SIOUX FALLS — When South Dakota Republican John Thune delivered his first remarks as U.S. Senate majority leader in January, he pledged to restore “regular order” to the chamber, including “bringing appropriations bills to the floor for serious deliberation.”

Tuesday, he said a stopgap spending bill will likely need to be negotiated with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown in October.

Congress didn’t finish its 12 annual spending bills before its August recess and would have to sprint to approve them by Oct. 1, which is the deadline to avoid a shutdown.

“We’re going to have a big fight at the end of September,” Thune told an audience at the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Inside Washington luncheon.

He told reporters after the meeting that he hopes the spending extension would be for a short amount of time if Democrats don’t “work with us in a constructive way” through the traditional appropriations process.

In May, President Donald Trump released a budget request proposing $163 billion in spending cuts. Thune said the appropriations process would allow individual programs to be reviewed by members of Congress and potentially saved from cuts if “appropriators believe that they’re getting a good return for the American taxpayer.”

“I think that it’s in everybody’s best interests if the Appropriations Committee is able to do its work and then Congress, the House and Senate, pass appropriations bills and put them on the president’s desk for him to sign into law,” Thune said.

Thune also addressed Trump’s imposition of higher tariffs. Before last year’s presidential election, Thune criticized tariff proposals like Trump’s as “a recipe for increased inflation.” Tuesday, he offered a different take, referencing trade deals that have resulted from tariff negotiations.

“I do think that the ways in which they are using them, in my view, at least right now is yielding some results,” Thune said of the White House’s strategy.

Afterward, Thune took questions from reporters on topics including immigration.

Lack of action on immigration is ‘holding SD back,’ dairy farmers say

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last month provides $170 billion for immigration- and border-enforcement activities. Thune said the spending helps pay for “everything we need to keep the border secure and ensure we have an orderly way of processing people who are coming into the country, whether it’s for refugee status or otherwise.”

The next step, Thune said, should be to address workforce shortages with legal immigration policies. Thune said “it’d be nice” if Congress passed legislation so polices don’t change “from one administration to the next.”

South Dakota relies on immigrants, especially in agriculture and tourism. Growing workforce needs will force the immigration issue “to be front and center,” he added.

“It’s an economic issue because of the impact that it has,” Thune said. “If you can’t find workers in our economy, that’s a big problem.”

The chamber’s Inside Washington luncheons are annual events inviting South Dakota congressional delegates to speak about issues affecting the state and businesses. Rep. Dusty Johnson is set to speak at the next luncheon on Aug. 22, and Sen. Mike Rounds is set to speak on Aug. 28.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com.

The scene outside Thursday’s Watertown Rotary luncheon turned raucous in the presence of South Dakota’s senior U.S. senator.

Not long after the event, staffers urged Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune into a black sedan as protesters outside Watertown’s Elks Lodge yelled “do your job.”

Before he left, though, Thune said he didn’t take issue with the people doing the yelling.

“We hear in our office on a fairly regular basis from people across the state on sort of all sides of the issues. Clearly these protesters are very anti-Trump policy, and so they have every right to make their voices heard,” Thune said. “We welcome that.”

The protesters want Thune to oppose several of the president’s efforts, and for him to hold public town halls.

The noon event where Thune took questions was open to Rotary Club members and media, not the general public. Several protesters said they’d reached out to Thune’s office through phone or email in recent months without a response.

“Our senator doesn’t have the guts to stand up to what Trump is doing,” said Kay Solberg, an organizer who said she plans to hold another protest in Watertown this weekend.

It was the second gathering of displeased citizens to greet Thune in as many days. More than 100 people protested outside a Thune event in Rapid City Wednesday.

Thune said he doesn’t see how a public town hall “accomplishes anything that we don’t accomplish on a daily basis.” He maintains that he’s “probably one of the most accessible politicians in South Dakota.”

That’s why Thune was behind schedule on Thursday, his staff said. He’d taken two too many questions from Watertown Rotarians, held a second press conference that wasn’t scheduled, and stopped to shake hands again and again with Watertown residents who had lingering questions and concerns.

Wednesday marked Thune’s third event in the state this week during Congress’ April recess, following the Pennington County Republican Women’s meeting in Rapid City and an appearance at Northern State University in Aberdeen on Tuesday. He’s also spent hours visiting with the public at the state basketball tournament in Aberdeen in March, he said.

East River South Dakotans vent, call for action at Sioux Falls political town hall

“If people have questions, we’re available on a regular basis,” Thune said.

Thune answered several questions during the Rotary meeting, addressing the uncertainty regarding foreign trade, immigration and cuts to entitlement programs.

Thune encourages patience on tariffs

Thune has long been a critic of tariffs and supportive of free trade deals, but said South Dakotans should offer grace to Trump and his shifting tariff policy “to see what kind of deals he can strike.”

At a town hall earlier this week, Augustana Economics Professor Reynold Nesiba said tariffs risk relationships with other countries. U.S. beef exports to China were halted, the former Democratic state lawmaker said, allowing Australia to fill the gap. The same can happen with China’s soybean imports, Nesiba said, shifting from the United States to Brazil.

Trump’s intention, Thune said Wednesday, is to negotiate better trade deals and create a “more level playing field,” especially regarding China’s trade practices. He said he’s heard support from agricultural producers in the state on the plan.

America should explore partnerships with other countries in the meantime, Thune said. He supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the Obama administration, which would have opened up markets in countries like Japan and South Korea.

“We have a lot of national security interests in the region, and they’re allies of ours and we can use that to isolate China,” Thune said. “What you don’t want is these countries running into China’s orbit.”

If Trump’s trade policies are “used in a way that gets a trilateral deal in place, for example with Japan and South Korea, that would be a win.”

Medicaid’s role in budget reconciliation

Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to pass a budget reconciliation bill by Memorial Day is “certainly aspirational,” Thune said.

Since Republicans control the House and Senate, they can unlock the reconciliation process to fast-track major spending legislation and bypass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster role with a simple majority.

Thune expects to iron out differences between budget resolutions from the House and Senate and send the finished product to Trump’s desk “hopefully by the middle of summer to create some economic certainty.”

Congress needs to “get it done right,” Thune said.

“Whatever amount of time that takes, we’re going to do the right thing,” he said.

Republicans hope to leverage the process to extend and expand expiring tax cuts, increase border security and defense spending and cut federal spending throughout the budget.

Medicaid is on the chopping block, Thune said. The House budget envisions a Medicaid cut of $880 million over a 10 year period, although the House Energy and Commerce Committee would have to hammer out how to save the money.

Medicaid cuts rippling through rural America could bring hospital closures, job losses

Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for people with low income. Medicaid spending is projected to cost $7.4 trillion over the next decade.

Thune proposed Medicaid work requirements rather than cutting the program as a way to “achieve a significant level of savings that would strengthen the program and not harm people who are beneficiaries.”

The change would generate more than $100 billion in savings over a decade, he said.

South Dakota voters approved a constitutional amendment during the 2024 general election to allow the state to implement Medicaid work requirements if the federal government allows them.

Thune says he’s ‘not worried’ about legal status of immigrants

Rotarian Don Goldhorn said he appreciated Thune’s appearance, but said some responses left him disgruntled.

Goldhorn and his wife sponsored a work visa for a Ukrainian family, he said, helping them adjust to life in the United States during Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine. The two-year work visa will end in September, and Goldman is concerned the family won’t receive an extension and be forced to return to their besieged home country.

“If they came here legally into this country,” Thune said, “and they’re law-abiding citizens here, I’m not worried.”

Other Rotarians received similar responses from Thune about the detention of Pro-Palestine protesters because of allegedly antisemitic behavior.

“I’m not satisfied,” Goldhorn told South Dakota Searchlight, “and it’s nothing personal against Sen. Thune. I went to get some specific answers, and I didn’t feel like there were specific answers.”

Driving past protesters to enter the building before the luncheon began, though, Goldhorn wondered if a town hall would accomplish what the protesters might hope it would.

Thune could speak directly to all constituents, he said, and they could raise their concerns or dissatisfaction to him. But the Rotarian worries that larger, more public town halls could turn from peaceful to confrontational.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com.

VERMILLION — Six South Dakota lawmakers — three Democrats and three Republicans — celebrated bipartisan accomplishments Thursday at an annual democracy conference, including their efforts to stop what one legislator called an influx of “bad bills” from reaching the governor’s desk.

Fourteen incumbent Republican lawmakers lost in the 2024 primaries, with many challengers capitalizing on opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline project. That produced a large class of freshman Republican legislators, and last year’s Republican leadership group lost support, resulting in a new leadership team when the Legislature convened in January.

Sen. Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, said those changes produced bills that pitted Republicans against each other, leading Democrats and some Republicans to work together against legislation they both opposed. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Legislature 96-9.

“Unfortunately this year, a lot of times it was killing bad bills that we were the most successful,” Smith said.

Rep. Drew Peterson, R-Salem, said he ran for a caucus leadership position ahead of the session but “lost by a few.” He said some Republicans who failed to gain a leadership post worked with Democrats on some issues.

“I wasn’t in leadership this year, but we still lead within our group,” Peterson said. “Collectively we could get 36 to 42 votes between the Democrats and Republicans, and we did our job.”

Peterson and Smith were among the lawmakers who participated in a legislative panel discussion at the annual conference hosted by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota.

As evidence of bipartisan efforts between Democrats and some Republicans, the lawmakers highlighted the amending of legislation dubbed the “locking up librarians” bill, by removing a proposed criminal penalty for distributing harmful or obscene material to minors and instead requiring an appeals process for challenging materials in school and public libraries. The amendment passed the Senate 18-16 before the bill passed the chamber 32-2. The House accepted the amendments in a 36-34 vote, and Gov. Larry Rhoden signed the bill this month.

Attempt to revive ‘locking up librarians’ bill fails; version with appeal process goes to governor

There was also bipartisan cooperation against a failed attempt to stop funding the state’s controversial Future Fund, which is an economic development fund controlled by the executive branch, and several failed bills intended to provide property tax relief to South Dakotans.

Sioux Falls Democratic Rep. Erik Muckey said he most clearly saw the shift within the Republican Party in the Future Fund debate, where he said some Republicans reacted to a lack of oversight for the fund by supporting its elimination without “actually digging into” how it works.

“We’re trying to take down an agency, effectively,” Muckey said, “but we don’t actually know what the agency does, the process to get there or what the consequences of a bill is that we didn’t even all probably read, frankly.”

Rep. Chris Kassin, R-Vermillion, said the push for property tax relief included a determination by some freshmen lawmakers to pass property tax cuts without considering costs. That’s primarily because some lawmakers, he said, were quick to “slam something through” and slow to research and understand a bill’s consequences.

The Legislature ultimately passed Rhoden’s legislation including a temporary cap on countywide assessment increases, with plans to dig into the property tax system further with a summer task force.

Other notable efforts that some Republicans and Democrats worked together on failed, such as funding the replacement of the state penitentiary.

The Legislature lost leadership with deep institutional knowledge because of the primary defeats, said Sen. Sydney Davis, R-Burbank, leading to less understanding among lawmakers of the process and why bills failed in past sessions.

Davis said some bills saw several layers of amendments, which hinders how lawmakers and the public vet bills in the committee process.

“That’s a drain on the process and the system,” she said.

One of the new legislative leaders, House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, told South Dakota Searchlight by phone that he saw factions of Republicans working with Democrats during the session. He described the comments made during the panel as part of an attempt to frame the session as “fraught and chaotic.”

The bills highlighted by lawmakers during the panel weren’t bad, he said, but were emblematic of the divide within the Republican Party. The Future Fund and property tax discussions, he said, showed the divide is centered on government involvement in economic development and government spending.

“What some people call bad, others call conservative,” Odenbach said.

Odenbach said the next session will be different as freshman lawmakers have a year under their belts and a better understanding of the legislative process. The divide, he said, will remain.

“The South Dakota Republican Party is changing,” Odenbach said. “It’s going back to its roots and we’re going to redefine what it means to be a conservative. It’ll take a few twists and turns until we get there.”

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com.

BRANDON — Incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, signaled Tuesday he’s willing to push back against potential attempts by President-elect Donald Trump to expand presidential power over federal spending.

“Every president is going to come in and try to do as much as they can by executive action as possible,” Thune said. “Congress, in some cases, is going to be the entity that sometimes will have to put the brakes on.”

Thune spoke Tuesday to the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and also took questions from reporters. He said Republicans in Congress will work with Trump to achieve shared policy goals.

“The things we want to achieve at present are by and large the same,” Thune said. “How we get there is another matter, and we’ll have to work through that.”

Trump’s pick for his budget director, Russ Vought, served in the same role during the first Trump administration. Vought has since outlined an aggressive vision for presidential power in Project 2025, a 922-page document from the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation.

New Trump budget chief wrote Project 2025’s agenda for empowering the presidency

“The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government.” Vought wrote. “Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.”

Trump has meanwhile tried to assert greater control over the Cabinet selection process, calling for the Senate to recess the chamber early next year so he can appoint whoever he wants without having to go through the confirmation process.

Thune said Tuesday he plans to immediately begin committee hearings on Cabinet nominees when Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.

That’ll give the Senate a head start vetting Trump’s nominees before his inauguration on Jan. 20. After Trump is sworn in, Thune expects some nominations to quickly hit the floor of the Senate.

“The committees can’t report them out until the president is officially sworn in and they’re officially nominated,” Thune told the audience Tuesday in Brandon. “But they could do hearings.”

Thune told South Dakota reporters after the event that even though some questions have been raised about nominees, they “deserve a fair process” where senators question them on their background, qualifications and whether they “ought to be in these really important positions.”

Thune said he has not taken recess appointments off the table if Democrats try to obstruct or delay the confirmation of nominees when they reach the Senate floor, “particularly if they’re well regarded and they have bipartisan support.”

Top priorities for Republican senators heading into the new session of Congress, Thune said, include extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and securing the nation’s southern border.

Thune said he plans to begin drafting a budget reconciliation resolution to push an extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, key provisions of which expire at the end of 2025. The reconciliation process allows tax and spending bills to pass the Senate with 51 votes, instead of the 60 needed for most Senate legislation. Republicans will control 53 seats in the new Senate and will also control the House.

Failing to extend the tax cuts would lead to a $4 trillion tax increase, Thune said.

States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau contributed to this report.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and X.