John Thune

"The Senate must take its advice and consent role seriously if the balance of power is to be preserved."

Republican senators have some concerns about Trump's choice of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

President-elect Trump is demanding that Senate Republicans show up and try to stop Democrats from confirming more judges. Why it matters: President Biden is now 15 judicial confirmations away from the record set by Trump in his first term. Trump posted Wednesday on "X": "The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door. Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!"Democrats confirmed two more judges on Wednesday by 50-48 margins, with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Braun (Indiana) missing the votes.If they'd voted, Vice President Harris would have been unavailable to break the 50-50 tie as she's currently vacationing in Hawaii."I am very angry – 90% of success in life is showing up," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters."I've got a 4th Circuit nominee that if my colleagues show up on my side I've secured Democratic votes to defeat. That is very personal to me," he said."I had a member ask me, 'Well, when is the vote?' I said, 'When you're not here,'" Tillis told reporters.Zoom in: Senate Republicans, including incoming Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are in a showdown over judges with outgoing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).Thune unveiled a plan Monday to aggressively defend against Biden's final nominees, Axios has reported.Schumer is prepared to grind through that defense with late night and weekend votes.

A northwest Ohio House race that many believed could determine who ultimately controls the House of Representatives was called by the Associated Press three weeks after Election Day.

Trump and others in his orbit have threatened to go around the Senate to staff his administration, but the logistics are a problem.

How many? And how fast? That’s the question for the Senate in January as it will sprint to confirm as many of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees as possible.

"The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts," Trump fumes as JD Vance and other Republicans skip votes

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called Wednesday for President-elect Trump's health administration appointees to face "extensive committee investigations" as part of the Senate's confirmation process.Why it matters: Collins' comments echo concerns from some on Capitol Hill that Trump may forgo the traditional confirmation process in favor of recess appointments, and skip several vetting steps for appointed candidates. What she's saying: Opting to allow recess appointments without congressional approval, would "avoid and evade the Senate's constitutional duty to do advice and consent," Collins said at an Axios event on the future of cognitive care.To her, "that means a background check, it means extensive committee investigations and questionnaires and public hearings," she told Axios' Peter Sullivan.Collins, who called for additional federal funding for Alzheimer's and other cognitive care research, said there "could be" an upheaval at the NIH, FDA and other key divisions due to Trump's health agency administration picks.The big picture: Trump has tapped ex-Independent presidential nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — an agency he could dramatically reshape.He also selected TV personality Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Oz has no experience running a large government bureaucracy.While the Senate Finance Committee ultimately confirms the HHS secretary, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), on which Collins serves, will also hold a hearing, she told Axios.The HELP committee will handle Oz's confirmation hearings.State of play: Incoming HELP chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has applauded Oz's appointment and said he will "look forward" to learning more about Kennedy's policy positions. He also lauded him for having "championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure."Collins told Axios earlier this month she has not taken a position on Kennedy's nomination.When asked about Kennedy's pending promotion, Cassidy told Axios, "You need to speak to the person who you're considering before you make up your mind."Zoom out: The conversation over Trump's request for recess appointments threatens to bubble into a battle between the next commander-in-chief and Senate Republicans who do not wish to shirk their advice-and-consent role.Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has signaled an openness to the idea — but not all of his Republican colleagues in the chamber agree, including outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).Go deeper: Meet the GOP's Senate resistance

“No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” Trump said on social media. But Democrats are making judges a priority in the lame duck ― just like the GOP did, too.

The president-elect is looking at ways to circumvent delays in the Senate confirmation process.

Donald Trump’s transition team has begun what a close ally calls a hostile takeover of the federal government, ignoring the rules for the handover of power in the process.

North Carolina Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickels suggests that the U.S. borrow from the United Kingdom and establish a shadow cabinet to take on the incoming Trump administration.

With a projected GOP House majority, President-elect Trump regains a Republican trifecta, boosting chances to push his agenda through Congress, similar to his first term.

The incoming president doesn't seem to care if his nominees can't win Senate confirmation.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota insisted to Republican senators he intends to carry out Trump's agenda and support him as the Senate leader.

IN SEPTEMBER, I wrote, “No matter who wins, the next president will declare that they have a ‘mandate’ to do something. And they will be wrong.”

A look at who has declined to express support for Gaetz, Kennedy, Gabbard and Hegseth.

With President-elect Donald Trump selecting House members for roles in his second administration, concerns have been raised about House Republicans' shrinking majority.

'This is a war the establishment cannot be allowed to win'

The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C., could impact your business.Looking Ahead to 2025. The U.S. Congress is back this week for its lame-duck session, but even with a lengthy to-do list, all eyes are on 2025, as the labor, employment, and immigration policy landscapes are already coming into clearer focus after last week’s elections. Here are the latest post-election developments:Congressional leadership. This week, Republicans began the process of sorting out their leadership ranks for the 119th Congress. In the U.S. Senate, Republicans elected John Thune of South Dakota to be Senate majority leader in the 119th Congress. It has been eighteen years since anyone other than Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has led Republicans in the Senate. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be the Republicans’ nominee for Speaker of the House in a floor vote that... Read the complete article here...© 2024, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., All Rights Reserved.

President-elect Trump has made quick work of pulling together a Cabinet and group of senior aides for his incoming administration, roiling Washington with some of his more controversial picks in the process. Trump issued a flurry of nominations and appointments during his first full week as president-elect, sending lawmakers scrambling to react. Here are five [...]

'Ten GOP members have endorsed a candidate so far'

All three candidates for Senate GOP leader are making MAGA appeals, committing to more floor debate and amendments and better communication as they make their final pitch ahead of Wednesday's leader elections. Why it matters: A growing number of senators want a new style of leadership after nearly two decades under Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — and years of battles between him and President-elect Trump. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is promising more amendments, more power and input from average senators, a focus on getting young, conservative judges confirmed and to spend time over the lame duck discussing how to make the chamber work better, he told colleagues in a letter on Tuesday, obtained by Axios.Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to tell senators in a Tuesday night meeting that he won't assume bills get 60 votes, and he will encourage floor debate and amendments. He also is promising weekly meetings with the House Speaker and Vice President Vance as well as a December conference on GOP priorities, a source familiar tells us.Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) launched his bid as the leader most committed to significant change. He has taken a notably more public approach to his bid for leader, blanketing the airwaves and riding a wave of support from influential voices in Trump world.The intrigue: One source close to Scott points out that many of the plans for a more open process that are being laid out by Thune and Cornyn mirror the kind of changes Scott has been pushing for the past two years.How it works: The candidates will make their final argument to be leader tomorrow morning before the vote — including nominating speeches from two colleagues, each.If none of the three candidates win 27 votes in the first round, the candidate with the lowest vote total is removed and they all vote again.Scott won 10 votes when he ran against McConnell in 2022. He'd need to nearly triple his level of support to win a majority of Senate Republicans in 2024.If Scott is eliminated in the first round, it is a big question whether Thune or Cornyn will be more likely to gain his supporters' votes.

The Florida lawmaker wants to be Senate majority leader, but guns rights advocates are lobbying against him, as they dislike his support for the state's gun control legislation enacted after the Parkland school shooting. Senators are to vote Wednesday on a new leader in a secret ballot.

Former President Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5.

Sen. John Fetterman called Sen. Marco Rubio "a strong choice" for secretary of state amid reports that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Rubio for the role.

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the federal Department of Homeland Security, according to reports from media outlets

WASHINGTON — Contests for Senate majority leader and the suddenly open House Republican conference chair position headline GOP leadership elections on Capitol Hill this week, with open jockeying for both posts.

Sen. Tom Cotton is expected to succeed Sen. Marco Rubio and lead the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Read the latest from Fox News Opinion & watch videos from Sean Hannity, Raymond Arroyo & more.

Congress returns to a changed Washington as President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-right agenda is quickly taking shape, buoyed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full sweep of power on Capitol Hill while Democrats are sorting out what went wrong.

Cornyn made a final pitch based on his fundraising prowess ahead of the Republican leader race to succeed McConnell next week.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) is urging President-elect Trump not to put his thumb on the scale in the race to elect a successor to outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), putting a new wrinkle in the high-stakes contest. Thune in recent days has declared his preference that Trump give Republican senators space [...]

Republicans are gearing up to lock in their remake of the judiciary under President-elect Donald Trump and a new Senate majority, including potentially installing several more conservative Supreme Court justices.

Republicans picked up two more hard-fought seats Thursday in Pennsylvania, which became a stark battlefield of Democratic losses up and down the ticket.

The Republican Party is now more primed to back former President Trump if he contests the results of the 2024 election than it was four years ago, when his efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory fell flat in courts and Congress. Trump’s unwavering claims about the nation’s election system being “rigged” have steadily gained more acceptance [...]

Only a few Republican senators have publicly endorsed a candidate. Many say they are still undecided.

Both on the airwaves and the campaign trail, it’s time for candidates and campaigns to make their final pitches and make sure their voters turn out. It’s already past the time when the U.S. Postal Service says it is safe to mail ballots — especially in states with requirements that ballots be received, rather than [...]The post At the Races: Closing time appeared first on Roll Call.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is telling colleagues that he will support Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) in the race to become next Senate Republican leader, according to sources familiar with the private conversations. Daines’s public support would be a promising development for Thune, who is locked in a tough [...]

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — an ally of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — hit back at conservatives' demands for a new brand of leadership once McConnell steps down in a letter to colleagues Tuesday morning.Why it matters: The leader race between Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is heating up, with the general election three weeks away. Some conservative senators are hoping to leverage a tight race for big changes in how the chamber operates. Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) proposals, which he outlined in a letter to colleagues last week, include assurances of more amendment votes and delaying the timeline for picking McConnell's replacement.And Lee has taken new public shots at McConnell's leadership approach.Tills responded Tuesday, saying he believes Lee's concerns are "sincere," but that delaying the leadership election is a bad idea. He said Lee's proposals would "substantially weaken the republican leader."Between the lines: The only leadership candidate to clearly embrace the changes conservatives are pushing is Scott — who Senators and Hill sources have said doesn't have much of a shot.What they're saying: Tillis then made a dig at Republican House chaos. "We are witnessing the downside of a weak-leader model in the House today," he wrote."Two Speakers during a single congress and self-imposed gridlock on legislation hardly seems like a model we want to adopt in the Senate.""I believe delaying the election and creating more hurdles for the republican leader to navigate are unwise, and they will impede our work on behalf of the American people," Tillis said.The other side: "Why would a Republican senator continue to support a system where legislation can be presented for passage without the approval of the majority of the conference? Or one that denies our ability to do our jobs as representatives of our states," Lee responded in a statement to Axios.Catch up quick: This isn't the first back-and-forth between Tillis and Lee over the leadership race. Back in June, Lee and other conservatives were pushing for a new leadership structure — including imposing term limits. Tillis blasted those ideas in a letter, which then prompted a response from Lee.McConnell has also been adamantly against term limits.E

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) on Tuesday circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter warning that some of the reforms being pushed by Senate conservatives would only weaken the next Senate Republican leader and cause the same chaos that is plaguing the House Republican majority. Tillis released his letter in response to a list of procedural [...]

Senate Republicans issued a renewed condemnation of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel one year after they occurred.

Independent Dan Osborn is gaining unexpected traction in his bid to unseat Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

This week, there’s a certain irony to our newsletter being called “At the Races.” And no, it’s not because Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader who was banned from baseball for betting on the Cincinnati Reds, died​ Monday at age 83. Betting on the outcome of the congressional elections next month by individuals [...]The post At the Races: Please bet responsibly appeared first on Roll Call.

Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) debate performance is giving him a shot in the arm to become a leading 2028 presidential contender no matter what happens in November between former President Trump and Vice President Harris. The impact of vice presidential debates on election outcomes is widely considered negligible. But the significance of Tuesday’s debate between [...]

Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump stays out of the internal election to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader.Why it matters: None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the former president will make an endorsement. But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud."I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump."I hope not," said Sen. Thom Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic.""He's offered some views on it to me," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.Between the lines: This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era, and his endorsement carries a lot of weight with a growing segment of the conference.McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the former president.The top two candidates — Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn — each have had rocky relationships with Trump. However, they have worked to make amends.After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president. Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump. "Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite, though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race. But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future," adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past. The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.Some sources suspect there could be a late entry: NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.The bottom line: There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early."If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that, but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.

Republicans could pass both a health care overhaul that would replace Obamacare and extend Trump tax breaks in one bill if they win Congress and the White House.

Sen. Joe Manchin — who was likely to be the last Democrat to represent West Virginia for a long while before turning independent earlier this year — announced he would [...]The post 'Shame on Her' - Longtime Senator Refuses to Back Kamala, Slams Her Over Radical Plan to Pass Abortion Rights appeared first on The Western Journal.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pictured at a news conference on Tuesday, is preparing for his last post-election wrap-up as leader.