John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to pay tribute to my longtime chief of staff Ryan Nelson, who has decided to step down in the new year. It is difficult to know where to start to pay tribute to a man who has been indispensable to everything I have ever done in Congress; so perhaps I should start at the beginning, back in 1996, during the Republican primary for South Dakota's lone House seat. I was a green candidate running on a shoestring budget, and one morning, a campaign volunteer showed up at my door and announced that he was my driver. His name was Ryan Nelson. That day, we headed to an event in Arlington, SD. Unbeknownst to me, my new driver proceeded to lock his keys in the car. This might have caused some campaign volunteers to panic, but not Ryan. He made his way over to a filling station, found someone who could get into the car and retrieve the keys, all without my knowing that anything had ever happened. That resourcefulness turned out to be a pretty good indicator of what was to come--not the ``locking the keys in car'' part but the seeing a problem and solving it before I even had a chance to become aware of it. Ryan kept driving me around the State, and we ended up winning the primary. Ryan came to a crossroads, both metaphorical and literal. You see, Ryan was originally just filling time on the campaign. He was scheduled to leave for the Kansas City police academy the day after the primary. He was driving out of his hometown in Gettysburg, SD, when he came to that literal crossroads. You would have to go one way for the police academy and the other way to stay with the campaign. He chose to stay with the campaign. And among the many blessings I have been given over the course of my career, I have to count that as one of the greatest. Ryan has now been with my team for 28 years. He has helped build my staff and guide my operations, mentored generations of Thune employees, and been a constant source of insight and wisdom. There is no one that I trust more. Ryan's knowledge is deep and broad. He has an intuitive understanding of politics and an encyclopedic knowledge of South Dakota, and he is deeply connected to the needs of our State. I relied on those qualities throughout my career, and not just on those qualities but on his character. Ryan is someone who got into politics for all the right reasons. He is not interested in personal glory. In fact, I think everyone who knows Ryan would agree that there is no one who more persistently dodges the spotlight. He got into politics to serve. He cares about our State. He cares about our country. And he has done everything he can throughout his career to ensure a brighter future for both. I suppose Ryan is, technically, my employee--for a few more days, at least--but that is not a word I think of when I think of Ryan. I think of words like ``ally,'' ``partner,'' and ``friend,'' and not just to me but to my whole family. Ryan has cared as deeply for the well-being of my wife Kimberley and of our daughters Brittany and Larissa, as he has for mine. When I think back to long days on the campaign trail when our family was young, I think of Ryan joking with the girls, jollying them along, and keeping an eye out for when they needed a break. The long days on the trail used to sometimes wear on my younger daughter Larissa especially, and Ryan used to keep up her spirits by promising her her favorite chicken alfredo at the end of the day. And, of course, being Ryan, he never failed to deliver. In fact, ``chicken alfredo'' is still a family joke. I know some of my daughter's favorite memories are of days spent with Ryan and his wife Carmen, on the campaign trail or at the lodge then run by Ryan's dad. We used to regularly spend time there as a family, and the girls loved nothing more: doing puzzles, watching movies, riding on the four-wheelers, hunting, and then all gathering for a good meal at the end of the day. Ryan always made sure the girls' favorites were on the menu. Of course, as devoted as Ryan has been to the Thune family, his greatest devotion is to his own family--to Carmen and to their sons Parker and Mitchell. When I decided to run for leader this year, he said that he would do everything he could to help--as he always has--but that he wouldn't miss his son's football games. And he hasn't. I am fairly sure that he has only missed one of his son's games in all the time they have played. While it is hard to think of his not being my chief of staff, I am happy that he will have more time to spend with Carmen and with their boys. There is so much more that I could say about Ryan. It is hard to give a speech about him without mentioning his love of football. Between his own days as a standout high school and college player and his son's time playing the game, Ryan brings a wealth of football knowledge to the table. Then, there is his dry sense of humor and love of a prank or two, his deep faith, his loyalty, and his work ethic. It is hard for me to believe that his time in my office is drawing to a close. The Apostle Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 4: It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. There is no one who has been more faithful to his trust than Ryan Nelson. I am more grateful than I can ever say for his service, and I pray that God will richly bless him and his family in the new days ahead. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, my office recently released the 2025 Senate Calendar. As everyone now knows, our schedule next year will be aggressive: Friday votes will be the norm, and we are not going to be having much in the way of recess in the first 100 days. That is because we have a lot of work to do, and we are not going to get it done on the kind of abbreviated schedule that we have had in 2024. One of our first priorities, of course, will be confirming President Trump's nominees. The American people handed President Trump and Vice President-elect Vance a decisive mandate in November. We are going to honor that mandate by making sure that President Trump has the people he needs in place as soon as possible, starting with the heads of the Cabinet Departments. Democrats can certainly make the schedule a little less painful if they accord the President some of the deference the Republicans accorded to Cabinet nominees under President Obama. But one way or another, we are going to get the job done, and if that means some nights and weekends, so be it. Our other early priority--and another reason the schedule will be particularly aggressive in the first 100 days--is to pass a reconciliation package with a once-in-a-generation investment in border security and immigration enforcement. The border and enforcement crisis under President Biden has left a gaping hole in our national security and undermined respect for the rule of law. And that ends in January. Enforcing the law and protecting the integrity of our borders will become administration policy on day one, and the Senate will move quickly to back up the President's efforts. The package we will be taking up will, among other things, include substantial resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, increase detention space, and provide the barriers and technology we need to fully secure the border. It will also focus on other key national security priorities, like addressing our lagging military readiness. Other priorities for the first 100 days include kicking off our efforts to use the Congressional Review Act to undo some of the Biden administration regulations that are weighing down our economy and, of course, continuing work on our reconciliation package to extend the tax relief Republicans delivered for Americans during the first Trump administration. I mentioned our national security priorities, and let me just say that national security is going to be a priority for Republicans throughout the year. We are finally now considering the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 here in the Senate this week--almost 3 months into the new fiscal year. Under Republican leadership, the NDAA will not be put on the back burner. I am also committed to ensuring that we return to the regular-order consideration of appropriations bills. I will devote extensive time to the floor consideration of appropriations bills when they are ready in order to avoid an end-of-the-year pileup and problematic continuing resolutions, something with which, right now, we are very familiar. Deciding how taxpayer money is spent is a serious responsibility, and it deserves serious floor time. Members should plan to take a lot of amendment votes during this process and throughout the year. That will mean taking tough votes at times, but that, folks, is what we were sent here to do. Finally, Members should expect to take up a farm bill in 2025. We are now more than a year overdue on the next bill, and farmers and ranchers in my State and around the country are waiting for Washington to update farm programs to reflect current agriculture needs, and I am committed to bringing a bill to the floor in the coming year. There are no two ways about it--2025 will be intense, but we have a real opportunity here to deliver for the American people on continued tax relief, on border security, on national security, and beyond. We are going to seize the day. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Romney), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, yesterday the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. I am glad that the Senate will finally take up the bill next week, and it should be on its way to the President's desk soon. But there is no excuse for the delay. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the bill 6 months ago--6 months ago. But Leader Schumer never bothered to bring the Senate bill to the floor. And I can tell you right now that this will not be the case next year with the new Republican majority. Next year, the NDAA will not be placed on the back burner. It will be a priority. The NDAA--National Defense Authorization Act--is one of the most important bills that we consider each year, and that is even more true in a time of increasing instability on the world stage. American servicemembers have come under attack from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East. China is taking increasingly brazen actions in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Russia continues to wage unprovoked war on Ukraine. Israel is defending itself against terrorists. And there is a disturbing trend of collaboration among our adversaries to sow chaos into every corner of the world. The U.S. military stands guard against these threats and countless others. And it is critical that it has the resources and capabilities it needs to deter threats against America and, if necessary, to respond. But our readiness is not where it needs to be. Adversaries like China are outpacing us in defense investments. We are falling behind in critical technologies. The number of Air Force planes and Navy ships is approaching record lows. Our supply and production of munitions is inadequate to meet demand. And our military increasingly depends on rapidly aging supplies and infrastructure. We need to turn this around. And I am pleased that this year's National Defense Authorization Act addresses some of these serious readiness issues. And I want to say right out that it is not a perfect bill. I am disappointed the bill we will be voting on doesn't include Senator Wicker's proposed--and sorely needed--defense increase, which received bipartisan support in the Armed Services Committee. And I will push for needed additional funding in the coming year. But I am pleased that this bill directs resources to a number of priorities. It upgrades our capabilities in advanced technologies like hypersonics, missile defense, drones, and artificial intelligence. It addresses our munitions challenges, expands Navy shipbuilding, and reverses the shrinking Air Force fleet. It ensures the Pentagon is focused on defense, not diversity programs. It supports our allies in Israel and Taiwan. And it provides a pay raise to our troops and a larger pay hike for junior enlisted members. This bill is a step forward on the path to closing the readiness deficit that we currently have, and South Dakota will play a critical role in closing that gap. In 2019, the Air Force announced that Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota would host the first B-21 Raider mission. The B-21 will be the backbone of the Air Force's bomber fleet. It will enable the United States to project power and deter threats around the world. And it will employ some of the most advanced technology in executing its stealth missions. I am proud that this bill fully funds the B-21 at Ellsworth and the support facilities that will be needed to House this critical mission. When I look at where we are today, it is sometimes hard to remember that not long after I was elected to the Senate, Ellsworth was slated for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. I spent some of my first months as a Senator in a sprint to save the base. There were those who wondered whether a small State like South Dakota would have the clout to protect Ellsworth. But we got to work, and with the combined efforts of a lot of people, we kept the base. We proved that closing Ellsworth would not only cost more money, it would diminish readiness. And the Commission voted to keep Ellsworth open. But we didn't stop there. We went right back to work to make sure that Ellsworth would never be threatened with closure again. And today, it is an undisputed asset to the Air Force and to our national defense. National defense has always been a priority for me. I believe in peace through strength. I believe that deterrence works, and it is a lot cheaper to invest in a strong military by choice than to spend on a war by necessity. So I can promise that next year, national security will be a priority in the Senate. We will work to make sure that the military has everything it needs to project American strength and to keep the peace. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday, President Biden delivered a speech on the economy--a last attempt to rescue his dismal economic record. Incredibly, during the course of the speech, he repeated a phrase that he has often used about growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out. I am not sure how that phrase continues to get past White House fact checkers because if there is one thing that President Biden has failed to do, it is to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out. Thanks to President Biden's signature economic legacy--an inflation crisis of historic proportions--today, a typical family has to pay an additional $13,375 per year to maintain the same standard of living it enjoyed when the President took office--$13,375 per year, more than $1,000 per month. And who do you think that affects the most? Not billionaire Democrat donors or Hollywood stars. No. It affects the bottom and the middle the most--the people who don't have a spare $13,000 lying around and who have had to cut back on extras or, in many cases, essentials to survive in the Biden economy. CBS News exit polling in November found that two-thirds of voters described the economy as bad, and 45 percent said their financial situations were worse than they were 4 years ago. And it is no wonder. President Biden likes to talk about giving families breathing room, but his economy took away breathing room for a whole lot of Americans. Working Americans paying 22 percent more for groceries and 31 percent more for gas and 28 percent more for electricity and 23 percent more in rent than they were when President Biden took office are not seeing a lot of breathing room for their budgets. The President likes to pretend, as he did in his speech yesterday, that he came in and saved the economy after COVID, but the truth is, the economy was already well on its way to a healthy recovery, and his massive, ill-advised, supposed COVID relief legislation helped kick off an inflation crisis whose reverberations are still being felt today in family budgets around the country. President Biden can give all the speeches he wants touting his economic record, but his economy has been the very opposite of a boon to lower and middle-income families. The good news is that the days of President Biden's disastrous economic policies are numbered. In January, President Trump will take office, and Republicans will have control of the House and the Senate. Expanding economic opportunity and increasing growth and Americans' wages will be a top priority. That means taking action via reconciliation to preserve the tax relief that Republicans delivered during the first Trump administration--tax relief that improved take- home pay for millions of hard-working Americans. It also means targeting onerous regulations choking our economy, like the thousand- plus Biden-Harris regulations that have already cost Americans well over $1.5 trillion. It means things like unleashing American energy and restoring American energy dominance, which will benefit both the economy and our national security. President Biden's energy policies have jeopardized the future of our already shaky electric grid and set us up for future supply problems, but his war on American energy ends next month, and a better future is in sight. It won't take long now. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, 10 million. Between official U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters and known ``got-aways,'' there have been roughly 10 million migrant encounters at our southern border during the Biden-Harris administration. To put that number in perspective, that is roughly 10 times the population of my home State of South Dakota. Ten million is larger than the population of Colorado. It is larger than the population of Tennessee. It is larger than the population of Maryland, of Massachusetts, of Indiana. I could keep going. Ten million is larger than the population of the vast majority of U.S. States. Needless to say, a crisis of this size has had consequences. Shelters have been overwhelmed. Border cities have been overwhelmed. Blue cities far from the border have been overwhelmed. Border Patrol agents are exhausted, as their Chief noted in an interview last week. I haven't even mentioned the national security implications. There is no question that the chaos at our southern border represents a serious security risk for our country. And you don't have to take my word for it. The Department of Homeland Security's 2025 threat assessment notes: Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States. That is from the Biden Department of Homeland Security's 2025 threat assessment. The June arrest of 8 Tajikistan nationals with suspected ties to ISIS who had illegally entered the country as well as the identification of more than 400 migrants who used an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network to enter the United States are just two examples of the kinds of threats we face. Then there is the fact that chaos at the border creates opportunities for cross-border illegal activity, like the deadly trade in fentanyl, which affects communities around our country. My State of South Dakota is about as far away from the southern border as you can get, but law enforcement officials consistently tell me that the illegal drugs they are dealing with have entered the country across our southern border. Four years of recordbreaking illegal immigration at our southern border under the Biden-Harris administration. Ten million encounters-- and those are the migrants that we know of. It has been a dangerous 4 years, but the end is in sight. When President Trump and Republicans take control in January, stemming the flood of illegal immigration will be one of our first priorities. Under Republicans, national security here at home, at our borders and in our communities, will be just as important as taking care of our national security priorities abroad. We are going to start right away with a once-in-a-generation investment in border security and immigration enforcement here in Congress. Among other things, that package will include substantial resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, increase detention space, and provide the barriers and technology we need to fully secure the border. There is a lot of work to do and a big mess to clean up. A recent article reported that there are around 1.4 million individuals who have been ordered to be deported but are still here in the United States, and most of them are not in immigration custody. And that is just one small corner of the problem. As I said, we have a lot of work to do, but Republicans are committed, for the sake of our national security and for the sake of our rule of law. Four years of recordbreaking illegal immigration, but the end is in sight. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Sullivan) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, one of the drawbacks of the end of a Congress is the need to say goodbye to departing colleagues. We are losing two Republicans this year--Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Braun. Mitt gave his farewell remarks yesterday, and they were characteristic of the man I have come to know: humble, faith-filled, patriotic. Mitt is what I would call a character guy. He is guided by a moral compass, and he is not afraid to live by it. And in a world where being religious isn't always highly regarded, he is unapologetic about his faith. Mitt is also a big family guy. Like me, he married up, and he and his wife Ann have shared the good times and the tough times for well now over 50 years of marriage--hard to believe to look at him. But they say children keep you young, and Mitt has 5 sons and an incredible 25 grandchildren--a beautiful legacy all on its own. Mitt's professional legacy needs no recounting. He is well known as a successful businessman, a successful Republican Governor of a deep-blue State, and most recently as a successful Senator. He may be leaving us after just one term, but that term was filled with an outsized amount of work, and he has more than earned his retirement.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer) and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Vance). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer) would have voted ``nay.''