In just two days, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) will begin his tenure as Senate majority leader with a GOP trifecta, a prime opportunity for Republicans to enact President-elect Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also had a trifecta when he became majority leader in 2021. Working with the White House, Democrats passed party-line bills through the budget reconciliation process, meaning bypassing the filibuster. Republicans are now eyeing the same process.
But Schumer has some advice for Thune: A trifecta can also be an opportunity to pass landmark bipartisan legislation — with the Senate in the driver’s seat. This was the case in 2021 and 2022 when the bipartisan infrastructure and CHIPS bills became law, among other proposals.
“The majority leader can set the tone,” Schumer told us in an interview on New Year’s Eve. “And if the tone is, ‘We’re not gonna work with them’ — that was more [Mitch] McConnell’s tone when he was majority leader — it’ll be a much less successful two years for John as majority leader.”
Easier said than done. While Schumer declined to list specific issues he wants to see addressed, the New York Democrat and Thune have been heavily involved in crafting legislation on artificial intelligence, for example. Schumer has also tried to shepherd China-focused legislation through the chamber, though that’s proven difficult.
Still, Schumer is correct that Thune is about to wield immense power and could therefore choose to address big issues that aren’t considered “must-pass.”
“What makes it even more compelling was that in 2021 and 2022, all of this stuff originated in the Senate and was sent to the House,” Schumer said. “My advice to him is… work to see where we can work together. The greater imperative is, the House isn’t going to be able to do very much.”
This would still require buy-in from House GOP leaders, though they’ll be hampered by a majority that’s even smaller than the Senate’s. A lot of it could come down to Thune’s willingness to stand up to both House Republicans and Trump if they resist a big bipartisan Senate deal. Recall how House GOP leaders had no interest in passing the Kids Online Safety Act despite near-unanimous Senate approval. Or what happened to the bipartisan Senate immigration proposal.
The Thune era. Few can argue that the first two years of Schumer’s tenure as majority leader represented one of the most productive Congresses in decades. And it’s no surprise that Schumer would want that to be the standard.
But Schumer has also come under scrutiny from Republicans the last four years for not prioritizing floor time for must-pass agenda items, such as appropriations bills or the annual defense policy package.
The Appropriations and Armed Services panels completed their work with massive bipartisan margins last year. Yet just three of the 12 spending bills saw floor time. And the full Senate never considered the chamber’s version of the defense authorization bill, instead waiting until year’s end to rubber-stamp a compromise bicameral package.
Thune has promised to prioritize both for floor time and has laid out an aggressive Senate schedule for 2025 in order to accomplish it all. This means less time for bipartisan legislating.
Border security will be a priority focus in the early days of the 119th Congress, per a source familiar with the matter, as Republicans try to pass a non-tax reconciliation package in the first 100 days.
