[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 124 (Monday, July 21, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4493-S4494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday marked 6 months since President 
Trump took office, and today is the 200th day of the Republican 
majority here in the U.S. Senate.
  In that time, the Trump administration and Senate Republicans have 
been hard at work executing the mandate we received from the American 
people last November. We already have a number of accomplishments on 
the list.
  We got started by sending the Laken Riley Act to President Trump's 
desk during his first week in office to keep criminal illegal 
immigrants off our streets.
  President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act last Wednesday, which 
permanently classifies fentanyl analogs as the deadly drugs they are.
  On Friday, he signed the GENIUS Act, the landmark bill to bring 
digital

[[Page S4494]]

assets into the mainstream and secure U.S. leadership in financial 
innovation.
  And the first rescissions package in three decades is headed to the 
President for signature.
  We have passed measures to end 16 burdensome Biden-era regulations. 
We passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act to combat nonconsensual explicit images 
being shared online.
  And, of course, 2 weeks ago on the Fourth of July, the President 
signed into law the Big Beautiful Bill to deliver permanent tax relief 
to the American people to make our country safer, stronger, and more 
prosperous.
  We have additional bills coming down the pike. The Armed Services 
Committee under Chairman Wicker recently reported the National Defense 
Authorization Act of fiscal year 2026, and the Appropriations Committee 
under Chair Collins has reported out four bipartisan bills, which we 
will begin considering this week.
  I said last year that I was committed to bringing appropriations 
bills to the floor through regular order, and we are in the process of 
doing exactly that.
  Of course, any regular order consideration of appropriations bills is 
going to require cooperation from Democrats. This week, we will get a 
glimpse of where Democrats are on this issue.
  It was deeply disappointing the Democrat leader threatened to shut 
down the government if Republicans dared to pass legislation to trim 
just one-tenth of 1 percent of the Federal budget, but I am hopeful 
that is not the position of the Democratic Party.
  Time will tell.
  The Senate also has important work to do to confirm the President's 
nominees. We started out this year by confirming 21 of the President's 
Cabinet nominees at the fastest pace in more than two decades, and we 
have kept up our focus on getting President Trump's team into place.
  We have now confirmed 96 civilian nominees, far outpacing where the 
Senate was at this point in the first Trump administration. And the 
only reason, frankly, that we are not moving faster is because of 
Democrats' historic--that is right historic--level of obstruction.
  Democrats have been forcing cloture votes for every civilian nominee. 
Something that is without precedent. President Trump is the first 
President on record not to have a single civilian nominee go by 
unanimous consent or voice vote at this point in his Presidency. The 
first President on record. Think about that.
  And Democrats are using this strategy even on noncontroversial 
nominees. Almost a quarter of the nominees whose confirmation process 
Democrats have dragged out actually got more than 60 votes here on the 
Senate floor.
  The American people gave President Trump a mandate, and he deserves 
to have his team in place to execute that mandate for the American 
people. Democrats can continue to drag this process out, but 
Republicans are going to get these nominees confirmed.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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