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.”
Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
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.
The following players have been selected to the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association’s 2024 all-state teams. The players are selected to the teams based on votes of the coaches in their respective classes.
Harrisburg’s Josalyn Samuels sets the ball against Sioux Falls Washington in the Class AA state championship match Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls Christian’s Addisen Barber plays a ball at the net during the Class A state volleyball semifinals on Nov. 22, 2024 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
2023 — Class AA (Zachariasen, Meister, Thury, Hermanson and Kirsch, first team; Samuels, second team); Class A (Barber and Randall, first team; Henry and Palmer, second team, Henderson, Plucker and Kollbaum, honorable mention); Class B (Frank, Van Hal and Haven, first team; Schroeder and Schopp, second team; Mortenson and Cotton, honorable mention).
2022 — Class AA (Malchow and Meister, second team); Class A (Barber, honorable mention); Class B (Van Hal, first team; Mortenson, second team; and Schroeder and Frank, honorable mention).
Answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword are just ahead.
New York Times
In case you missed Monday’s NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:
ForbesNYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For November 25By Kris Holt
Advertisement
Wondering what an official state sport of South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming is? Not sure what a phone pop-up might be? Don’t worry, because I’m here to help you with the answers for today’s NYT Mini crossword.
The NYTMini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-running crossword. Most days, there are between three and five clues in each direction on a five by five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.
Unlike its larger sibling, the NYTMini crossword is free to play on the New York Times website or NYT Games app. However, you’ll need an NYT Games subscription to access previous puzzles in the archives.
To help you avoid getting stuck and having to reveal missing letters, here are the NYT Mini Crossword answers for Tuesday, November 26 (spoilers lie ahead, of course):
Advertisement
NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers
NYT Mini Across Answers
1 Across: Joint that can be “flicked” — WRIST
6 Across: Official state sport of South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming — RODEO
7 Across: Phone pop-up — ALERT
8 Across: First thing you typically get at a buffet — PLATE
9 Across: Poetry event — SLAM
Advertisement
NYT Mini Down Answers
1 Down: Sandwich alternative — WRAP
2 Down: Toilet paper units — ROLLS
3 Down: Best-case — IDEAL
4 Down: Big name in mattresses — SERTA
5 Down: Ancestral emblem — TOTEM
Advertisement
Completed New York Times Mini crossword for November 26
New York Times
It took me 0:43 to complete today’s NYT Mini.
Not a bad time at all, especially considering that I missed the first few Across clues at first. WRIST and RODEO should have been obvious in hindsight. I spent a good 10 seconds mulling over ALERT too before cutting my losses and moving on.
I flew through the Down words except for SERTA — not a brand I’m familiar with. But the Across answers were all pretty clear at that point with just a few letters left to fill in.
Advertisement
If you need some help with Wednesday’s NYT Mini, make sure to check out my blog. Meanwhile, if you play other NYT games such as Wordle, Connections and Strands, be sure to check out Forbes Games for our guides to each daily puzzle
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — Javan Buchanan’s 28 points off of the bench led Boise State to an 83-82 victory against South Dakota State on Monday.
Buchanan went 11 of 17 from the field (4 for 8 from 3-point range) for the Broncos (5-1). Alvaro Cardenas Torre added 16 points while going 6 of 13 (3 for 6 from 3-point range) while they also had seven assists. Julian Bowie went 4 of 4 from the field (3 for 3 from 3-point range) to finish with 13 points.
Advertisement
Oscar Cluff finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Jackrabbits (5-2). Joe Sayler added 19 points for South Dakota State. Kalen Garry had 13 points and five assists.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25739950/247386_Elon_Musk_Open_AI_CVirginia.jpg "Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI")
