Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today led a number of their colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack calling on him to expedite implementation of the livestock disaster programs reauthorized in... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutrition Committee and veteran of three Farm Bills in Congress, today made the following statement regarding the Senate passage of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (H.R. 2642) by a vote of 68 to... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) again called for President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline following the State Department’s release today of its fifth environmental impact study on the pipeline: “The Obama State Department has said that the Keystone XL pipeline, which has broad bipartisan backing, would support over... Continue Reading
Following the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to continue moving forward in its war on affordable energy by requiring new power plants to meet expensive and unnecessary regulations, Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) today sent a letter, along with a number of his colleagues, to President Obama urging him to avoid... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) offered the following remarks regarding what he hopes to hear during the president’s State of the Union address tonight: “The president has said that 2014 “has to be a year of action,” and I agree. Tonight I want to hear the president focus on action—on... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) made the following remarks regarding President Obama’s State of the Union address: “The president has called for a year of action, yet tonight he failed to mention common-sense, bipartisan measures that would actually make it easier and less expensive to create jobs, like approving the... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which oversees the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), today commended the agency’s decision to issue an Emergency Declaration for South Dakota and North Dakota due to propane shortages which have been magnified as a result... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which oversees the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), today sent a letter to the FMCSA requesting the agency issue an Emergency Declaration for the Western Service Center due to propane shortages, which have been magnified... Continue Reading
U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, today led a bipartisan group of senators in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) underscoring the importance of maintaining the charitable tax deduction as... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today issued the following statement regarding U.S. Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) decision to leave the Senate at the end of the year: “The American taxpayer has never had a better friend than Tom Coburn. Tom has been a courageous... Continue Reading
Senators Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), and Representative Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric Shinseki expressing disappointment that the Secretary is proceeding on the path to potential realignment of the VA Black Hills Health Care System (BHHCS). The delegation continues... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) today signed onto Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval, which, if successful, could stop expensive and unnecessary Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on new power plants. “Nearly 350,000 Americans simply stopped looking for work in the month of December, leading... Continue Reading
