Thune on Fox News: Republicans Forced President Biden to Cut Spending
Interview
"I think what's going to happen when it comes to the Senate, Neil, is there will be, and there should be, honestly, an opportunity for members to offer amendments. And I think that with some of them, you mentioned some of them who have amendment ideas, they should get that opportunity.
But in the end, the Senate will do its work, it will act. It will work its will, and my expectation is if it passes the House tonight along the lines of what happened earlier on the vote on the rule, that's a pretty big majority of Republicans coming out of the House of Representatives, and I think that bodes well for its eventual passage in the Senate.
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I give great credit to Speaker McCarthy and the House leadership for at least being able to move something where we started at zero. I mean, President Biden wanted a clean debt limit increase with zero spending reforms.
We got a trillion and a half in spending reforms and a number of other important reforms, and so, you know, net, this is a good thing.
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This isn't a perfect deal. You know, it's less for defense than I would have liked and not enough [cuts] on the non-defense discretionary. But if you look at the permitting reforms, you look at the work requirements, you look at the clawback of COVID funds and IRS funds from the Democrats' big spending spree from last summer, there are a lot of good things in here that bend the curve in the right direction, and that's what this is really all about.
You know, spending has been growing out of control. The House negotiated this without any tax increases, without any new government programs, they reduced spending on the non-defense side, got a plus-up in defense. Again, I mean, it's not perfect, believe me. And you know, we're certainly hearing that from our members in the Senate.
But in the end, you have to make a deal, and I think they played the hand they were dealt in the House and came up with a proposal that hopefully will get not only a strong vote in the House, but in the Senate as well."
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