Senate GOP leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is primed to hand President Trump a quick string of wins on his first days in office. Why it matters: Thune and Trump have a complicated history, but the new majority leader is doing his best to start Congress off on the right foot.

Even as handicappers adjudged Pete Hegseth ’s confirmation as secretary of Defense to be all but certain, not one but two Republican senators indicated a hard pass on the poorly qualified bad boy from Fox News.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has selected four top Republican allies to be part of his unofficial cabinet as he looks to make his own impression on the upper chamber after taking the mantle from longtime GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Any question over how Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will assert his independence from Donald Trump was put to rest on Tuesday when he fled into an elevator to avoid questions about thepresident's pardon of violent Jan.

White House meeting Donald Trump and GOP leaders aimed to bring Republicans together on spending goals. But some disagreed on what was decided.

The senators said they would cooperate with the GOP to address "pressing border security and immigration needs”

President Trump made a big splash with dozens of executive actions on his first day in office, but now comes the hard part: getting Republicans in Congress in line to usher an ambitious legislative agenda through their slim majorities and clashing factions.

Republicans pushed forward with Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense on Wednesday even after a damaging report emerged claiming that his second wife lived in fear of his

Thune’s elected leadership team includes Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR), Policy Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and NRSC Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC).

As for the fire-aid-for-debt-limit trade, GOP lawmakers who first raised the idea with Trump at recent Mar-a-Lago meetings said he was interested in the prospect at the time. That would mean making a debt limit hike part of a larger agreement around the bipartisan government funding talks.

"As I’ve repeatedly said, Senate Republicans are ready to work as long as needed to confirm President Trump’s nominees. Nights. Weekends. Recesses," Thune wrote on the social media platform, X.

WASHINGTON — The Senate is muscling Pete Hegseth's nomination as defense secretary toward confirmation Friday, prioritizing his vow to create a “warrior culture” at the Pentagon over allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women.