John Thune

I think it's really important, if possible, to do it here, not to have to send it back to the House of Representatives.

where the future of an appropriations package, I think, would be somewhat uncertain.

It's not necessary.

Government shutdowns don't benefit anyone.

We ought to pass the package on the floor, fully fund the government, and move on to other things that the American people expect us to work on.

I think to my colleagues in the Senate, it feels like 52 out of 52, but it is.

It was a historic number of weeks in session, days in session, hours in session, and record number of votes cast.

In fact, we went back eight decades, back to the 1940s,

And there's only been one other time in 1976 where a Senate cast more votes than we did this year.

So it's been, yeah, it's been busy in many ways, sort of exhausting, I think, for a lot of folks.

But I would also say productive.

And, you know, a lot of times I don't equate volume like number of votes with actually accomplishment or getting things done.

But I think in this case.

It's been a very productive Senate, too, in terms of the things that we've accomplished.

Definitely.

Yeah, it does in some ways because we loaded that thing up with so much of our agenda.

In fact, the president's agenda for the most part was all accomplished in that one big beautiful bill where it's national security or the border, energy, tax policy.

You know, school choice has been a priority for the movement for a long time, newborn accounts.

childcare, the Farm Bill.

I mean, we basically built the Farm Bill and the One Big Beautiful Bill too.