On March 25th our country celebrates National Agriculture Day. We honor the farmers and ranchers whose ingenuity and dedication has enabled them to continue to provide a stable and affordable food supply for our country and the world, even when faced with adverse weather and numerous challenges. National Ag Day is... Continue Reading
Water from the historic Missouri River flooding in 2011 has receded, but the damage caused to homes, businesses, and communities remains fresh in the minds of many South Dakotans. In 2011, the snowpack runoff and heavy spring rain led to the highest recorded water levels in the region and forced... Continue Reading
For more than five years, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress have been trying to tax, spend, and borrow our country’s way out of economic turmoil. Unfortunately, the failed economic policies of the past five years have left 3.6 million Americans out of work for six months or longer... Continue Reading
Congress has a bad habit of passing legislation that treats the symptoms of our problems rather than the problems themselves. From reauthorizing emergency jobless benefits, to expanding Medicaid, too often the quick fix is the wrong approach, and taking the easy way out merely leads us further from addressing the... Continue Reading
In January, we added a mere 113,000 jobs to the U.S. economy and the labor force participation rate reached a 35-year low, the lowest level since Jimmy Carter occupied the White House. CBS News reported in February that the economy would have to gain an average of 285,000 jobs per... Continue Reading
South Dakota farmers and ranchers are all too familiar with the harsh temperatures of our hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters. In 2012, South Dakota producers experienced the worst drought in nearly half a century, facing devastating loss of crops, pasture, rangeland, and forage, which resulted in more than... Continue Reading
Some of you have heard me say that because I’m Scandinavian, I believe life is supposed to be hard. How much my heritage has to do with it may be an open question, but the fact remains that when I was growing up, I sort of adopted the view that... Continue Reading
South Dakotans are no strangers to cold weather. The extreme cold temperatures and rather unpredictable weather patterns this time of year have caused us to prepare for most things that come our way. However, this year the brutally cold weather has left farmers, families, tribes, and businesses feeling the pinch... Continue Reading
On January 14th, the U.S. Forest Service announced that the Black Hills National Forest would receive $1.5 million for additional timber harvest this year, the highest amount allocated to any National Forest in the Rocky Mountain Region. This funding came as the result of an October 19, 2013, letter I... Continue Reading
Each month, I receive dozens of emails and phone calls from people all across South Dakota struggling under the weight of ObamaCare’s broken promises. From dropped coverage to higher premiums and deductibles, ObamaCare is placing a tremendous financial burden on South Dakota families. For several months, I have been calling... Continue Reading
The frenzy of the holiday shopping season may have come to a close, and while I still do most of my shopping locally, the growing importance of digital goods and services proved once again to be one of the key economic drivers of the holiday shopping season. According to a... Continue Reading
South Dakota’s landscape has significantly changed since the first block of native sod was turned over by a horse-drawn plow more than 150 years ago. These changes include native grasslands converted to fertile croplands that can now produce more than 250 bushels of corn per acre; massive herds of bison... Continue Reading
