Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (FS), and Office of General Counsel (OGC) to finally take responsibility for the Pautre fire that beginning on April 3, 2013, consumed standing... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today urged President Obama to declare a Major Disaster Declaration for Individual Assistance for South Dakota counties affected by the May 10, 2015, storm and EF-2 tornado, during which nine people were injured... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today criticized a sweeping regulation from the Obama administration, saying the Environmental Protection Agency’s final “waters of the United States” rule is yet another power grab by an administration that has established a pattern of acting unilaterally: “Yet again, the Obama administration is forgoing... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the Senate passed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1314, to renew trade promotion authority for six years: “Trade deals are powerful tools that help strengthen our economy, create more jobs, and even promote our nation’s stability and security abroad. With trade... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, today reintroduced legislation to support agricultural research. The Charitable Agricultural Research Act encourages the creation of public-private partnerships to boost funding and spur innovation... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) today reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would establish a Medicare Advantage (MA) demonstration program to evaluate how value-based insurance design (V-BID) could reduce MA enrollees’ copayments and coinsurance for some beneficiaries with specific chronic conditions for certain high-value medications... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today introduced the Real EPA Impact Reviews (REPAIR) Act, which would help facilitate a more transparent EPA regulatory impact analyses (RIA) process by requiring the EPA to include a scenario in each of its RIAs that does not contain additional proposed regulations. “This... Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C.— At a press conference today, U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) urged passage of the bipartisan trade promotion authority legislation, highlighting the importance of opening new markets to America’s farmers and ranchers.   Click here to watch Thune’s full statement. Excerpts: “By failing to reauthorize TPA, which is something... Continue Reading

(Senator Thune is pictured with ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp)  WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has received the American Conservative Union’s (ACU) “Conservative Achievement Award” for 2014. This award is presented to conservatives in Congress, who are scored based on their voting record on a variety of important conservative... Continue Reading