Western South Dakota News

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed his views on the current legislative situation during a press conference with Senate Republican leadership in Washington. He addressed the recent developments concerning the GENIUS bill, which focuses on stablecoins.

Thune highlighted that despite previous support from five Democrats when the legislation emerged from the Senate Banking Committee, "every single Democrat" voted against cloture on the motion to proceed last week. He remarked, "So the Democrats have now found newfound admiration for the Senate filibuster."

The junior senator from Arizona was mentioned by Thune for emphasizing that Senate Democrats have employed the filibuster four times recently. Thune commented, "It's a pretty remarkable turnaround – not that hypocrisy is something that's new in this town, but this continues to take it to a whole new level."

In light of these events, Thune announced that Republicans would focus on confirming President Trump's nominees instead of advancing the GENIUS bill. He noted, "This is the first president that hasn't had a nominee approved by voice vote or unanimous consent at this point in a Senate, going back – if you can believe this – to the Ford administration."

Despite what he termed as Democratic obstruction and delay tactics, Thune asserted that Republicans would continue pursuing their agenda, prioritizing placing presidential nominees promptly.

He concluded with hope for future bipartisan cooperation on the GENIUS bill: "At some point, hopefully the Democrats will come back to the table on the GENIUS bill."