Trump-Thune Rift Over Legislative Agenda Intensifies

In June 2024, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) entered a fraught period as the president pressed the Senate to advance a bundle of priorities—including the SAVE America Act, a third budget-reconciliation package, and an extension of enhanced surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Thune, meanwhile, sought to keep the Senate’s calendar focused on the annual defense authorization bill, nominee confirmations, and a bipartisan housing-affordability measure that the president refused to sign.

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• SAVE America Act – Trump has tied the bill, which would restrict mail-in voting, limit transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, and prohibit gender-reassignment surgery for minors, to every major legislative request. The Senate has voted on the measure five times without securing a simple majority.

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• FISA Extension – The enhanced surveillance provisions expired on June 12. Trump blocked Director-of-National-Intelligence nominee Jay Clayton’s June 17 hearing and declared he would not support a FISA renewal unless it was bundled with the SAVE Act.

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• Defense Funding – The administration asked for $350 billion in emergency Pentagon spending (Recon 3.0). Thune has urged that $67.1 billion be moved through the regular appropriations process, while Trump insists on using reconciliation.

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• Filibuster & Birthright Citizenship – Trump continues to demand the abolition of the Senate filibuster to pass election-reform legislation and a bill redefining the 14th Amendment to end automatic citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.

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President Trump publicly warned that the non-passage of the SAVE America Act is “crazy” and a “serious threat” to any politician who opposes it. He also posted on Truth Social that extending FISA “without the SAVE America Act” is unacceptable and called on congressional leaders to prioritize the $350 billion defense package. Thune has filed cloture on the defense authorization bill and signaled a willingness to schedule debate on the SAVE and birthright-citizenship proposals, while noting insufficient GOP support to change Senate rules on the filibuster.

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GOP strategist Ron Bonjean, a former Senate leadership aide, said Trump’s pressure creates “more conflict…more pushback.” An anonymous Republican strategist urged Thune to meet with the president and propose a concrete schedule, warning that the bridge between them remains unburned but fragile. Other insiders caution that any temporary easing of tensions could quickly revert to the “high-tension” dynamics seen weeks earlier.

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• “Trump is the one who’s putting the pressure on Senate Republicans to move in his direction so the more Trump applies the pressure, the more conflict there is — the more pushback there is,” — Ron Bonjean, GOP strategist

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• “THE SAVE AMERICA ACT’S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!” — Donald Trump

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• “If you’re John Thune, Trump is not lost for him. This is not a burned bridge. [Speaker] Mike Johnson does this. He goes to the president and says, ‘Here’s what you want, here’s what I can do,’” — Unnamed Republican strategist

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• “I’m against FISA if it doesn’t come with The Save America Act (Full version!) firmly attached to it,” — Donald Trump (June 14)

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• “I am calling on House and Senate Leadership to make this their Number One Priority, and ensure that 350 Billion Dollars in Recon 3.0 moves out of the Budget Committee as soon as Congress is back in session,” — Donald Trump (Truth Social)

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