SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In a matter of days, South Dakota’s U.S. Senator John Thune will mark one year as Majority Leader—one of the most powerful positions in Washington, D.C. politics.
As leader, Thune sets the agenda and decides which bills to bring to a vote. It was just shy of one year ago that John Thune was introduced to the country as the Senate majority leader.
Tuesday, Thune looks back on what has been a whirlwind of a year. He says in terms of the schedule, this has been the busiest Senate in decades.
“We went back 8 decades and could only find one year where there were more votes cast in the Senate than there were this year,” said Thune. “So that was like in 1976, so it’s been 50 years really since we’ve had as much activity in the Senate. Now I don’t always equate activity with productivity in Washington, but I think we got a lot done, too.”
“In this job, it’s coming at you all the time. It’s a little bit like a fire hose that you are drinking form on a daily basis, so many of the things you deal with on daily basis you don’t anticipate you might plan your schedule you might plan your day but in the end you are going to end of managing what ever it is that is coming at you, and the incoming in this job its coming at you in a ferocious pace,” said Thune.
Thune says that having Republican control of the House, Senate, and the White House has only happened 4 times in the last 90 years, and that it has allowed him and his team to get a lot done.
“I thought we made the most of it. So it was a very productive session of Congress and frankly, in my view, historic in a lot of ways. I mean the one big beautiful Bill that passed in July of this last year is the most comprehensive piece of legislation that I worked on in my lifetime,” said Thune.
But those victories haven’t come without a struggle. Thune says finding bipartisan support for even the most basic legislation, like funding the government, has been a challenge.
“This has been a hard stretch this last year, and part of it is these are not normal times, and I think you have to accept that and just understand that and sort of take in stride the stuff that is coming at you all the time. I mean you got the democrats, you got our side, a lot of times we got a lot of intra-family squabbles that we have, we’ve got a very narrow majority in the House of Representatives. You know, President Trump and the white House, you know, always on a daily basis, are pushing and being aggressive and getting as much done as possible, so we’ve had to balance a lot of things that actually led to what I would argue is a significant record of accomplishment,” said Thune.
Thune was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. He worked his way up through party leadership roles, including whip and conference chair. Last year, he replaced Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was the longest-serving Senate party leader.
