Press Releases

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that it will provide additional assistance, which Thune requested on June 27, to drought-stricken livestock producers. Thune asked USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to reverse the agency’s order to... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today, as part of his ongoing effort to introduce multiple proposals to be included in the 2018 farm bill, unveiled new legislation that would make several common-sense updates to the Livestock Forage Program... Continue Reading

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Agriculture Committee, today were joined by 15 of their colleagues in urging U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to strengthen agricultural trade as the administration prepares to... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to reverse a USDA requirement that would force farmers and ranchers to destroy useable hay that would soon be harvested according to CRP mid-contract management practices. This... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for initiating a formal process to withdraw the highly controversial Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The EPA and the Corps now begin a replacement rulemaking process that will... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement regarding the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the Senate health care discussion draft: “Today’s Congressional Budget Office report confirms that the Senate health care bill will soon start lowering premiums for millions of Americans relative to the unsustainable premium increases under... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would release Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)-enrolled acres to grazing in counties reaching the D2 (severe drought) and D3 (extreme drought) categories in the... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, this week led fellow Commerce Committee leaders, including Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the committee’s ranking member, and Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chairman and ranking member of the Aviation Operations, Safety,... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, issued the following statement after President Donald Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law. “The VA Accountability Act provides long-awaited and much-needed reforms to a department that has been mired in red... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is used to trigger Livestock Forage Program (LFP) disaster assistance, indicated that six South Dakota counties, including Campbell, Dewey, Walworth, Potter, McPherson, and Edmunds, are now categorized as D3 (extreme drought), which will make... Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) this week highlighted the Senate Republicans’ plan to save the American people from Obamacare’s increasingly long list of problems. Thune outlined several principles, including helping to stabilize collapsing insurance markets, improving the affordability of health insurance, preserving access to care for those with pre-existing conditions,... Continue Reading