| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| We're working on all these issues. | ||
| Did you want to answer something? | ||
| No, I was just going to say we also got a tax bill coming up that can help bring industry back from overseas by making it more attractive to do business in the United States rather than overseas. | ||
| Look at the Pfizer report. | ||
| A few years ago, Pfizer paid no taxes in the United States. | ||
| They basically went and did business overseas. | ||
| That's the kind of idea that the Democrats have. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Do you believe that former Senator Menendez needs a pardon? | ||
| Senate Majority Leader John Thune spoke about President Trump's tariff plans, specifically against China, during remarks to reporters on Capitol Hill. | ||
| Well, good afternoon. | ||
| We are wrapping up our first 100 days here in the United States Senate, and I couldn't be prouder of what our colleagues have accomplished, the things that we've gotten done. | ||
| We have moved the president's nominees through the Senate in the fastest possible pace in 20 years. | ||
| We did the longest continuous Senate session, 10 weeks, that we've had in 15 years. | ||
| And obviously, we've rolled back a lot of really onerous and burdensome Biden administration regulations through the Congressional Review Act. | ||
| We passed Lake and Riley, which the President signed into law, the HALT-Fentanyl Bill. | ||
| Same thing, been signed into law, most important and consequential, I should say, pieces of legislation. | ||
| And we passed a budget resolution that sets us up to do the things that we have on our agenda along with President Trump, and that is to extend the Trump tax cuts, obviously to rebuild the military, restore American energy dominance, and secure our southern border. | ||
| At the same time, that we are saving money, finding ways to have the government operate in a less costly and more efficient way and attacking deficit reduction. | ||
| So I'm hopeful that as we head into this this week now, that the House will be able to act on the Senate budget resolution so we can get the reconciliation process started, which is where we actually do the hard work of ensuring that there isn't a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people at the end of the year, where we're actually building the wall and taking the steps to secure our southern border, | ||
| where we're actually preparing our military to face any of the threats that they face in an increasingly dangerous world, and also lowering the gas, or lowering, I should say, the cost of gasoline and other forms of energy in this country through the energy reforms that we intend to make. | ||
| So we are excited about what we've gotten done so far, but we know there's a lot more work to do, and we intend to work closely with President Trump and his team, with our counterparts in the House of Representatives, as together we move forward with an agenda that is a good one for the American people and deliver on the mandate that we got in the election last November. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good afternoon. | |
| There seems to be some consternation in the House right now about passing the Senate-approved budget resolution. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is what House Conservatives are proposing, could that have passed with that level of cuts in the Senate? | |
| Well, I'm not sure exactly what they're what they want. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They want a lot less. | |
| You know what? | ||
| They want a much lower or much higher. | ||
| I just said Meyer, Meyer Smith. | ||
| And part of what this is all about, obviously, is the Senate, we have different rules that govern and restrictions that are placed through the Byrd Rule on how we act through budget resolutions and ultimately budget reconciliation. | ||
| And all we simply did was add the Senate basically priorities to the House passed legislation. | ||
| So we didn't touch the instructions that the House gave. | ||
| They can proceed with those. | ||
| And as we get into the reconciliation process, we're going to be very committed to doing as much as we possibly can on deficit reduction. | ||
| I think as you saw, there was a number in there. | ||
| It was a $2 trillion number. | ||
| The House was at $1.5 trillion, $1.5 trillion when they went through their budget resolution process. | ||
| But I think right now, in some ways, these are we're speaking slightly different languages because the House and Senate operate in such different ways. | ||
| But at the end of the day, what this does is it unlocks budget reconciliation and unleashes all the things that we want to accomplish on behalf of the American people. | ||
| And that can only happen when the House and the Senate pass the same budget resolution. | ||
| So I'm hopeful they'll be able to move on that, get the votes that are necessary to get it across the finish line so we can start the next phase of this, which is really where we start making law and deliver on our agenda. | ||
|
unidentified
|
With respect to tariffs, the White House has said that an additional 50 percent tariff will go on China if retaliatory tariffs by China are not taken down. | |
| This means that, according to some estimates, the tariffs could reach as high as 104 percent. | ||
| What do you say to that? | ||
| And what do you say to the markets in particular, which are many rattled by all of these tariffs? | ||
| Well, look, and I think you all have covered this place long enough. | ||
| I think everybody kind of knows my views on tariffs. | ||
| But the fact of the matter is the president ran on this. | ||
| There wasn't a campaign event where he didn't talk about the importance of getting other countries to treat us more fairly when it comes to trade, bilateral trade, multilateral trade in this country. | ||
| And 77 million people voted for him and his agenda. | ||
| And I think he deserves the opportunity to see what kind of deals he can get from some of our trading partners. | ||
| And I think most of us are giving him the space in which to do that and hope that he is successful because that's good for not only for him and his administration, but it's good for the country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Given how important the Chinese market is specifically to South Dakota, soybean exporters, how concerned are you that China says it's going to fight until the end, indicating that they may not reach a deal for months or even longer than that? | |
| Well, and I think there's a lot of rhetoric right now, but I'm hoping that in the end that the Chinese, like a lot of other countries, will come to the table. | ||
| There is clearly, in my view, room for negotiation that would achieve the objectives the President has laid out. | ||
| And it could be the benefit of both the U.S. and China. | ||
| But at this point, I think where we are right now in the process is the President has made it very clear that he wants changes made, starting with fentanyl and the precursors that the Chinese makes and then distributes and gets into this country. | ||
| But I think there are other reciprocal type trading policies that could be implemented if the Chinese will come to the table and work with this administration. | ||
| But I think you've got to give them room to do what they need to do. | ||
| And China right now, that's a lot of hot rhetoric, but they are very dependent upon the U.S. | ||
| They need us as a market. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Do you think more in prices as a result of these policies? | |
| You know, I think at the end of the day, and as I've said this before, and you asked the question about South Dakota and agriculture, yeah, there are all kinds of implications. | ||
| There are a lot of very intricate trading relationships that exist today across the world. | ||
| And ultimately, we don't know what the economic impacts are going to be. | ||
| We hope that the president is successful. | ||
| And if he is, and he gets some reciprocity from other countries around the world, you know, this may all be temporary. | ||
| It may be something that the administration ultimately, you know, adopts a different policy with respect to individual countries that actually come to the table and work out deals. | ||
| And if they do that, then ultimately I think that's a good thing for the American Sumer. | ||
| But obviously, we're all paying attention, and I think the entire country is to the implications of what's been proposed by the administration. | ||
| And, you know, clearly, we want to see an economy that's stronger and more robust, where you've got more jobs being created in this country and the income gap in this country closing as we create better paying jobs in a lot of places around the country that have suffered as a result of the loss of the manufacturing base that we've had here for a long time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
idea of raising taxes on the old termage as Andy Harris and the House quoted? | |
| Coming up today on the C-SPAN Networks. | ||
| At 10 a.m. Eastern, the Senate Commerce Committee meets to consider more of President Trump's executive nominations for NASA Administrator and the Federal Communications Commission. | ||
| The House returns at 12 for work on resolutions to repeal consumer protection rules from the Biden administration, capping overdraft fees charged by large banks and credit unions, and treating digital payment apps like Venmo and PayPal as banks. | ||
| On C-SPAN 2 at 8:30, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson speaks at the American Bankers Association's 2025 Washington Summit. | ||
| And the Senate returns at 10 a.m. to consider President Trump's executive nominations, including for U.S. ambassadors to Israel, Canada, and Mexico. | ||
| On C-SPAN 3 at 10 Eastern, U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer is on Capitol Hill for a second day to testify on President Trump's trade and tariff policies before the House Ways and Means Committee. | ||
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| This Saturday, watch the final segment in our 10-part American History TV series, First 100 Days. | ||
| We've been exploring the early months of presidential administrations with historians and authors and through the C-SPAN archives. | ||
| And we've learned about accomplishments and setbacks and how events impacted presidential terms and the nation up to present day. | ||
| This Saturday, the first 100 days of Donald Trump's first term. | ||
| As a businessman, he won elective office for the first time in 2016 by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. | ||
| President Trump pushed for construction of a wall at the southern border, a travel ban against people from certain countries, repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and a tax cut plan. | ||
| He also nominated Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court, the first of three justices confirmed to the high court during his presidency. | ||
| Watch the final program in our American History TV series, First 100 Days, Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern on American History TV on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| President Trump talked about tariffs and his trade policies at a dinner hosted by the National Republican Congressional Committee. | ||
| During his nearly hour and a half of remarks, the president also addresses the 2026 midterm elections. |