Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is promising significant changes to how the upper chamber operates when the Republican majority takes over on Jan. 3.
His tenure will mark the first changing of the guard from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the longest-serving Senate party leader, since McConnell rose to power in 2007.
From longer workweeks to a more inclusive process for rank-and-file members, Thune has vowed several modifications at the behest of the conference’s more hard-line conservatives like Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) that would curtail leadership power to give individual senators more influence.
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Friday votes
One of the most immediate changes will be what Thune describes as an “aggressive” Senate schedule in President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days to confirm his nominees and enact his agenda.
A longer workweek will be a major component.
“Friday votes will be the norm, and we’re not going to be having much in the way of recess in the first 100 days,” Thune said in a recent Senate floor speech. “That’s because we have a lot of work to do, and we’re not going to get it done on the kind of abbreviated schedule that we’ve had in 2024.”
Under McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the chamber has traditionally operated on a four-day workweek, similar to the House. Senators fly in Monday for evening votes and stay through Thursday afternoon votes before departing for a three-day weekend. The schedule allows senators from states with longer commutes to return home each weekend.
Thune’s 2025 schedule features mostly five-day workweeks and no recesses until the week of March 17. Historically, the Senate has taken one week of recess after every three weeks in session.
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It’s an ambitious schedule that could subside after Trump’s first few months back in office, particularly if the Republican House struggles to conduct business with its razor-thin margins.
“Democrats can certainly make the schedule less painful if they afford the president some of the deference Republicans afforded to Cabinet nominees under President Obama,” Thune said. “But one way or another, we’re going to get the job done. And if that means some nights and weekends, so be it.”
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Two-track reconciliation
As part of Thune’s “aggressive” Senate schedule, the incoming majority leader wants to move two separate budget reconciliation packages, which are not subject to the 60-vote filibuster.
The first would come in Trump’s first 100 days and focus on “once in a generation” spending for border security and defense. The second would come later in the year and center on extending Trump-era tax cuts that are set to expire after this year.
“The border and enforcement crisis under President Biden has left a gaping hole in our national security and undermined respect for the rule of law, and that ends in January,” Thune said. “Enforcing the law and protecting the integrity of our borders will become administration policy on Day One, and the Senate will move quickly to back up the president’s efforts.”
Senate Republicans will have a 53-47 majority next year. With Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as a tiebreaker, Thune will have a three-vote margin.
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Open amendment process
Thune ran for leader on a more open amendment process as a way to incorporate more feedback from rand-and-file members amid mounting frustration under McConnell. More hardline conservatives have become particularly frustrated at what they says has been a top-down approach that allows leadership to more easily convince its members to fall in line.
While affording more input from members, it will undoubtedly make passing legislation via the Senate’s arcane procedural rules take even longer. Unless timing agreements are reached among all 100 senators, measures often take several days to move through the chamber to final passage.
Regular order
In addition to a more open amendment process, Thune wants the Senate to individually approve each of the 12 appropriations bills that comprise the federal government’s annual budget.
“I will devote extensive time to floor consideration of appropriations bill when they’re ready to avoid an end of the year pile-up and problematic continuing resolutions, something with which right now we are very familiar,” Thune said. “Deciding how taxpayer monies is spent is a serious responsibility, and it deserves serious floor time.”
That is far easier said than done.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) failed to fulfill the same pledge after he rose to power last year. Congress, as a whole, has passed its appropriations bills on time just four times since the modern system began in 1977. The most recent year was 1997.
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Having blown past its annual Oct. 1 funding deadline, Congress is preparing to approve its second stopgap spending measure of fiscal year 2025 to avert a shutdown.
As part of a regular order process, Thune also wants each appropriations bill to first move through the committee of jurisdiction.
