Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says Republicans won’t “stand idly by” if incoming congressional Democrats seek to reverse GOP measures following their midterm wins.
Democrats gained significant majorities in both the House and Senate in Tuesday’s elections.
“Thankfully, we still have President [Donald] Trump in the White House, and we’ll work with him to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism,” the Senate GOP leader posted on X Wednesday. “We cannot let their fringe positions become the mainstream.”
Thune also said Senate Republicans were able to “put up a strong record of accomplishment that’s created safer streets, more money in Americans’ pockets, and new opportunities for families and businesses to get ahead.”
“After fighting Democrat obstruction at every turn, we prevented the largest tax hike in American history, secured our border in an unprecedented way, confirmed the president’s Cabinet at the fastest pace in two decades, and put strong conservative judges on benches across the country faster than we have since the Reagan administration,” he said.
Some conservative critics, however, disagreed. In an interview with The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek, historian and conservative writer Victor Davis Hanson said he believes Republicans in Congress accomplished little over the past two years or so, including confirming Trump’s picks for the judiciary.
The SAVE America Act, a key voter ID provision, was not passed, Hanson said, adding that Republicans also could not “really repeal” the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“Even the judicial nominations were pretty slow,” he said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in an interview with Fox News Wednesday evening that he also believes the GOP-led Congress wasn’t able to codify Trump’s executive orders.
“Why haven’t we done immigration, shut off H-1B visas? Why haven’t we codified Trump’s immigration executive orders? Why haven’t we stripped jurisdiction from the federal courts over deportation cases?” he asked. “There’s so many things that could have been done. They didn’t even attempt it.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who likely will become the upper chamber’s majority leader when the next Congress is sworn in, said in a post on X that his party “will fight to make life affordable again.”
But some Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), signaled that Democratic-led investigations will be held. An X post from Wyden after the midterms simply read, “Subpoenas.”
Polls have shown that the high cost of living and other economic concerns were key issues during the Tuesday election. A recent AP Voter Poll showed around three-quarters of voters were angry or dissatisfied with the state of the economy.
Thune has previously signaled he intends to run for another term as the Republican leader of the Senate.
“The assumption is yes,” he told RollCall in September, responding to whether he’ll run again for the top GOP leadership position.
Thune’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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