It was not the intention of the Framers that the Senate and the President be at odds, but in our system that has very often become the case, even when the president’s party controls the upper chamber.
Although President Donald J. Trump did not stand in the way of Sen. John R. Thune (R.-S.D.) becoming majority leader, Thune has positioned himself as the chief resister to the president’s agenda on Capitol Hill.
Trump gave Thune a June 1 deadline to resolve the impasse on funding ICE and border enforcement. The plan was to pass the additional $40 billion through reconciliation, a method that allows the Senate to sidestep the 60-vote threshold to end debate and hold a vote, on the idea that budget, tax and debt bills cannot be delayed by a filibuster.
With 53 Senate Republicans, and Vice President James D. “J.D.” Vance always ready to break a tie, Thune should have been able to pass the bill before the Senate skipped town for the Memorial Day weekend and the rest of that week.
Once word got out that there was a reconciliation bill in play, senators piled on with their own projects, so that the bill could have been as much as $72 billion.
Among the items Thune allowed to be tacked onto the reconciliation bill were provisions for $1 billion for the new White House ballroom, along with its extensive national security and medical facilities.
Then, because Senate Democrats planned to stage amendment fights regarding the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, that issue became part of the mix, although that fund was just an administrative cutout at DOJ to better facilitate claims by victims of DOJ weaponization from the already established Treasury Department Judgment Fund.
That fund paid out $4 billion in 2025 — and requires no new legislation or appropriations.
Faced with a fight over the ballroom and the weaponization fund, Thune called it a day. The Senate returns June 1, hopefully refreshed and focused.
Trump’s relationship with House Republicans has been warm and reciprocal going back to the 2016 presidential campaign, when the then-New York City real estate developer met with GOP congressmen. Many of the congressmen brought their families, and the meeting ran way overtime as the candidate joined selfies and conversed easily with the members of the lower chamber.
At the parallel event held with GOP senators, Trump’s meeting took on the look and feel of a show trial as Republican senators, most notably Sen. Jeff L. Flake (R.-Ariz.), harangued the future commander-in-chief.
There is something in the constitutional water at play, because although Flake was obnoxious, each senator sees themselves as a potential president. On the House side, staffers address the most senior and powerful chairmen by their first names, but on the Senate side that would never happen. There are more examples, but that one is enough to paint the picture.
Eleven years later, Thune leads Senate Republicans in keeping that vibe alive.
From the opening days of the administration, Thune made it clear that he would not fight for confirmations for Trump’s middle-range nominees — the deputies, assistants and associates — and he said he would allow Senate Democrats to block Trump’s nominees to the U.S. attorney offices in their states, effectively allowing the local federal prosecutor offices to continue the harassment of Trump supporters, which made the weaponization fund necessary in the first place.
Now, the buzz here is that Thune may not last until the end of the session.
The majority leader position is not a constitutional office; it is a party position, so if 27 of the 53 Senate Republicans vote today, tomorrow or whenever to oust Thune, it is done.
Tensions between Senate Republicans allied with the president and Thune are becoming so fraught that the broader and more personal reconciliation may never happen.