WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today joined U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in issuing the following joint statement regarding an agreement to provide fair tax treatment for all agricultural businesses: “The new, pro-growth tax law was... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) this week discussed an important objective of the Senate Republicans’ pro-growth, comprehensive tax reform legislation: repealing the death tax. Thune explained that South Dakota farmers and ranchers spend tens of thousands of dollars each year to avoid the death tax and preserve their family farms... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today participated in Dakotafest’s annual farm bill forum in Mitchell. Thune thanked South Dakota’s farmers and ranchers who help make agriculture the state’s top industry, and he highlighted the five farm bill proposals... Continue Reading
U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today joined U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue for a series of agriculture-related events in the Rapid City area, including a listening session with tribal leaders, a tour of pine beetle-infested timber, a... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today unveiled multiple proposals that would add flexibility to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) management and create new management options for other easement programs. In March, Thune announced that he would introduce multiple and incremental... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today reintroduced legislation that would require federal agencies to rely on the private sector when providing goods and services that are readily available. Thune’s legislation, the Freedom from Government Competition Act, would ensure private enterprises that provide services that are replicated by the federal government... Continue Reading
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today wrote to Tom Vilsack, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), encouraging him to provide immediate disaster assistance to ranchers who have been affected by the Cottonwood Fire. The fire... Continue Reading
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 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack to reevaluate the selection process for the general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign-ups. The results of the 49th annual general CRP sign-up, which was conducted... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today led nine of his colleagues in writing to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) about its status review of the Worthing, South Dakota, delivery point for October live cattle futures. The Worthing delivery point is being singled out for a potential $1.50 per hundredweight (cwt)... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) applauded the Senate’s bipartisan passage of his legislation, the Sport Fish Restoration and Recreational Boating Safety Act (S. 834), a bill that reauthorizes through fiscal year 2023 the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, a program that has benefitted millions of anglers and fishermen... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) applauded the recent announcements by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that the sign-up process will soon begin for a new Conservation Reserve Program-Grasslands (CRP-Grasslands) initiative authorized by the 2014 farm bill, and that an additional 21,000 acres are now available for South Dakota’s State... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, filed several amendments during today’s mark-up of a two-year tax extenders package, which is similar to the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency Act that the committee considered last year. Thune’s amendments would have made permanent a... Continue Reading
