BROOKINGS – In Brookings on Friday to speak to a class at South Dakota State University, John Thune, the state’s senior U.S. senator and GOP whip, took time out to visit with The Brookings Register editorial board and weigh in on a laundry list of issues.
Leading the list was the state of play between the two parties, with former longtime lawmaker Joe Biden, who knows his way around inside the Beltway, now sitting in the White House.
“All of us who have been there for awhile know him,” Thune said. “He was always somebody who in the traditional sense of the Senate, not in a negative way, was a deal maker.”
As vice president, Biden had worked with Sen. Mitch McConnell, “on several big economic deals at the time. He (Biden) knows how to find that sweet spot, that common ground.”
However, Thune did note that at the present time there’s concern that “the tail’s wagging the dog. Because the (Sen.) Bernie Sanders (D-VT) wing is very influential. The energy’s there; the intensity’s there. That’s where the dollars are in terms of fund-raising for political parties.
“So the progressive wing of the party is pushing hard on the president, on (Senate Majority Leader) Schumer to get them to do things our way.”
In response to a question about how to heal the divide between the Democratic and Republican parties and the further breakdown to factions within the parties, Thune explained that dynamics have changed within the political parties and also the various movements within the parties. The senator noted that some of that could be traced to “info eco-systems where people get their information.”
He added that people go to social media platforms that reinforce their already held beliefs. Tech companies “are using algorithms and artificial intelligence. You start clicking on something and they feed you more of the same. Pretty soon you’re not hearing or seeing anything else. You get people who buy into some of these falsehoods out there. They’re just convinced.”
He cited the election as an example of the issue.
Earlier in the day, Thune said that in speaking to a “U.S. Congress Class” at SDSU, he had urged the students to “be skeptics. Get multiple sources and see who’s behind this stuff. Make sure they’re credible.”
He added that there is “a lot of information and disinformation … designed to fuel conflict, dissension and division. It’s kind of changed the way that we do politics.”
He said that “elected leaders have to level with people. You have to tell the truth. You have to define reality. You can’t allow people to cling to falsehoods.”
Infrastructure: How to pay for it?
Asked about the priority of the nation’s infrastructure to lawmakers, Thune believes it will be in a follow-on bill “to whatever ends up happening with this coronavirus bill.”
But do Democrats try to go it alone via reconciliation? He noted that infrastructure has in his experience been a bipartisan issue for Congress.
The senator thinks there is a lot of support for roads, bridges and broadband issues. The electrical grid, in view of what is happening in Texas, needs to be modernized. But a big question is how to pay for all these projects in view of the cost that has been incurred in battling the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to start thinking longer term,” he cautioned. “Because we are piling up a mountain of debt.”
One particular issue he focused on was highway bills.
“Everybody likes highways, but nobody likes to pay for them,” he said.
One obvious source of revenue could be the fuel tax. However, it is controversial. “Democrats say it’s regressive; Republicans don’t like to raise taxes.”
The tax was last raised in 1993 and is now worth about 30 cents on the dollar. The Highway Trust Fund operates at a deficit, and recent highway bills have been paid for with borrowed money.
Thune said to get action going on the infrastructure “will take presidential leadership, to do big things and to do big things in a fiscally responsible way.”
He added that both Democrats and Republicans will “have to buy into it. It can’t be used as a political issue one way or the other.” Modernizing how to pay for it “will be the hard part.”
Any hope for Keystone XL pipeline?
“What I told folks, including people that head the company, TC Energy, is that they need to broaden the coalition support for it,” Thune said, in addressing the Keystone XL pipeline. Following the president’s canceling the project by executive order, it has become a front-and-center issue in South Dakota.
“And they’re trying to do that by heavy investment in renewables. They’re talking about getting to net zero by 2023. They really are trying to do the right things by lessening the carbon footprint that the pipeline will create.
“The other thing that I told them they needed to do is – and they’ve already been doing this some – but they’ve been reaching out to the (Native American) tribes and give them a little piece of the action. Get them invested.”
He noted that the tribal communities “need something in their economy to help them create a better quality of life and to grow a private economy.”
He said the biggest opponents of the pipeline here in South Dakota are the tribes.
“The more you can go after those groups that are opposed right now the better chance you have of broadening that coalition. And then I think you can get the administration’s attention, if you can get the loud voices to quiet down a bit. The hardcore environmentalists will never go for it,” Thune said.
Citing the new technology and the way pipelines are being built, the senator sees pipelines as the safest way to move petroleum products across the country.
He said he had hoped the president would talk with the people behind the pipeline project, see what they were doing and perhaps reach a compromise.
However, he conceded, ”It may be too late for that. He’s under lot of pressure. The progressive wing of his party is very loud.”
In response to a query about climate change as a major issue, the senator said, “I think it has to be on some level, because voters in both parties make it an issue, especially younger voters.
“Younger voters are more socially aware. They want to be good stewards of our environment. That voter block is up for grabs. If you want to talk to them, you have to speak their language.”
Any young up-and-comers?
“It’s amazing, I’m 60 and I bring down the average age in the Senate,” Thune said, when asked if the parties were attracting younger lawmakers to replace aging leadership. “Sometimes you have to make way for and clear the deck for that next generation of leaders. I think they’re out there.
“At least where my party is concerned, I would like to see us get back to being fiscally responsible, limited government, economic freedom, peace through strength, pro-life party and not the party of personalities and websites, stuff like that. I think there’s an appetite for that.
“Trump spoke to a constituency on issues that really resonate with people. He brought people to the party that hadn’t been voting before. He was talking about strong borders, being tough on China, American energy and things like that. I think you can tap those issues and build a coalition for us, at least on my side of the aisle.
“That could be a governing coalition, but we’re going to have to figure out how to blend and integrate that with a more traditional approach.”
Meanwhile, “the Democrats are facing the same challenge. We’re right and they’re left.”
Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.
