Romney Wins Support From Senator Thune

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has picked up another key endorsement to contribute to his campaign for president. 

Romney won the support of Republican Senator John Thune (S.D.), who has gained popularity among Senate Republicans for taking the seat of former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. 

“Mitt Romney has shown throughout his life in the private sector, as leader of the Olympics, as governor, and in this campaign that he will not back down from difficult challenges,” Thune said. “His plans to revitalize the private sector and restore our country’s fiscal health are drawn from his 25 year career as a conservative businessman. Washington could use these commonsense principles at such a critical time.”

Thune will contribute to the Romney campaign by serving as co-chairman of his national advisory committee.

“Senator Thune has been a leading voice in the Senate,” Romney said. “He will be a trusted advisor as I bring this message to voters, work to reverse President Obama’s failed policies and reform Washington.”

Thune will join Romney in Iowa Wednesday where the two will hold a telephone conference call with Iowa voters. The South Dakota senator’s support comes just days after Romney picked up an endorsement from the conservative New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte. 

GOP'ers Urge Senate To Bring 'Forgotten 15' To Floor

By Andrea Salazar

Six Republican members of Congress urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Thursday to bring 15 Republican jobs bills that passed the House with bipartisan support to the Senate floor for debate.

Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and Bill Flores (R-Texas) called for an end to overregulation, via measures included in the “Forgotten 15,” as a means to expand businesses.

“These are all things the House has done and the Senate ought to be working on, and done in a bipartisan way,” Thune said. “We need to be working on things for which there is bipartisan support, and I would argue that the 15 that passed in the House would have bipartisan support in the Senate as well.”

Some of the “Forgotten 15,” or “Ignored 20” as Portman called them, include bills that would prohibit the government from regulating the Internet and greenhouse gas emissions and that would allow for offshore oil drilling.

Asked about the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans on increased revenue, Sens. Thune and Hutchison rejected the idea that increasing taxes would solve, what Thune called, a spending problem.

“I am for revenue increases the old fashioned way - by growth in the private sector,” Hutchison said. “Create jobs and then we will have more revenue. That’s the way you get more revenue. The idea of raising taxes permanently for spending programs that are temporary is bad policy. That’s why we’re saying we don’t want tax increases, we want to encourage business.”

Echoing Hutchison, Flores, a businessman himself, dismissed the president’s jobs plan and called for less business regulation.

“The president’s American Jobs bill will not work because it’s a Washington solution,” Flores said. “The American people want Main Street solutions.”

GOP Senators Intro Bill To Protect SC Boeing Facility

By Andrea Salazar

A group of Republican senators urged Congress Wednesday to pass a bill limiting the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ability to shut down a Boeing Company facility in South Carolina.

The Acting General Counsel of the NLRB issued a formal complaint against Boeing alleging that it “violated federal labor law by deciding to transfer a second airplane production line from a union facility in the state of Washington to a non-union facility in South Carolina for discriminatory reasons.”

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) warned against shutting down the South Carolina plant fearing negative economic effects.

“We want to make it easier for Boeing and Motorola and Westinghouse and Nissan and Toyota to build in the United States what they sell in the United States,” Alexander said. “NLRB’s action is making it easier for manufacturers to look at the United States and say, ‘We’re going to build overseas’.”

The bill, introduced by Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), would “prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate or transfer employment under any circumstance.”

“It’ll be hard to continue to make products in America if the NLRB can tell a company after they make an investment, ‘By the way, we’re going to veto your decision’,” Graham said. “The amount of power that this would give an unelected bureaucracy in an American economy is chilling.”

GOP Senators Expect More "Hopeless" Policies From Jobs Speech

A group of Republican senators blasted President Obama’s economic policies Thursday previewing his highly anticipated jobs speech.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that he expects more of the same “hopeless” measures from Obama’s speech, but acknowledged that the GOP stands ready to work with him.

“I think tonight you’re going to see, probably, some of the same plays from the same old playbook,” Thune said. “There’s a gap between what [Obama] says and what he does. He says some of the right things but his policies tell an entirely different story.”

Thune was joined by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) who previously opposed Obama’s proposal to spend as much as $300 billion to boost job growth and spur the economy. Sessions argued that spending more would only increase the nation’s debt, something the Alabama Republican said is stalling economic growth.

“The debt is the jobs crisis,” Sessions said. “There’s no doubt about it that the debt of the United States is causing great concern through our entire economy.”

Sessions said he wants to hear the president lay out specifics regarding how Obama plans on paying for his proposals to extend payroll tax cuts and extending jobless benefits that will soon expire. These two measures combined amount to nearly $170 billion in spending.

“I’ll be looking tonight to see if this proposal is, indeed, paid for, or is it just another attempt to gain a sugar high by immediate spending that will increase our debt and will weaken our economy.”

Thune Predicts GOP Support For Nelson Amendment

Republican Senator John Thune (S.D.) predicted Monday that many in his party will support an amendment to the Senate’s health care reform bill barring federal funding for abortion.

“A lot of us on the Republican side will support that amendment,” Thune said during an afternoon press conference. “I certainly hope that it passes.”

However, Thune is wary that the amendment will garner the 60 votes needed for inclusion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“The quesion is whether or not we can get to 60, which I think is very much in doubt. I think we can get to 50,” said Thune. “I’m enough of a realist, talking to both Democrats and Republicans, to believe that that is going to be a very heavy lift.”

Last Friday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stated that he does not believe the amendment will pass if it has language similar to an amendment provided by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in the House health care bill.

The amendment may be necessary to secure the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who has aired dissatisfaction with the bill’s current language on abortion funding.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) added that he believes that language similar to the Stupak amendment approved in the House will end up in the manager’s amendment.