Author: Pat Powers

Thune: IRS in Desperate Need for Top-to-Bottom Culture Change

“American taxpayers should expect, at the very least, a culture of accountability, of fairness, of impartiality. No taxpayer ever again should fear that they will be discriminated against based on their political or ideological beliefs.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), today urged IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to institute a top-to-bottom culture change at the beleaguered tax-collecting agency. Thune’s primary recommendation was to implement the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act (S. 1578), a series of measures to hold the IRS accountable to American taxpayers. Thune and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S. 1578 in June.

 

Earlier today, Thune previewed the Senate Finance Committee hearing and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” with Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum.

If any of you are familiar with former State Representative Patty Miller, her husband, who had been in poor health, has passed away:  From the Sioux City Journal:

NORTH SIOUX CITY | Duane “Buck” Miller, 83, of North Sioux City died Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, at Sanford Vermillion (S.D.) Care Center.

Services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Cornerstone World Outreach Church, rural Sioux City. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, with family present 6 to 8 p.m., at Christy-Smith Morningside Chapel in Sioux City.

Read it here.

Patty has noted on facebook for friends:

If you have time to stop by the Christy-Smith Funeral Home in Morningside, we will have some great memorabilia about Buck to share with you. If you would like to attend the service on Saturday, you will find it to be positive and joyful; just like Buck. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.   God Bless all of you and Don’t Worry; Be Happy!

 

From Newser:

The World Health Organization delivered bad news to bacon lovers Monday morning, declaring that the breakfast staple causes cancer. In fact, the report by a WHO research arm found that all processed meats, including sausages, ham, and hot dogs, are carcinogens, reports the Guardian. Specifically, the report says that 50 grams a day—about two slices of bacon—raises the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%, reports the BBC.

Read it here.

I’m thinking it’s just a bunch of liberal silliness from people with an agenda of removing red meat from our diets.  But that’s just me.

Your thoughts?

From the Daily Kos Morning Digest, it appears that national Democrats have already written off Paula Hawks as a nonstarter.

• SD-AL: Democrats landed state Rep. Paula Hawks for a longshot bid against Republican Kristi Noem, but we can probably take our eyes off this seat. Hawks raised only $62,000 for the quarter, and she trails Noem $1,345,000 to $65,000 in cash on hand. Noem hasn’t done much to anger her conservative constituents, and it’s very tough to see this district going blue again anytime soon.

Read it here.

Apparently, Rep. Jason Frerichs doesn’t like it when someone calls into questions legislation he supported to create another level of bureaucracy. And he really doesn’t like it when it’s done with wit:

In his comments last week Schoenbeck said if a committee were trying to create a thoroughbred racehorse this is what the committee would have got and it would look to the rest of the state like  a three-legged, blind, mangy dog and would run as well.

Frerichs says Schoenbeck is playing Washington DC politics using nasty words.  He says the new districts were created under state law in the last legislative session.

Read it here.

Schoenbeck offered his comments on the legislation, but if you listen to Frerich’s comments, they’re not much more than a series of dismissive cliché’s that are a bit more personal. “playing Washington DC politics using nasty words.” “What Schoenbeck is trying to do is to work up some ground after crops have been planted…… the ships is sailing.”

It seems like Lee hit a nerve, and Frerichs didn’t like it.

I’m sure this is only getting started.

So, if you have a twitter account for your campaign, but it shows almost no activity whatsoever, does that mean you don’t have a campaign?

I’m wondering, because so far this month the Hawks for House twitter account has been holding steady at 2 tweets, with one on the 7th, and one on the 14th.

I was thinking it was a weekly thing on days divisible by 7, but gosh darn it, they went and fooled us all by skipping the 21st.

By this post. I’m probably jinxing their natural tendency towards twitter entropy, where they did 4 last month, 2 this month, then 1, and heading towards 0 by January, at which time she would withdraw from the race, citing complete disinterest by a vast majority of South Dakota citizens.

Or I could be wrong, and by next year, she’ll build herself up to an earth shattering (for the Hawks campaign) *5 tweets.*    Holy crap! 5 tweets! She would have to divert her staffer from trying to shake out couch cushions for fundraising over to social media to prove that the campaign possibly has a pulse!

Seriously, the thing with her twitter account seems to be plaguing her entire campaign.  It was amateur hour at her campaign rollout, which was the most botched thing I’ve seen in over 25 years in politics. As a supposed political insider for Democrats, her first quarter fundraising only beat the gal who moved here, and only managed about 2/3 of what a junior staffer for Tim Johnson managed to draw in a comparable time period.

In a limited time period to try to gain attention, she’s managed to be almost invisible. The past weekend in Brookings was an opportunity to see tens of thousands of people in Brookings… And yet, crickets from the Hawks campaign.

In less than a month, South Dakota will have moved fully into holiday mode, with anything political going into complete shutdown until the week between Christmas and New Years’, because frankly, no one will care.  And that’s all the time left this year for Hawks to try to prove to her party that she’s worthy of carrying their banner.

Although, given their lack of recruiting for any other office, especially in the Thune race, “yeah, I guess I’ll do it” is probably an acceptable level of effort for South Dakota Democrats.

Like I said, 5 tweets.

Dr. (and State Senator) Jeff Monroe had a piece at ArgusLeader.com on the efforts by the left wing environmentalists to try to derail the Dakota Access Pipeline that’s currently undergoing hearings with the Public Utilities Commission:

Environmentalists don’t like this pipeline project, but then again, they don’t like anything that increases America’s energy independence and makes the most of our vast oil and gas resources. Keep in mind these environmentalists won’t be happy until the fossil fuel industry that powers our economy is more or less reduced to a bare minimum. Forget about affordable and abundant energy, especially for our vehicles and homes. Their new motto is “keep it locked in the ground.”

Fortunately for South Dakotans, the state’s permitting process only gives the authorities one year to reach decisions on permit applications. So we won’t see the kind of endless foot dragging and dithering and politicking that was so much in view at the White House and State Department over Keystone XL. Let’s hope we get a better outcome here for DAPL that we got from Washington on Keystone XL.

Read it all here.

Hear, hear!

Noem: Support for South Dakota Rail is Good News for Producers, Shippers, and Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Kristi Noem today applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation for prioritizing investments into South Dakota rail through a partnership between the state and the Rapid City Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCP&E).  After a months-long push by the South Dakota delegation and others, RCP&E earned a $6 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to increase the railroad’s capacity.

“Nearly every commodity we produce in South Dakota is exported and shipped via rail,” said Noem, who joined Senators Thune and Rounds in writing Transportation Secretary Foxx about the grant earlier this year.  “Disruptions or delays in rail service have an immediate impact.  That’s what makes investing in our railways so critical to creating a healthy economy.  The TIGER Grant is one way that our country makes that investment.  I’m grateful the Secretary saw the merit of this project and recognized South Dakota freight rail as a worthy priority.”

In June, Noem, alongside Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds, wrote to Secretary Foxx urging the full and fair consideration of RCP&E’s grant application and stressing the railroad’s importance to South Dakota producers and shippers.  Two months later, the congresswoman visited the RCP&E Yard Office near Rapid City, visiting with a number of the railroad’s 185 employees.

The TIGER grant announced today aims to increase the railroad’s capacity by constructing a siding near Phillip, S.D., and replacing approximately 10 miles of rail near Huron, S.D.

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Obama EPA’s Smog Rule Will Have Widespread Impact on U.S. Economy

“When it comes to the debilitating impact its rules have on jobs, the economy, and hard-working American taxpayers, the Obama EPA never fails to disappoint.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the Obama Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final rule to lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, or smog, was published in the Federal Register. The new standard in an unprecedented 70 parts-per-billion (ppb), down from the 75 ppb standard set in 2008.

“When it comes to the debilitating impact its rules have on jobs, the economy, and hard-working American taxpayers, the Obama EPA never fails to disappoint,” said Thune. “This rule, as I’ve warned since it was first introduced, will have a serious negative impact on energy prices, job growth, and future economic development. That’s why I’ve introduced the Clean Air, Strong Economies Act – or CASE Act – a bill that would prioritize smog reduction where it is most serious.”

Counties that exceed the ground-level ozone standard are considered non-attainment areas and will be subjected to stiff federal penalties, increased business costs, restrictions on infrastructure investment, and lost highway dollars. Areas in marginal attainment will face steep challenges in attracting new economic development.

On March 17, 2015, Thune and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced the bipartisan CASE Act (S. 751), which would stem the economic harm from a lower ozone standard by requiring the EPA to focus on the worst areas for air quality before lowering the ground-level ozone standard. Thune and Manchin’s bill would also require the EPA to consider the costs and feasibility of the lower standard, which the EPA currently does not consider. Finally, the bill would prohibit the EPA from using unreliable modeling to expand non-attainment areas to many rural counties that otherwise would not be impacted by the expensive regulation.

In 2008, the permitted level of ground-level ozone, or smog, was lowered from 84 ppb to the current 75 ppb. Currently, 227 counties in 27 states are considered in non-attainment with the 75 ppb standard. The CASE Act would require 85 percent of areas currently not meeting the 75 ppb standard to meet compliance before the EPA could lower it further.

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Thune Statement on U.S. DOT Grant Funding for South Dakota Rail Projects

“I applaud Secretary Foxx’s decision to approve these important rail projects, which will help increase rail network capacity and fluidity across our region.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) released the following statement after Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved $6 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding for two South Dakota rail projects. Thune led the South Dakota congressional delegation in writing to Secretary Foxx in June and Thune followed up last month to underscore the impact that the federal funding would have when it comes to key upgrades to rail infrastructure in South Dakota.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) and Rapid City, Pierre, and Eastern (RCP&E) Railroad partnered together in this joint project by committing $6.4 million in investments. Along with the state and private funding, the TIGER grant will provide for a total of $12.4 million that will be used for a new track siding near Philip, South Dakota, and much-needed track upgrades near Huron, South Dakota.

“I applaud Secretary Foxx’s decision to approve these important rail projects, which will help increase network capacity and fluidity across our region,” said Thune. “This funding, matched with the funds that SDDOT and RCP&E have already committed, will help ensure these important upgrades can begin without delay. These improvements will not only support job creation in the region, but they will attract future business development as well.”

Thune is the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over the DOT and freight railroad matters. Thune also serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. Both committees underscore the critical importance that the agriculture sector has in South Dakota’s economy, and in particular, how vital rail service is when it comes to getting raw goods and commodities to markets across the United States and all over the world.

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