Good job here by John Thune.  Let President Trump work on the Russia-Ukraine problem and await his request for more legislative tools.   A refreshing change in the Senate leadership approach.

WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he would hold off on advancing a closely watched package of sanctions targeting Russia’s trading partners after President Donald Trump said he was prepared to act himself later this summer if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t move toward a peace deal with Ukraine.

“It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,” Thune told reporters. “If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go.” (more)

Let Trump be Trump.  He’s trying to stop this U.S/NATO proxy war, by cutting the Gordian knot in Ukraine.

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Cautious optimism is warranted, however it looks like Senate Majority Leader John Thune is pushing hard to hit the deadlines set by President Trump for passage of the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) reconciliation package.

Speaking today right before a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Thune noted he is optimistic the Senate can finalize their negotiations on the BBB over the next two days, setting up the Senate to hold their first cloture votes on Friday and a vote-a-rama through the weekend.

President Trump is still assisting Leader Thune with phone calls to Senate republicans between foreign policy engagements.  Trump is only staying in the Netherlands for 24 hours so he can quickly get back to DC to assist in any arm-twisting needed by Thune or Johnson.

According to Politico, House Speaker Mike Johnson has cautioned House representatives to stay in town this weekend and be prepared to reconcile both bills and vote on the package as soon as it exits the Senate.   As many of you are aware, this is a critical legislative package containing a large amount of President Trump’s America First policy priorities.

As things stand right now, it looks like Thune is going to try and get the package into voting position on Friday, with immediate votes to take place.  We are critical of Thune when warranted, but should also appreciate the work of the Majority Leader when he is structurally supportive of the MAGA agenda.

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There are three big Senate confirmation hearings this week, starting with HHS nominee RFK Jr on Wednesday, and then DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard and FBI nominee Kash Patel on Thursday.

Robert F Kennedy Jr will have two days in front of two different committees (Wed and Thursday).  Gabbard will have her Senate Intel Committee hearing and Kash Patel will have his hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.  None of the three are sure things with each of them having about a 50/50 chance of confirmation out of committee as current opposition is aligned.

♦ Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr starts the week Wednesday at 10:00am EST in front of the Senate Finance Committee.  Kennedy’s opposition group consists of one of the largest lobbying groups in Washington DC, Big Pharma and Big Agriculture.

RFK Jr’s goal of reshaping HHS, FDA and USDA faces significant opposition from the lobbying groups who have paid for influence on policy and regulations and the Senators who have received funding to turn that lobbying into legislation and regulation.  On the positive side, the general public sentiment is supportive of the MAHA agenda. Public pressure could be the factor that secures the nomination, but nothing is certain.

♦ Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard represents the biggest internal threat to the Intelligence Community power and control structure within Washington DC.  However, recent reports now reflect that former Senate Intel Committee Chair Richard Burr is her guide in the nomination process.

As SSCI Chairman Burr was in favorable position with the IC in ’17, and ’18, but then after two years of passive support for the Trump targeting operation, he began to get wobbly in the eyes of the Seven Ways from Sunday group. They then carried out an operation to remove Burr via public leaks and investigative ends around Burr’s stock purchases and financial arrangements.  Burr was softly excommunicated from his status and replaced with Marco Rubio.

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Senator John Thune appears with Maria Bartiromo for a discussion on legislative intents and the schedule to confirm President Trump’s Cabinet nominees.  Senator Thune outlines his expectation that 12 nominations gain full senate confirmation within the first 15 days.  WATCH:

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune is maintaining his pro-Trump agenda position into day #4 of the administration.  Thune appears with the insufferable Sean Hannity to discuss his recent meetings with President Trump and Speaker Johnson, as well as the plans and forecast for legislative support of the American First agenda.

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The Democrats in the Senate are back to their old tricks of using delay tactics to stall President Trump’s nominees for cabinet positions.

The nomination of CIA Director John Ratcliffe passed out of the Senate Intelligence Committee with a vote of 14-3.  However, when the Majority Leader John Thune calls the Ratcliffe nomination to the floor for a full Senate vote, suddenly individual Senators start using procedural processes to delay the votes.

The issue is not about Ratcliffe per se’, without doubt Ratcliffe will pass a full senate confirmation vote without issue when it takes place.  The Democrats are using Ratcliffe to set the stage for delays in Pete Hegseth to be Defense secretary and Kristi Noem to be DHS secretary; along with a pending confirmation hearing set for Tulsi Gabbard (DNI) and Kash Patel (FBI).

This ultimately becomes the first test for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has previously said he would fully support a rapid confirmation process for all of President Trump’s nominees.  Former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did nothing to force the Upper Chamber to confirm, Senator John Thune does not want to be seen as following McConnell’s path.  WATCH:

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Leader Thune and Senator Barrasso (#2) are now pledging to keep the Senate in session until the nominees are confirmed.  This stops the Senators from going home but inevitably ends up on a game of attrition. Whose determination will last longest, the minority resistance or the Senate majority.

This activity in the Senate comes as the latest Presidential Tracking Poll shows a net approval of +14, President Trump’s highest approval rating ever.  The Democrats in the upper chamber are walking a narrow path of irrelevance; however, they are counting on their superiority in the Senate to outlast any negative public opinion.

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Not a surprising appointment all things considered.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to replace Senator Marco Rubio, pending Rubio’s resignation from his Senate seat which will follow his confirmation.

This will provide an opportunity to position DeSantis loyalist, his Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier, as Florida Attorney General to replace Moody. This also positions congressman Byron Donalds to run for Florida Governor, supporting the MAGA coalition.

Moody will take up a pro-DeSantis position in the Senate in preparation for a head-to-head contest between Ron DeSantis and JD Vance in 2028 for the GOP presidential nomination. As senator, Ashley Moody will be unlikely to challenge any of the Trump agenda and will likely support it given the stakes for Ron. All in all, a predictable outcome.

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The alligator emojis will be happy, so too will the MAGA coalition.

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The 1,547 page “continuing resolution bill” is available for review HERE.  They are calling this a “CR” (continuing resolution) bill to fund government.  However, only approximately 10 pages (15 to 25) are the funding mechanism; the rest is a regulatory construct, an attempt to circumvent the Trump administration, and position the federal government to defend against structural changes President Trump is intending to initiate.

Within THE BILL, in an effort to force Republicans to support it, there is a section approximately 500 pages, that spends and directs $100 billion for disaster relief in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina following the devasting late season hurricanes.  The disaster relief portion should be a stand-alone bill but is included in the massive omnibus spending package because it creates votes to support.

President Trump is well aware of the mechanics inside the Omnibus (CR) package and, together with Elon Musk, has announced his opposition to it.

President Trump is urging congress to pass only the portion of the bill that would tie up loose ends and keep government funded before he takes office next month.  His direction is to raise the government’s borrowing authority –debt ceiling– and extending government funding.

Doing a short-term funding CR means lawmakers must strip out all the non-funding elements backed by Democrats.  This would allow only Republicans to pass the bill.  The stuff Democrats want would be removed.  Currently the Democrats are aligned to support the bill and vote for it because the majority of the bill is toxic regulatory changes.

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I have been waiting for someone to outline what the Dept of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is all about.  Unfortunately, perhaps due to the history of the matter, it appears few understand. So, with that in mind, and accepting the operators of DOGE may not have a fulsome comprehension of the dynamic, here is what it means.

The last Federal Budget that passed through “regular order” was for Fiscal Year 2008, signed by President George W Bush in September of 2007.  Every budget since has been outside regular order; a series of continuing resolutions, omnibus spending packages and short-term funding mechanisms.  {CITATION}

That is correct.  In the past 17 years, all federal spending has been ‘short-term’ or ‘stop-gap’ spending measures, generally known as “Continuing Resolutions,” where the govt (House and Senate) continue to perpetually resolve to fund the government.  The CRs as they are known, punt the spending debate by accepting a baseline of prior spending and tweaking around the edges.

The key takeaway to begin thinking about DOGE is to understand that REGULAR ORDER has not been used since Fiscal Year 2008.

Title III of the Congressional Budget Act outlines a legal timeline that each President and Congress must follow {SEE HERE}.  Prior to 2007, Continuing Resolutions were only used to resolve short term arguments about spending priorities.

♦ BACKGROUND – The President is required by law to submit his budget by the first Monday in February.  Yes, even when an election takes place and a President doesn’t assume office until January 20th, the first Monday in February is still the legal requirement for the new White House budget proposal.

The Presidents’ budget is then submitted to The House of Representatives, where two weeks later the Congressional Budget Office, reviews the budget and issues an opinion as to the cost of the budget.   No later than six weeks after the President submits his budget all House committees send the House Appropriations Committee their spending proposals [April 15].

Through May and June, each budgetary appropriations bill from the House is sent to the Senate.  The Senate receives the House appropriations bills, then reviews through the Senate Appropriations Committee (Thune just picked Susan Collins as Chair).  The Senate proposes their spending priorities based on the House bill because the House has constitutional authority to originate all spending [June 15].  The House and Senate budgets are “reconciled” using parliamentary procedures [June 30] and then sent to the President for signature.

The fiscal year begins October 1st.

That’s the regular order process.

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Defense Secretary Nominee Pete Hegseth paused for an impromptu press gaggle with assembled media following another day of discussions and questions from Senators.  WATCH:

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