Press Releases - Senator John Thune

South Dakota Delegation Sends Letter to President Obama in Support of Governor’s Disaster Declaration Request

The South Dakota Congressional delegation today sent the following letter to President Barack Obama expressing their support for South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard’s recent request to declare the South Dakota counties of Beadle, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Hughes, and Kingsbury as major disaster areas. This declaration would greatly assist in... Continue Reading

Senators Introduce Bill to Limit Use of “Official Time” in Federal Workforce

Today, U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Barrasso (R-WY), Richard Burr (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Enzi (R-WY), James Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA) introduced the Federal... Continue Reading

Thune, Alexander Question Secretary Duncan on Education Department’s Role in ObamaCare Implementation

Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, were joined today by several of their Republican Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan questioning the Department of Education’s involvement in implementing ObamaCare. The senators write:... Continue Reading

Senators Stabenow, Thune, Representatives Nunes, Kind Introduce Bipartisan Agriculture Research Bill to Spur Innovation, Strengthen American Agriculture

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Senator John Thune (R-SD), a Member of the Committee, yesterday introduced a bipartisan bill with Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) that will help spur new agricultural research by leveraging private... Continue Reading

Thune, Senate Republicans Call on President to Permanently Delay ObamaCare for All

Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) was joined today by 45 of his Republican Senate colleagues in sending a letter to President Obama urging him to permanently delay the implementation of ObamaCare for all Americans. Last week, the Obama administration announced that after hearing concerns from the business community, it will delay... Continue Reading

Thune Statement on One-Year Anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ObamaCare Decision

Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) released the following statement today on the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold portions of ObamaCare: “ObamaCare has been built on a series of broken promises, and is deepening the administration’s trust deficit and credibility gap with the American public. Despite Democrats’ assurances... Continue Reading

GOP Senators Release Health IT Industry Stakeholder Feedback, Still Awaiting HHS Response

Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) today released the comments they have been collecting from industry stakeholders on the concerns they raised in their health information technology (health IT) white paper released in April of 2013.... Continue Reading

Thune Statement on the Immigration Reform Bill

Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) made the following statement today after the Senate passed the immigration reform bill (S. 744): “Our immigration system is broken and must be fixed, but the legislation passed by the Senate today fails to make the necessary improvements to secure our borders and comes with an... Continue Reading

Thune’s Office Accepting Fall Internship Applications

Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) is currently seeking intelligent, hard-working college students to serve as fall interns in his office in Washington, D.C., as well as in his offices in Aberdeen, Rapid City, and Sioux Falls. Interns in Senator Thune’s state offices will participate in constituent service and state outreach activities,... Continue Reading

Thune Statement on Obama Administration’s Expanded National Energy Tax

Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, made a statement today following President Obama’s so-called new climate initiative that will impose a costly national energy tax on affordable sources of energy and crush American jobs: “Once again, the president has pivoted away from jobs and the economy... Continue Reading

MINUTEMAN MISSILE BILL APPROVED BY SENATE

U.S. Senators Tim Johnson and John Thune announced today that legislation to facilitate construction of a visitor center at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was unanimously approved by the Senate. Johnson and Thune’s legislation would transfer approximately 29 acres of National Forest Service land to the National Park Service... Continue Reading

SENATORS TOOMEY, THUNE, AND KING INTRODUCE DATA SECURITY BILL

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced a bill Thursday to create a national standard requiring companies to protect and secure consumers’ electronic data. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and John Thune (R-S.D.) are cosponsors. Today, companies must comply with 46 different state laws in the event of a data breach. The... Continue Reading