Senator John Thune today issued the following statement regarding the approval of funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, as passed by the Senate in the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. The Senate-passed bill provides $87.5 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is $3.6 billion more than the... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune today issued the following statement regarding the dedication of the new water intake that will provide drinking water to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and residents in Dewey, Ziebach, Perkins and Meade counties: “The new water intake will provide clean, reliable drinking water for over 14,000 South... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released sign-up dates for the new Livestock Compensation Program (LCP), the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), and Crop Disaster Program (CDP). Producers will be able to apply for LCP and LIP beginning September 10th and for CDP beginning October... Continue Reading
Today, Senator John Thune announced that eight counties in Southwestern South Dakota have been approved for Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funding due to drought and two counties in Northeastern South Dakota have been approved for flooding that occurred this past spring. Custer, Fall River, Haakan, Harding, Meade, Pennington, Perkins and... Continue Reading
Today, Senator John Thune made an announcement regarding the coordination of wind power in central South Dakota and the use of hydroelectric power generated by the Missouri River. To better understand the potential of coordinating these two sources of energy, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) has been charged with... Continue Reading
Today Senator John Thune announced that he’s introduced legislation (S. 2012) that would extend disaster assistance authorized earlier this year to include eligible crop and livestock losses that occur throughout calendar year 2007. Disaster losses for 2005, 2006 or through February 28, 2007, are covered under emergency disaster assistance that... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune today sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calling for responsible balance between development of wind energy and wildlife concerns. Senator Thune today will also tour a working wind farm outside of Highmore, South Dakota at 11 AM. “South Dakota has great wind energy... Continue Reading
The President today signed into law a bill authored by Senator John Thune (S.1716), correcting a potentially devastating mistake in the $3 billion agriculture disaster aid package that passed Congress in May. The Senate passed Senator Thune’s bill on July 27th and the House passed it on July 30th. “Congress... Continue Reading
President Bush today signed into law legislation authored by Senator John Thune (S. 975), allowing South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado to enter into agreements to share resources and aid each other in fighting forest fires. In order for states to officially work together under such an agreement, Congressional... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune yesterday addressed approximately 1,800 ethanol industry leaders at the 20th annual American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Conference in St. Paul, MN. Senator Thune spoke on the challenges and opportunities facing the growing ethanol industry and gave a legislative update on activities in Washington, DC. Senator Thune highlighted... Continue Reading
The House of Representatives today passed Senator John Thune’s bill (S.1716) which would correct a potentially devastating mistake in the $3 billion agriculture disaster aid package that passed Congress in May. Senator Thune’s legislation will now be sent to the President to be signed into law. “Congress clearly intended disaster... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune announced the U.S. House of Representatives included a substantial portion of his Biofuels Innovation Program (BIP) in its final version of the 2007 Farm Bill passed by the House on Friday. Thune’s legislation is designed to spur the production of cellulosic ethanol to help reduce our nation’s... Continue Reading
