00:00Well, you're all still here. I thought maybe it would have broken up by now, but we just had a very productive meeting where our conference talked about clearing the nominations backlog, and we are where we are right now because of the Democrat obstruction, which is historic and unprecedented.
00:21We have never seen a time where the opposition party has literally blocked and forced the president and his team, and us here as the majority in the Senate, to go through all the machinations of trying to get a nominee across the finish line.
00:40It used to be that these were done largely by unanimous consent or voice vote, and this president is the only president at this point in his presidency, going back to Herbert Hoover.
00:53We went back all the way to the Hoover administration, who hasn't had a single one of his noms confirmed either by voice vote or unanimous consent.
01:00So this is of the Democrats' making. It's not something that we can sustain. This business model doesn't work.
01:07This president was duly elected by the American people, and they expect him to be able to put his team in place to govern the country and enact the agenda that they voted for.
01:18So we are in the process of continuing to have the conversations with our Republican senators, but expect us to move forward with a plan that would enable us to clear the backlog of nominees.
01:32It just flat has to happen. And the reason, again, is because of the Trump derangement syndrome that afflicts the Democrats in the United States Senate to the point where their hatred of President Trump is borderline pathological.
01:47There isn't anything right now that they want to vote for that he has his fingerprints on, and getting his team in place is absolutely essential.
01:56It's part of governing this country, and we're going to move forward.
02:01On the other issues that are before the Senate, I'm delighted to have the defense authorization bill on the floor, which, again, is unusual given a recent precedent.
02:10This is something that in the past the Democrats have typically waited until December to do for political purposes or other reasons.
02:15But Chairman Wicker, under his leadership, Senate Armed Services Committee acted, and they have incorporated literally 1,000 member requests, both Democrat and Republican, in the product that is on the floor.
02:28We hope to have an open amendment process where other members can have an opportunity to get their amendments voted on and perhaps strengthen and improve the bill even further.
02:37But this is something that is so important to our country.
02:40It's a piece of legislation we need to do every year.
02:43We wanted to do it in a timely way, under regular order, the way it should be done, and that's why I'm very pleased that it is on the floor in the month of September, open for amendment.
02:53And I hope that in the end we can get a defense authorization bill passed that addresses the critical needs that our country has when it comes to national security
03:02and the very dangerous world in which we all live.
03:07And we did a lot of funding of some of these necessary priorities in the one big, beautiful bill, but the defense authorization bill is the place where the issues of our military,
03:16when it comes to our uniformed personnel, when it comes to weaponry and technology, military assets, all get addressed.
03:22And so I'm pleased to have the bill on the floor, and I'm going to hand it off now to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
03:31the senator from Mississippi, Senator Wicker, to talk about that.
03:34Well, thank you, leader.
03:34And actually, Senator Thune said it well and said it almost comprehensively.
03:40We have a bill that has been reported out of the committee almost unanimously.
03:47We have one member that always votes no, but other than that, it was 26 votes yes and one vote no.
03:54We hope to take our first vote to get actually on the bill today.
04:00We're running a hotline on a manager's package and also some test amendments out there to see what we can vote on.
04:09So I hope we're able to get some amendments voted on.
04:13I probably will not start until tomorrow, but perhaps tomorrow morning before members start leaving, we can get some votes done.
04:22This is a bipartisan effort.
04:27We've done it two ways.
04:29Last year, we waited at the last minute, and members really didn't have that much input.
04:35Year before last, we did it more like I hope we can do it this week.
04:40We had two manager's packages voted on bipartisanly, and we had a number of votes.
04:50Members got to express their votes, got to express their views and make the bill better.
04:58I hope we can do it that way, and next week is a very important week for national defense.
05:04So thank you, Mr. Leader.
05:05Questions for Senator Wicker?
05:09Okay.
05:09Yep.
05:10Do you favor an extension of the ACA tax credits that are expiring at the end of this year, either in government funding or in separate vehicles?
05:17Well, the Democrats created this problem by putting the deadlines or the phase-outs in the legislation they acted on earlier,
05:26and by dramatically expanding the size of the program in the first place.
05:29So I hope they will come to us with a suggestion and a solution about how to address it.
05:35But obviously, it's something that, yeah, some of our members are paying attention to.
05:40Given what we've seen.
05:42Republicans on the House side are being consumed by the Jeffrey Epstein matter just today.
05:46I'm sure you saw there was a press conference by survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.
05:51What is the Senate doing?
05:52What are Republicans doing here to make sure that the administration releases these files?
05:57Well, I mean, I think I've said, and I can't speak for, my colleagues can speak for themselves, but that I'm in favor of more transparency.
06:04I think that as much information as they can put out there, again, that protects victims is good.
06:12And so I'm encouraging that.
06:15You know, the House of Representatives obviously is very engaged in a broader conversation about that.
06:20But with respect to other things that might happen here in the Senate, as I do generally, leave those matters up to the committee chairs.
06:27Are you going to answer this?
06:28You said yesterday you don't want the CR to be negotiated in a leadership suite like it was under Schumer and the Democrats previously.
06:36What do you envision for moving the CR later this month?
06:39That you're going to receive something from the House, and do you bring it directly to the floor, or do you send it to the Appropriations Committee?
06:44Well, I mean, I think the CR, hopefully, yes, it will come from the House, would be my expectation.
06:50But hopefully built around conversations that have been held between Tom Cole, the chair of the Appropriations Committee in the House,
06:56and Senator Susan Collins, the chair of the Appropriations Committee here in the Senate, that will guide that work.
07:02And then obviously the White House is going to play a very big role in all of this, too.
07:06But my hope would be that we, whatever that CR looks like, that it's clean, and that it enables us to buy some time to get a regular appropriations process done.
07:15I still think the best way to fund the government is through the appropriations process, and I'm hoping that this year, unlike past years, where the Democrats have the majority here,
07:25we actually will have an opportunity to put bills on the floor, appropriation bills on the floor, have an amendment process that enables all members to have their voices heard,
07:35and in a very constructive way, take care of funding the government the old-fashioned way.
07:39But we will inevitably, it looks like, need a CR for some time in the foreseeable future.
07:46And what that looks like and how long that might extend, I think, probably is a matter of discussion.
07:52Spending cuts? Is that on the table? Spending cuts? Any of them?
07:56Well, I mean, I think the Appropriations Committee, as Susan Collins points out, in the past, always has rescissions in their bills.
08:05And I think that spending cuts sure ought to be on the table.
08:08If there are ways we can find savings, make government more efficient, get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse, we ought to be looking for ways to do that.
08:13So I certainly welcome that conversation and debate, and I think most of our members share that view.
08:19So, you know, as we go about appropriations, it's also figuring out what funding levels are necessary to keep the government funded and programs funded for the next year.
08:28But it's also about trying to make our government more efficient, smaller, and more fiscally responsible.
