Thune steers Senate cautiously amid Trump tensions

Time reports Senate Majority Leader John Thune has kept the upper chamber functioning with a cautious, institutional approach while managing tensions with President Donald Trump.

Thune has often sidestepped Trump’s public rants—offering brief sympathy on Dec. 15 over the death of director Rob Reiner—and resisted wholesale changes to Senate practices such as eliminating blue slips, even as the White House pushed to speed judicial and prosecutorial confirmations. He also worked behind the scenes to avoid derailing a must-pass defense bill by arranging for a Cruz–Cantwell helicopter-tracking amendment to be fast-tracked as a separate measure, and has balanced accommodating the White House with protecting vulnerable members, according to the report.

Now that lawmakers have returned, Thune faces a test as Democrats and Republican Sen. Rand Paul plan votes on a privileged war powers resolution to limit further Trump actions in Venezuela; that measure would only require a majority to pass. Frustration in GOP ranks has grown over a lack of White House notice around a recent military raid, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "then the President can’t do another thing in Venezuela without the OK of Congress," the report says.

Key Topics

Politics, John Thune, Donald Trump, Venezuela, Rand Paul, Blue Slips