GOP Lawmaker Calls for John Thune to Be Replaced as Senate Leader

Representative John Rose, a Tennessee Republican, said Senate Majority Leader John Thune should be replaced following the chamber's early Friday passage of a funding bill that would have ended the 43-day partial government shutdown while leaving out money for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through September 30. "

We should call on Thune to step aside," Rose told Newsmax host Todd Starnes on Friday, while GOP Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, speaking Sunday during an appearance on Fox News, stopped short of naming Thune but said the Senate's handling of the deal reflected a leadership failure. ”

The stereotype of Congress is, and it's well deserved, is that we pass stuff in the dark of night, because we don't have any guts, and that's clearly what's shown in the Senate leadership. I think they need to get some new leadership over there," he said. During an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, Representative Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said on Sunday Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has become a “thorn in the side” of the party after House GOP leadership rejected the Senate's funding bill.

“We’re not the problem. It’s the left that’s a problem,” she said.

“And now Senator Thune has become a problem and a thorn in the side of the Republican Party. And it’s become a national problem.” The criticism extended beyond Capitol Hill, with prominent MAGA voices on social media also accusing Thune of capitulating to Democrats on one of the movement's core priorities.

Newsweek reached out to Thune's office via email on Sunday for comment. What It Matters The call for Thune's removal signals a deepening fault line within the Republican Party over immigration enforcement and government shutdown strategy. The MAGA and America First movements have made bolstering ICE and Border Patrol central to their agenda, and the Senate's bipartisan deal—which Thune himself described as "unfortunate," according to Politico—landed as a flashpoint for that frustration.

Some Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the MAGA wing of the party, and the shutdown standoff has sharpened those divisions ahead of what could become the longest government shutdown—partial or full—in U.S. history. What To Know The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been partially shut down since mid-February after Congress failed to pass funding legislation. The impasse began when Democrats refused to approve more money for immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizen, Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis by federal agents in January.

An estimated 50,000 DHS workers have gone unpaid, and nearly 500 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, triggering widespread airport delays and long security lines across the country. Before leaving for a two-week recess, the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan funding bill in the early hours of Friday that would have funded most of DHS—excluding ICE and CBP—through September 30. The deal was engineered by Thune in coordination with Democratic senators and represented a compromise that left immigration enforcement agencies without new appropriations.

House Republican leaders rejected the Senate bill outright, with Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana calling it a "joke" and saying Republicans would not support any measure that withheld money for ICE. He defended the Senate majority leader, however, saying he “wouldn’t call John Thune the engineer of this,” adding that Senate Democrats "forced this upon” his colleagues.

Meanwhile, the House passed its own competing bill 213-203 late Friday night, extending DHS funding through May 22—but that measure has been declared "dead on arrival" in the Senate by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. Democrats have accused Republicans of choosing chaos over compromise, while the White House has blamed Democrats for the prolonged standoff. In an effort to address the mounting airport crisis, President Donald Trump issued a memo Thursday directing his administration to pay TSA workers, with DHS saying screeners could begin receiving paychecks as early as Monday.

ICE and CBP have remained funded throughout the shutdown through previously approved congressional appropriations. Rose, who had been publicly pressuring Thune earlier in the week, criticized Senate Republicans on X on Sunday for passing the deal "while Americans were asleep," accusing them of giving Democrats "a political lifeline" and allowing them to avoid a vote on the SAVE America Act, which would have tied immigration enforcement funding to broader DHS appropriations. What Is the SAVE Act?

The SAVE America Act would shift voter registration standards nationwide. The bill, which cleared the House 220-208, would require Americans to present documentary proof of citizenship when applying to register for federal elections, changing long-standing practices under the National Voter Registration Act and putting new obligations on election offices and voter registration agencies. The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) said that while only citizens can legally vote in federal elections and confirmed instances of noncitizen voting are rare, the bill’s front-end documentation mandate could create hurdles for eligible voters and complicate implementation for election officials.

The White House described a broader “SAVE America Act” framework that also promotes photo ID at voting times and major limits on mail ballots, which goes beyond the bill's core proof-of-citizenship-at-registration provisions, underscoring debate about the scope of potential election rule changes. The bill creates new legal exposure for election officials, authorizing private lawsuits and criminal penalties related to registering applicants who fail to present the required documentation. Provisional ballots would remain available to voters pending citizenship verification.

What People Are Saying Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, via X: "

When it comes to funding DHS, Democrats are moving the goalposts every day. They are playing politics and using the American people as pawns. This needs to stop. We need to fund DHS." Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump, via X: "

John Thune is a massive RINO sellout and a total traitor to the America First movement. He completely caved when we need border enforcement the most." X account "

America First Annie" wrote last week: "

Thune is a traitor to this country. We've had enough! The house should throw this in the trash. They allowed Democrats to hold ICE funding for ransom." What Happens Next With Congress on a two-week recess and neither chamber willing to take up the other's proposal, the partial government shutdown appears set to drag on—and break records.

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