U.S. Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Thune (R-SD) and Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald inviting him to personally visit the VA hospital in Hot Springs, which is a part of the VA Black Hills Health Care... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today introduced legislation to require more transparency in labor unions’ financial activities and tackle corruption by restoring three rules that were repealed by the Obama Department of Labor. The rules required unions to disclose financial interests in trusts that receive more than half of... Continue Reading
U.S. Senators John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and Representative Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota) today sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Neil Kornze calling for the agency to continue funding the Wildfire Community Assistance program, a local-federal cooperative project that hires... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today announced the release of a new rail service section on his official website where South Dakota shippers concerned with inconsistent rail service can find the latest South Dakota rail developments. On the site, South Dakota shippers and consumers will find the most up-to-date... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) today calling for the inclusion of two new metrics on the weekly grain order reports required by the board from Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad. Following increased concerns from... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today met with President Obama’s nominee to be U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), Robert McDonald, to discuss much needed reforms at the VA and to underscore the importance of the Hot Springs VA facility in providing high quality care to veterans in the... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today announced his selection of Scott and Jamie Nagy and their family of Brookings for the 2014 Angels in Adoption Award presented by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, of which Thune is a member. Scott and Jamie adopted their daughter Naika from Haiti in... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today applauded the committee’s bipartisan approval of a bill to reauthorize Brand USA, a public-private partnership to increase the number of visitors to the United States. The Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act... Continue Reading
Today at a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee to discuss the reauthorization of child nutrition programs, U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) addressed the need for flexible child nutrition standards. Following the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, school districts throughout South Dakota and around the... Continue Reading
Today, U.S. Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Thune (R-SD), and Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD) sent a letter to President Barack Obama expressing support for Governor Dennis Daugaard’s request for a major disaster declaration for Public Assistance for Butte, Clay, Corson, Dewey, Hanson, Jerauld, Lincoln, Perkins, Minnehaha, Turner, Union, and... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, questioned top executives at General Motors (GM) and Delphi about their failures resulting in the GM ignition switch recall at today’s Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing. “GM has admitted, via... Continue Reading
U.S. Senators John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Thune (R-SD), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today issued the following statement regarding the committee’s plans to reauthorize expiring provisions of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) of 2010: “The Senate Committee... Continue Reading
