Press Releases - Senator John Thune

Thune on Hugh Hewitt: Open More Schools and Close Holes in Border Security

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Hugh Hewitt’s radio show to discuss the importance of getting more kids back to in-person learning and what South Dakota schools have been doing right, the intensifying crisis at the southern border, and how Democrats are tying the hands of red-state governors, among... Continue Reading

Thune Leads Colleagues in Reintroducing Bipartisan Legislation to Provide Certainty for the 340B Program

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) today reintroduced legislation that would provide certainty to hospitals participating in the 340B drug discount program during the COVID-19 public health emergency. “The 340B program has been critical... Continue Reading

Thune, Colleagues Urge Office of Management and Budget to Reject Proposed Revisions to Metropolitan Statistical Area Standards

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today led his colleagues in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in urging the Office of Management and Budget acting director to reject recommendations that would increase the population threshold for communities to be considered metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). In doing so, certain... Continue Reading

Thune Joins Colleagues in Introducing Legislation to Block Taxpayer-Funded Gun Registries Lawmakers Offer ‘GRIP Act’ in Continued Effort to Protect Gun Owners’ Privacy Rights

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and U.S. Rep. Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (R-Ariz.) in introducing the Gun-owner Registration Information Protection Act (GRIP Act) to prohibit states, localities, or any other organization from using federal funding to maintain gun registries. The GRIP Act would clarify... Continue Reading

Thune: Xavier Becerra is a Threat to Religious Liberty, Wrong Person to Lead Health Department

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today expressed his strong opposition to Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s nominee to be HHS secretary. Thune acknowledged that Becerra does not represent the views of... Continue Reading

Thune: Senate Democrats Use COVID-19 Spending Bill to Push Liberal Agenda

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the recently passed COVID-19 spending bill and the Democrats’ failure to work in a bipartisan way. Thune also discussed the breakdown of where the $1.9 trillion will go, including a $350 billion slush fund for state and local governments, school funding that isn’t... Continue Reading

Thune Leads Colleagues in Reintroducing Bicameral Legislation to Permanently Repeal the Death Tax

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, joined Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and dozens of his Senate colleagues in reintroducing legislation to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, more commonly known... Continue Reading

Thune, Rounds Join Colleagues in Calling on USDA to Assist Biofuels Industry

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and eight of their Senate colleagues this week sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack urging the department to assist biofuel producers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter was led by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)... Continue Reading

Thune Rejects Partisan and Wasteful Spending Package

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today released the following statement after voting against the partisan $1.9 trillion spending package: “Despite President Biden’s promises for unity and bipartisan cooperation, the first major bill considered in his presidency is a partisan and wasteful spending bill disguised as ‘COVID relief.’ One trillion dollars... Continue Reading

Thune: Partisan COVID-19 Bill is Not an Accurate Representation of What Americans Want

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending bill and emphasized that Democrats are using this partisan process to advance liberal priorities, including a bailout for multiemployer pension plans, climate change and other environmental policy issues, and a new taxpayer-funded leave program for government employees... Continue Reading

ICYMI: Thune on Fox News: Democrats’ Partisan Spending Bill is Part of a Far-Left Agenda

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined “The Story with Martha McCallum” on Fox News to discuss how the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID spending bill is a waste of taxpayer dollars that would substantially increase the federal debt and be detrimental to the future of the nation’s economy. On... Continue Reading

South Dakota, Wyoming Delegations Urge U.S. Forest Service to Reconsider Recommendation to Reduce Timber Sale Program at Black Hills National Forest

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and U.S. Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) today expressed their concern with the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS’s) recommendation to reduce the timber sale program in the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF). The members... Continue Reading