thune: senator thune. sen. thune:i think we have covered already the issue of spectrum but we look forward to working with you on that. that is a critically important issue for our economy and leadership in the world. i want to come back quickly to the broadband equity access and deployment program. i didn't vote for the legislation that created this program, but it provided over 42 billion dollars to expand access to rural areas. as you know the program has yet to connect a single household. in the biden administration included a number of requirements not envisioned by the congress so the program, including climate change mandates, rate regulation, onerous labor requirements, and other concerning items. she's why they have not signed anybody up. there is not a single telecom in south dakota that serves a lot of underserved areas that could use the program, because of all of these mandates and conditions they put on it. will you commit to working with states to remove these requirements so that funds can go to

mathieu thune i move to proceed to -- mr. thune: i move to proceed to legislative session. presiding officer: question is on the motion. a senator: i request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: a while having successfully confirmed budget director on the partyline vote of 53 -- 47 majority leader john thune now attempting to advance another president trump's nominees robert f kennedy jr. to be health and human services head. democrats insisting on a procedure about here they will be the first of two votes that will enable the majority leader to make his motion regarding mrt was set up the next vote on the kennedy nomination potentially next week in the senate returns. so, will sent lawmakers vote will show a portion of the confirmation for another president trump's pics, jamieson greer to be trade representative. [background noises] mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. the clerk: mr. booker. mr. boozman. the clerk: mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. the clerk: ms. cantwell. the cle

both on spending, as well as the role of congress, and i do think that speaker johnson and leader thune are in a rush to deliver as much as they can for president trump. that is who they answer to, not their constituents or their conferences. but that's who they answer to. and so we see that in everything that they do, from deadlines to bills to the issues of the day. the vice chair mentioned, this is on them to deliver funding bills and to deliver for the president. if they can't do that, they have the votes to do that. we'll see if they can. reporter: you talk about the pushback by democrats on president trump and some of the things the republicans are trying to do. what is the appropriate approach? is it to ask senate democrats to block all nominees if possible? at least slow walk them? is it to take over the streets of washington, d.c., and if that's the case, also why then -- saying this is not a focus of the caucus on the articles of impeachment from mr. green, it would seem if you think the administration is doing all of these dastardly things, that's something that the caucus wo

more broadly, do you feel leader thune and speaker johnson are abdicating their constitutional authority by allowing the president to step on congress' authority? how are democrats planning to push back on that? mr. aguilar: vice chair lieu and i were pleased and privileged to be able to join leader jeff rains whip clark along with brad sherman anne judy chew to -- judy chu to tour the fire. our hope, our focus is to make sure that we help our fellow citizens, our americans across the country, when there are disasters. hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes. all of that deserves an immediate response. we lift up the work that fema and army core are doing to help residents recover and rebuild. we need to keep the politics out of this. i think that there are a number of republicans who feel the same way. thankfully we'll work in a process that meets the needs of the american public going through disasters no matter what they are in a blue state or red state. i appreciate the governor being here. it's important to talk about the needs that our residents have. that the residents of south

what does john thune thune do? allow him to move forward with that? will he block that? will it be a point of tension? will trump simply drop it? we know trump doesn't like to drop things, but he may have to if he doesn't have the votes. all right. this is going to be a consequential few days coming up and coming up for us. midterm elections are usually painful for the party in power. so what do the republican leader in charge of keeping the house in gop control tell me about next year? my new reporting is next. >> in the lead with jake tapper, weekdays at four on cnn. >> okay, everyone, our. >> mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition. >> for strength and. >> energy. >> ensure with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health, and ensure complete with. 30g of protein. >> if i had to start college again from scratch, i probably wouldn't have made it. university of phoenix made the process of transferring my credits seamless and simple. life's too short to repeat the work you've already done. >> what's up? >> you seem kind of sluggish today. >> things a

thune: all right, here's to vermont. i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourned until 10:30 a.m. on wednesday, february 5. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the senate proceed to executive session and resume executive calendar number 11, and that at 11:30 a.m. all time be expired on the turner nomination. finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's session the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without o

are this is why senator thune is the leader. welcome, thank you, export to the world and we've made huge bipartisan progressrl on that front. not everything has been done. we all know that and we want to continue america's lead and competitive edge. one way we've done thatt and senator campwell asked you about this is about groundbreaking investments in chips and semi conductors despite being the land of 10,000 likes i've actually never called about fish in the commerce department. but i have talked about these issues and so i just want to follow up on her question and just secretary raymundo has done admirable work. >> it's vital to bring semi conducting manufacturing to the united states of america. the chips act was an excellent camp down payment to begin that process. we need to study it, but we need to make sure that you get the benefit of the bargain and domestic manufacturing of semi conductors happens in america. >> got it. but are you going to keep operating this because the senator mentioned there are funds that have t

thune: mr. president, last week the senate processed two members of president trump's energy team. we confirmed lee zeldin to be we confirmed lee zeldin to be ... burgum was elected to be secretary of the interior and this week we will vote on chris wright to be secretary of e energy. i talked about how implementing an all-of-the-above strategy. i spoke about the our abundance of resources and the need to leverage those resources. one of those is america's ability to innovate, the knowledge and capabilities we have to expand the realm of possibility. some of that work is being done in my state at the sanford underground lead facility. others are being done at universities also in partnership with the federal government. it is a big part of the work of the energy government and it is what chris wright has spent his life doing. mr. wright calls himself, and i quote, a science geek, turned energy nerd, turned lifelong energy entrepreneur. end quote. if confirmed, mr. wright will be notable among se

reporter: what do you think specifically about the role of, say, leader thune and speaker johnson? ms. plaskett: i can't say what is going on in their mind. but i know that they can see exactly what we all see. and if they're not doing anything about it, then i would say that they've abdicated their authority here in this congress and in the senate. i don't know if anybody else wanted to add? mr. neal: i think a representative democracy is a responsibility to oversee the executive. in our democratic system. ask some questions. our understanding is not only do they noh not ask them publicly, they don't even ask them privately. and i think that that is an abdication of responsibility. again, members of congress don't serve under presidents. you serve with presidents. >> i want to point out that an attorney said this is intentional on his part, on their part, they're floogd the zone as it's been described. he said they're going to throw as much unconstitutional stuff out there as possible to see what sticks. >> i would just add, i think you asked about the leaders. mr. doggett: they h

so we'll see what thune has to say when he comes back to the senate this afternoon. you can be sure we'll be asking him about that. but other republicans have fallen in line. the speaker of the house, mike johnson, has gushed about this and said that the revenue coming into the government could potentially help pay for their big agenda that they want to push through congress. but there are so many republicans in the mitch mcconnell camp, many of them who are quiet because they don't want to speak out against donald trump. they've been free traders for most of their career. trump is completely opposite on that key position. but there are some concerns. we've heard from susan collins, a key swing vote raising concerns. maine, of course, relies heavily on canada, particularly with issues of home heating oil. chuck grassley is concerned about how farmers will be hurt in iowa by this trade war. so the concerns aren't over yet, even with this one month pause. >> yeah. i mean, you talked about how about just the products and the goods that come from ruby red states that ele

there's no doubt in the short term senator thune will support this. all republicans have to support this. the berger. >> will not say much about it. >> that's true. the bigger question is going forward, how does this impact the president's legislative agenda if he's going to be a successful president, if his presidency is going to be successful, he will need to get a budget through all his programs, through how does it affect all those narrow majority, those narrow votes that he has to get a lot of been done over the the first couple of weeks? that is making some republicans kind of exhausted by this. >> i do want to take a quick step back and just talk about the trump actions from this past week, because there's been a lot that's been going on. he's, you know, called for the removal of fbi workers in the trump related investigation. he went as far as saying signing an executive order calling for 30,000 migrants to be sent to guantanamo bay, going after diversity initiatives throughout the government in just this dramatic overhaul of the federal gover

and thune told tillis, you got to take that up with the white house. and to me, it's kind of like, what do members do, particularly republicans, if when they do garner the, you know, the wherewithal and the courage to go to the leadership, the leadership doesn't back them. if i'm thom tillis, i guess it's like, well, i'm on an island. what do i do now? and obviously he ended up voting for pete hegseth, but i just couldn't imagine a mitch mcconnell leaving his members out there like that, telling them to go it alone with the white house, because i'm not going to have your back. what do these members do? what recourse do they have if the leadership is not going to stand up for them and with them? >> well, in the case of thom tillis, let's not forget the first place when it came to distributing disaster aid that the president trump went to, he went to north carolina. and i just don't think those things can be separated. and when it comes to tillis vote for confirmation for candidates and the and the aid that was promised and the visit the president made t

>> thune gets some credit, trump gets more. the most credit goes to the 2024 election.rump won. but susan collins in maine, even in maine trump won that diff district, all that ares came from state that trump won, they look. they say my voters voted solidly for donald trump, will i nuke one of his premier nominations, i don't think so. larry: now, at least partly the action will turn to the budget and taxes and fiscal policy and things they look difficult if house we hear different rumors about 5 year extension not 10. what do you hear about this? will president trump have toick exercise same amount of influence he hut put to senate for nominations, he has to go to house, so far i'm not hearing him retreat on any of his campaign promises. >> on this reconciliation one big beautiful bill or two, he has left to pubicly up to congress so far. but problem in the house is when elise stefanik leaves, she will resign soon. the balance in house will be 217 republicans, to 215 democrats, that means you can't even lose one vote and fill win. on april 1, they have an election in f

do you feel like leader thune and speaker johnson -- allowing the president and elon musk to overstep congress' authority and do you think we are in a constitutional crisis? >> house democrats look at you to make clear to our republican colleagues that we will work with anyone in this town to solve problems for the american people, to drive down the high cost of living, secure the border while protecting dreamers and families and keeping our communities safer. we will work with anyone to bring the american dream to life and bring our jobs back home. that is not what we are seeing from house republicans and that is unfortunate. >> will you withhold votes? >> thank you, everyone. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> saturdays, watch american history tv's new series, first 100 days. the c-span archives, we will look at accomplishments and setbacks and examine how events impacted presidential terms and the nation up to present da

majority leader john thune of south dakota announced the roll call vote to invoke cloture will be held at 5:30 p.m. that day. that's the first step to move on to voting on the full nomination. if gabbard receives a simple majority in favor, she is subject to 30 hours of debate before a final confirmation vote can be held. that will likely happen on tuesday night. but gabbard has already lost at least one swing vote for her nomination. democratic senator john fetterman of pennsylvania, who has shown himself willing to vote for other trump picks, announced on social media last night he would not support her or robert f kennedy jr, who he had also signaled potential openness to. still ahead this morning, president trump is doubling down on his controversial proposal for the u.s. to take over gaza. what he and members of his administration are now saying about that. plus, more than a dozen states are now planning to file a lawsuit over billionaire elon musk's access to government systems. we'll have the latest on that new legal fight. those stories and a check on sports and weather. when w

thune, mr.. thune i mr.. scott. mr.. scott i mr.. cassidy, mr.. cassidy i mr.. langford i mr.. langford i mr.. daines mr.. daines i. mr.. young. mr.. young. i mr.. barrasso mr.. barrasso i mr.. johnson mr.. johnson i mr.. tillis mr.. tillis i mrs.. blackburn. mrs.. blackburn i mr.. marshall. mr.. marshall i mr.. wyden. no. mr.. wyden. no. miss cantwell. no. miss cantwell. no. mr.. bennett. mr.. bennett. no. mr.. warner. mr.. warner. no. mr.. white house. mr.. white house. no. miss hassan. miss. hassan. no. miss cortez masto. miss cortez masto. no. miss warren. no. miss warren. no. mr. sanders. no. mr.. sanders. no. miss smith. no. miss smith. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. warnock. >> no. >> mr.. warnock. no. mr.. welch. mr. welch. no. mr. chairman. chairman. votes aye. mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes. 13 ayes. >> the vote was. would the clerk please restate the vote? >> mr. chairman the was 14. ayes. 13. ayes. >> the. the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to other senators who would like to make a statement. since i asked

>> thune gets some credit. trump get as lot more credit. most credit goes to the 2024 election.ingle republican senator comes from a state that trump won. one exception being susan colins in maine, but even in maine, trump won that little district and got one electoral vote. but all the others came from states that trump won. my voters voted solidly for donald trump so am i going to nuke one of his premier nominations? i don't think so. larry: so now at least partly the action will turn to the budget and the taxes and fiscal policy and things look very difficult in the house. we're hearing different rumors about a five year extension, not a 10 year extension. but what are you hearing about this and will president trump have to exercise this same amount of influence that he had put into the senate for the nominations? now he's got to go to the house and hammer out his own bill. so far i'm not hearing him retreat on any of his campaign prosperity. >> no, on this reconciliation thing, it's one big beautiful bill. two bills and he's left it publicly to congress so far and the proble

thune: mr. president, tomorrow the senate will be voting on the nomination of russell vought to be director of the office of management and budget. i could talk about the extensive experience, policy experience that has helped prepare him for this position, but mr. vought has an even bigger qualification for this position, and that is the fact that he's already held it. that's right, mr. vought already served as director of the office of management and budget in president trump's first administration. so there's no question that he will be able to hit the ground running. mr. president, as director of omb, mr. vought will have the chance to address two key economic issues -- cutting burdensome government regulations, and addressing excessive spending. government regulation has a direct effect, not only on our economy but americans' pocketbooks. regulations can drive up americans' energy bills, they can drive up the cost of housing, of a new car, of appliances, the list goes on and on. the history

they were coming tuesday afternoon and leave thursday morning and now senator thune is working mondayough friday the all complected, people themselves don't work very much in the upset with the president is asking governor employees to work in the administration the white house has signaled that may be a part of the reform of the federal workforce to sell off some of these pieces of expensive real estate that is not being used completely, do you think that is a good idea. >> absolutely you look at the statistics. roughly 12% occupancy rate and federal buildings in washington, d.c., that includes maintenance crews and security, virtually nobody is at work, we have to re-examine and right sides of federal government. we cannot afford the size and scale of the bureaucracy that they currently have but i applaud president trump for doing what he's doing most private businesses do all the time but of course my colleagues represent the idea that you can come to washington, d.c. and not get very much done that's what they did for four years. cheryl: certainly there is a lot to discuss with th

we have people like senator lindsey graham and majority leader john thune, all of them wanting to give donald trump an early win on some of those key priorities. they are pushing for two bills. the white house position right now and the president, he said he really just wants to do anything that will get his agenda passed. >> and i want to follow up with something else, an israeli political source tells cnn that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has gifted president trump a golden pager. tell us more about the meaning behind that. >> right. and so this was a reporting from our colleague based in jerusalem, mick krever. he reported that israeli prime minister benjamin, as you mentioned, pamela gifted president donald trump while they met at the white house earlier this week, a golden pager, really kind of symbolizing the israeli attack back in september on lebanon that, you know, targeted pages used by hezbollah members. um, of course, that was a day that, you know, several people died in lebanon because of that attack. mick krever is reporting that that is something that bibi n

there's the senate majority leader right now, john thune. they're going to be hearing from president trump speaking at the national prayer breakfast that is now getting underway on the capitol. we'll be bringing you that moment coming up. >> have i got news for you is back for a new season, whether you like it or not. >> are those the only. >> two choices? yes. you like it. >> or you don't? >> i'm on the fence. >> this is going to be a long season. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn big. >> small. >> essential. big small essential. big small. >> essential. >> grande. essential. >> no matter what business you're in, verizon business has the network and solutions you need to power it. >> you'll find. >> them in cities. >> towns. >> and suburbs. >> all across america. >> millions of americans who. >> have. >> medicare and medicaid but may be missing benefits. they could really. >> use extra benefits. >> they may be eligible to receive at no extra cost. and if you have medicare and medicaid, you may be. >> able to get extra

thune. aye. mr. cassidy. aye. mr. lankford. aye. mr. daines. aye. mr. barrasso, aye. mr. johnson, aye. mr. tillis, aye. ms. blackburn, aye mr. wyden, no. ms. cantwell, no. mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, no. ms. hassan, no. ms. cortez masto, no. ms. warren, no. mr. sanders, no. ms. smith, no. mr. lujan, no. mr. warnock, no. mr. chairman? the chairman votes aye. the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: with the click please restate the vo--with the clerk restate the vote? >> 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: the vote is reported favorably. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i will go to my republican colleague first. senator tillis. sen. tillis: i voted aye today and i wanted to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years -- i will be 65 in august -- that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who is not a trained health care expert. he views this through the lens of an attorney. he's brought many lawsuits on food safety, vaccine safety, a number of other things. mr. chair, i think it was senator war

we want to thank everybody and we want to thank senator thune for moving it along. and if you can give me his commission, we will sign it. thank you very much. and if you'd like to ask a new question of the new secretary. it's a pretty great title, right? >> yes. pres. trump: cabinet member. >> as you heard president trump say, we have to turn the ship around. if interior were a public company, stock would be in the tank. revenue has been declining, the deregulation order which president trump just signed extremely important because we have to shorten the time it takes to build things in america. and not only do we have to produce more energy, we have to produce more critical minerals in this country and we are talking across the whole country, including alaska especially, a big opportunity. interior, if it were a company, has the largest balance sheet in the world. 500 million acres of public land. 700 million acres of subsurface. over two billion of offshore acres. these are all assets that belong to the american people. we all talk about the debt america has, 36

this new senate under john thune and republican leadership brought that same bill through the senate and put it on president trump's desk where he signed it. just goes to show the american people how much difference it makes when you get leaders who actually will fight for them not for washington and the old guard, the progressive democrat party that's so out of touch with the american people. today president trump will sign an executive order to do something we already passed through the house and that is to say men can't play in women sports. this is a bill we passed through the house twice now. almost on a bipartisan line vote, which seems bizarre. it should be something everybody agrees to. talked about a lot during the election. most americans are with with us in saying that women sports should be reserved for women. biological women. president trump will be signing that executive order today. as the bill we passed hopefully goes through the senate. see it can become law in a permanent way. we are going to continue to work with this president to deliver on those promises. a lot

according to senate majority leader john thune embodies promised to get to the department back to its core mission. despite democratic opposition, rfk junior is moving forward to leave the health and human services department. he is singularly on with no votes from democrats. kennedy advanced out of committee vote was 14, 13 idaho republican senator mike crapo says kennedy will bring needed change to americans health care. he has spent his career fighting to end america's chronic illness epidemic. democrats like oregon's ron wyden say his views on vaccines are dangerous peddling these conspiracy theories the nation's chief health officer. it's going to be deadly director of national intelligence pick tulsi gabbard also got the green light in committee. both she and kennedy next face full senate votes. other nominees expected to face scrutiny include education secretary pick and former wwe ceo linda mcmahon, maryland democratic senator chris van hollen said he doesn't think she's qualified. i'm trying to figure out what her background has in education and you need to search far and wid

on the other hand, within the senate, when they chose his successor, they chose john thune. john thune is very much in the camp of somebody like mitch mcconnell when it comes to the senate. you wrote the title of your book, lost his party. did you mean. well, that there was a rightward drift on his party and a populist drift from his party. people who are in the senate now, even people who he tried to help support, you know, have voted against him time and again. he and president trump have no love lost for one another. and he doesn't deny that this is president party. now, who was or what was he more loyal to? the institution or the party? that's a terrific question. and in some it depends on the issue because. there are issues where you could say he was beholden to his party. shaping the courts was probably would probably be one of those. are issues where you would say he was beholden to the institution and aid for ukraine might be an example of that. michael tackett the book is the price of power how mcconnell mastered the senate, changed america and lost party. thank you

monitoring the president's comments here today mike johnson there is in front row as well as, senator john thune, a special day national prayer a breakfast happening right now in washington we will monitor the presidency if he says anything during his remarks, take a look at futures before we go to break, right now we are in the green. we will see how the day shakes up, earnings, economic data jobless claims coming up 10 minutes from now he we've got federated hermes, officer here, you are watching "mornings with maria" live on "fox business". ♪ ♪ wiles. >>> live pictures of president trump speaking at national prayer breakfast introduced earlier mike johnson there, there is music prayers very special day in washington very important on capitol hill the national prayer breakfast, a note from president we of course will bring comments from him. >> let's take a look at futures this morning, as you can see, we are in the green a little bit of a reversal, nasdaq up 8 1/4 s&p up 13 green across the board so far, volatility bring in federated hems chief investment officer stephen auth great to have yo

it is really about letting regulators drive clarity thune about what is allowed and what is not.e day for bringing in new customers. ice i think they see this as a potentially competitive threat. caroline: it has been great talking to you. we all look ahead to sunday's big game. jackie: coming up, shares of a firm jump after posting a second-quarter earnings beat and a strong outlook. we speak with ceo max level chen next. ♪ so, what are you thinking? i'm thinking... (speaking to self) about our honeymoon. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great question. like everything, it takes a little planning. or, put the money towards a down-payment... ...on a ranch ...in montana ...with horses let's take a look at those scenarios. j.p. morgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches and tools, like wealth plan to keep you on track. when you're planning for it all... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management. -honey... -but the gains are pumping! the answer is dad, is mommy a "finance bro?" she switched careers to

a senate majority leader john thune filed cloture on john ratcliffe or john ratcliffe was just confirmedoversy of the cia director. the democrats have said we support a peaceful transition of power we just oppose the transition altogether. so, what are they doing? they're using guerrilla tactics. this is systemic to block almost every one of trumps nominees. except some of the more liberal ones are some they are friendly with like rubio to put them through and say see, we are bipartisan but the majority of them, that's not what is happening. they're not disallowing it up and down votes for the committee have your hearings, you make your decisions because the they are using the powers, the rules of the senate to try in the scuttle from day one the trump presidency. to try to sabotage it. to try to kneecap his ability to manage the government right out-of-the-box. it's crucial first 100 days he be able to do so. soon found cloture on john ratcliffe's nominee nomination for cia director. for homeland security secretary, of course for pete hegseth can you imagine pete hegseth as secretary of

looking forward to more coming onboard that is our part of the job right now focused on, senators thunegreat job ro getting the job done our part of the deal meantime president continued moving forward in what believed his role right now talking about the tariffs, talking also about what needs to do within rest of the executive branch in terms of saving money all looking forward to getting not only a budget done for this year but fwroibl of them, in the senate, both could be combined in the house as you just indicated, we know that they've got to pass what they call bird bath in united states senate working on that trying to get ahead of the game. maria: thank you so much for leadership all your work i know you all have a lot on your plate i want to get back to the two plans in the second i want your take what the offsets are, but let me first stay on this confirmation story, because now we have this story in the "financial times", this morning, about kash patel, president trump's nominee for fbi director earn apparently getting scrutinized because held stock in a group that owns shen s

. >> and credit to john thune as well, helping to shepard this, jd vance is making a lot of calls, butt on november 5 it may hurt their feelings person who really got the mandate was president trump, he run ohio by 11 points, no human in history has gotten as many votes as don't donaldon donald trump did on november 5. larry: there is a rumor that art laffer is out there somewhere. to bring you in with these two distinguished senators, president trump wants the tax cuts now, the laffer curve has worked as it always has, cbo admitted that revenues came in, art, 1.9 trillion higher than estimates 7 years ago, current policy, which means permanent. let's get it done. you don't have to score it new scoring every year. what do you think about this? look, he won. trump won. a political matter. okay. he wants tack withouts right away -- tax cuts right away, start the engine of opportunity for his working class coalition, he should get it he won. >> yeah, he not only won but so did american people, with that tax cut and jobs act it was amazing what it do to economy growth of u.s. versus europe

[applause] and thanks as well to somebody who is doing a fantastic job, senator thune.much, senator. it is not easy. it is not easy. it is really great and leader's did a -- leader scalise, wherever you might be. i think you're there someplace. a brave guy too. i always say it. and senator chuck schumer, chuck. thank you very much. thank you. senator hassan, thank you very much. thank you, very nice to see you. congressman jeffries, thank you. and many other very distinguished leaders in the room. it's a great group of people. if we could ever come together, it would be unbelievable. it may not happen but it should and maybe it will. from the earliest days of our republic, faith in god has always been the ultimate source of the strength that beats in the heart of our nation. we have to bring religion back. we have to bring it back much stronger. it is one of the biggest problems we have had over the last fairly long period of time. we have to bring it back. thomas jefferson himself once attended sunday services held in the old house chamber on the very ground where i st