Utah’s Lee Bullish on a Vance-Led Senate

The energy inside Fiserv Forum was palpable on night one. The former President Donald Trump made a triumphant return in his first public appearance since a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his ear. Shortly before entering the convention space, Trump chose Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate to carry the mantle of America First when Trump is gone. For the moment, everything seems to be coming up red, and the aperture for what could be possible in the next four years has been blown wide open. 

This is especially the case for the U.S. Senate. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sat down with The American Conservative to discuss the opportunities that await. 

“J.D. Vance is one of my very favorite members of the U.S. Senate,” Lee told TAC right off the bat. “He is in a very small category of senators who are courageous and undeterred to go and advocate for freedom and make sure that we have government reform.”

Lee’s enthusiasm for Vance goes beyond issues and messaging. “If Trump and he are elected, J.D. Vance will be the president of the Senate, the leader of the Senate,” Lee said. With Vance, the senate could return to more constitutional roots. “If, as I suspect might be the case, he decides to take a more active role with regard to the Senate than other modern vice presidents have,” Lee argued, Vance can not only assist in passing the Trump agenda but deliver on another timeless Trump promise: “Drain the swamp.”

“The most obvious, palpable role that the vice president as president of the Senate plays is to cast breaking votes where the Senate stands equally divided on legislation,” Lee explained. “But the president of the Senate is also the only person constitutionally entitled to sit in the presiding officer chair at any given moment.” 

While that seems like a mundane or pedestrian job for the vice president to do, Lee said it would give Vance “enormous influence from that perch, particularly as we approach key votes on things.” 

“Even just being there from one day to the next, providing leadership to Senate Republicans and to the Senate as a whole, there’s a lot he can do,” Lee affirmed.

If Vance takes a more active role in the Senate’s business, the oligarchy and omnibus way of governance that has dominated the Senate may meet its overdue end. “There was a time when the floor leader was not a terribly significant position. There has been a massive consolidation of power within the Senate over the last two decades,” Lee explained. “There’s nothing about the Constitution that requires it to be that way. The Senate is meant to be an egalitarian body among and between its members. That’s built into the Constitution. One feature of the Constitution that you can’t amend is you can’t change the dynamic of equal representation in the Senate among the states.”

“J.D. Vance can help usher in a new era,” Lee declared.

Trump’s current and apparent strength is opening up the possibility that Senate Republicans could hold a strong majority in the Senate come January 2025—if the state-level presidential election polls are correct. 

“I want very much to believe the general election polls and to believe the theory that this has all the makings of a landslide. I want to believe that, and there’s a part of me that intuitively expects that just because of what people have been through—the cost of living, a typical American family shelling out an extra $1,300 a month just to survive. They’ve had enough,” Lee said. “And I think that’s one of the reasons why I tend to lean intuitively toward thinking the general election polls are sending the right signal. But you can’t expect it to be anything other than a really close race.”

If Republicans stay hungry, Lee believes the majority could be larger than one or two votes—it could be three, four, maybe even five, “especially in light of the events over the last few days.” 

“The failed assassination attempt, the sense overall that the Democrats have tried to stack the deck against Trump in every way they can and it’s failed,” Lee said. “And I think Americans naturally like to see someone stand up to bullies. And I think that’s going to help not only Trump but Senate Republicans this year a lot.”

The big hurdle the is the 50-plus GOP senators themselves. “We control the gavels at that point. We control the subpoena authority. We have the ability to confirm Trump’s people. We have the ability to advance a Trump agenda,” Lee told TAC. “But the differences between 51 and say, 54, 55, 56 is also significant. It’s not quite as stark and immediately obvious, but it’s significant because then it gives us a little bit of a buffer when push comes to shove.” 

Surpassing cloture, 60 votes, is very unlikely. That need not be insurmountable. “As the Democrats reminded us over the last three and a half years—particularly the first two of the last three and a half years—there are things that can be done without 60 votes, primarily through the procedure known as budget reconciliation. And there are also things that you can do when you hold the majority when you’ve got leadership, perhaps leadership from a senate president named J.D. Vance, identifying certain objectives,” Lee claimed. 

He elaborated: “Let’s say, outside the context of where you can get something through on reconciliation, attaching something important to a number of Democrats—a must pass bill of some sort that the Democrats are enthusiastic about passing—attaching legislation important to the Trump administration that maybe can’t be passed for reconciliation. There’s a lot that can happen with that.”

Lee added that, with well over 51 GOP senators, “we don’t have to worry about a couple of senators who might not be on board with the program. That makes a big difference. I’ve talked to Trump a fair amount about his VP pick, and from the very beginning, I emphasized with him there are a number of advantages that J.D. Vance would bring—including the fact that he’s known, well liked in the Senate. He’s proven fearless in the Senate. Hasn’t been there very long, but he’s proven to be wise beyond his years and his time in the Senate. He’s respected and he also knows the Senate rules well. Somebody coming at the job from that vantage point, and knows his way around the Senate would also know how he could help promote the President’s legislative agenda, specifically in his role as Senate president.”

And Lee believes the current slate of GOP candidates can deliver on the reforms conservatives want to see in the Senate, especially Bernie Moreno of Ohio. Lee told TAC that Trump shares his optimism. 

“Like the rest of us, he’s pretty optimistic about how things look. But he also knows we can’t take anything for granted. He also knows getting the majority doesn’t necessarily assure victory for an America First agenda. Need to be the right message, the right people, who are dialed in,” Lee said. “I don’t want to speak for [Trump], but I suspect that this aspect of J.D. Vance’s abilities, his background and experience, I suspect they had something to do with Trump’s decision.”

“Trump knows that J.D. Vance can be not just a leader in the Senate but the leader in the Senate—because that’s what he will be,” Lee concluded.

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