U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, today introduced the New Economy Works to Guarantee Independence and Growth (NEW GIG) Act of 2017 (S. 1549), legislation that addresses the classification of workers – independent contractors versus employees – and creates a safe harbor for... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today, after last week’s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the North Korean regime, addressed North Korea’s increasing threat to the United States. Thune called for military deterrence against a nuclear-capable North Korea. Thune also discussed the ongoing failures of Obamacare and the... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted a request to allow emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres beginning July 16, which is more than two weeks ahead of... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, issued the following statement after the Commerce Committee approved the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization Act of 2017. As the Working Group on Improving Air Service to Small Communities recently recommended, the bill includes a Thune-led... Continue Reading
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
