With their leadership elections settled, Senate Republicans are gearing up to “maximize” their remaining time in power before Senate Democrats take over next year.
All eyes are again on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who was re-elected to another term as the Republican leader. Shortly after winning, Thune declared that he and the Senate GOP were “committed to being here to do whatever it takes to get as much done as we can.”
“That means extending the calendar here, the number of days we’re here, the number of hours we’re here, the number of votes we may end up taking,” Thune said. “But we are going to finish this legislative session strong.”
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The Senate was initially set to be in roughly 20 days from Tuesday until the changing of the guard, but Republicans are now squeezing the juice out of every last minute to ram through must-pass legislation, dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees and more.
And Republicans agreed to hold themselves to that sprint until the end of the year at the tail end of their marathon closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
Lawmakers plan to “maximize the 54 days we have with congressional majorities, to confirm every judicial nominee and every executive nominee that the conference approves of, to pass our core Republican priorities, and to do everything humanly possible to pass a reconciliation bill before Jan. 3,” according to a resolution agreed to in the meeting obtained by Fox News Digital.
Another crack at budget reconciliation could be the trickiest part of their ambitious year-end gauntlet, particularly depending on what lawmakers try to cram into the process.
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“I think we’ve got to keep it realistic to probably have any chance of passing, pretty narrow,” Thune told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who chairs the Senate Budget Committee responsible for developing the scaffolding around the process, told Fox News Digital that he intended to present his plan to Republicans during their lunchtime meeting on Wednesday.
It’s also where Republicans are considering one last attempt at getting the SAVE America Act, or a version of it that could pass muster with the Senate rules referee.
“Oh yeah, that’d be part of it, you know, to provide funding for states for election integrity type of measures,” Johnson said.
Defense funding will be another major task for Republicans, given that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats are determined to use Congress’ power over the nation’s purse strings as a way to choke off spending on the Iran war.
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Thune acknowledged that reconciliation could be another landing spot for Pentagon dollars to flow, but hoped Democrats would choose a different route.
“It’s going to depend on whether or not they have any of their members who are persuaded that making sure that we have enough munitions and ammo and weaponry to be able to defend the country is a priority,” Thune said. “I hope they do, in which case maybe we won’t have to go down that path, but we’re scoping it out right now.”
One of the White House’s top priorities, and at the top of Thune’s to-do list, is confirming a slate of judicial and executive branch nominees. As of Tuesday, there were 23 judicial nominees, many of whom still needed to go through committee, and nearly 100 executive branch nominees that need confirmation.
There is a slew of other high-priority items that were punted to the lame duck, like the National Defense Authorization Act, a bipartisan permitting reform package and keeping the government funded.
Preventing another shutdown, or at least hammering out a deal, could be tricky given how the political winds shifted after the election.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital that “where we can clear the decks, the better,” to fund the government.
“I know that prior to the election that was the thought of some of our Democratic colleagues as well, but we have to be able to work together to get some of that done,” Britt said.