees. I intend to bring the President's rescissions package to the floor this month for debate and amendment to ratify some of the good work the administration has done in identifying wasteful and inappropriate uses of taxpayer dollars.

We have also made substantial progress on Senator Graham's overwhelmingly bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation to enhance President Trump's leverage at the negotiating table and help end the bloodshed in Ukraine. I fully expect that that could be ready for floor consideration as early as this work period.

Senate Republicans are committed to working with the House and the White House to get this legislation through Congress and onto the President's desk.

It has been a great 6 months of work here in the Senate, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to deliver on our commitment to the American people and make our country safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

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