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Courtney, Johnson Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Allow Active-Duty Servicemembers to Count Full Service Period Towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness

NORWICH, CT—Today, Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (SD-AL) introduced the Recognizing Military Service in PSLF Act, a new bipartisan bill that would finally enable American service members to count the full length of their service towards their student loan forgiveness. Although they are currently eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), existing rules prevent many active duty servicemembers who have deployed far away from their families from applying their full period of service towards PSLF—meaning that they are made to complete a longer period of service before qualifying for student loan forgiveness. The Recognizing Military Service in PSLF Act would ensure that American servicemembers have their full service periods appropriately counted towards their loan forgiveness.

Courtney was joined by Rep. Johnson, a fellow member of the House Armed Services Committee, as an original co-sponsor upon introducing the bill today. The Senate companion to the Recognizing Military Service in PSLF Act is sponsored by Senators Maggie Hasson (D-NH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), and co-sponsored by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Jack Reed (D-RI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). The legislation has earned the endorsement of veterans service organizations including Veterans Education Services and Student Veterans of America.

“There are no public servants more deserving of our gratitude and support than our servicemembers, especially those deployed around the globe, far away from their families,” said Congressman Courtney. “The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was designed to encourage and support people who dedicate their careers to serving our communities and our country, and our servicemembers and National Guard members shouldn’t be barred from taking full advantage of its benefits while they’ve been deployed on active-duty. Rep. Johnson and I have teamed up before to move bipartisan bills across the finish line for the folks who wear our nation’s uniform, and I’m glad to join him once again to advance this effort. Our troops and their families deserve the full benefit of student loan forgiveness that they’ve earned while serving overseas, and this bill will help them get it.”

“Servicemembers time in the military is eligible for public service student loan forgiveness except while they are on active duty deployment. That policy makes no sense. I’m proud to partner with Rep. Courtney to make certain all military service time is counted towards this critical military benefit,” said Congressman Johnson.

Currently, service members are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), which means they can enroll in income-driven repayment plans that will result in student loan forgiveness after ten years of qualifying service. Servicemembers also have access to student loan deferment and forbearance periods during military deployments. These loan deferment and forbearance periods are intended to account for the unique financial impacts of deployment on a servicemember’s family, but currently those periods do not count as PSLF qualifying payments—meaning that if a servicemember chooses to put their loans into deferment or forbearance during a deployment, they will need to complete a longer overall period of service before qualifying for student loan forgiveness.

The bipartisan Recognizing Military Service in PSLF Act would count military student loan deferment or forbearance as qualifying payments to PSLF so that servicemembers who deploy have their full time of service appropriately counted towards their loan forgiveness. The bill would extend the new coverage to:

• Active-duty service members deployed overseas on a combat tour;
• Active-duty service members deployed away from their families and home station to support a Department of Defense mission;
• National Guard and Reserve members brought onto active duty orders for more than 30 days to support a federal mission, such as an overseas deployment or U.S. disaster relief;
• National Guard members brought on to state active duty orders to support a state mission, which includes those members who have been supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Reps. Courtney and Johnson have worked together successfully in and outside of the House Armed Services Committee to support America’s servicemembers and their families. In August 2020, they co-led the introduction of the Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act (H.R. 8075), a bill that provided support to public schools that serve high percentages of children from military families and others. Their bipartisan bill was passed by the House in October 2020, and was signed into law by President Trump on December 7, 2020.

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Governor Noem Asks Board of Regents to Preserve Honest, Patriotic Education

PIERRE, S.D. – Yesterday, Governor Kristi Noem asked the South Dakota Board of Regents to set policies that preserve honest, patriotic education throughout South Dakota’s institutions of higher learning. You can read the her letter, which was sent to each individual member of the Board, here.

“As governor, I have become increasingly concerned about a growing movement throughout the country to reject patriotic education and downplay the positive revolution in human affairs set in motion by our Founders,” wrote Governor Noem. “Our children and grandchildren should understand the full picture of our nation’s history – our fundamental values, our greatest achievements, and the long struggles to overcome injustice as well.  Our next generation must also learn about our triumphs as well as our mistakes, with those mistakes being examined in context.”

In the letter, Governor Noem urged the Board of Regents to consider:

1. Whether funds are being used to advance or promote the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory, or any similar theory; or requiring, compelling, or otherwise directing students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any such beliefs or tenets;
2. Whether South Dakota’s post-secondary public institutions remain a place of learning, not indoctrination;
3. Whether diversity offices in post-secondary public institutions are still working within the scope of their original mission, or whether they have experienced inappropriate “mission creep.”

“I trust you will agree with me that we need to preserve honest, patriotic education throughout South Dakota – education that that cultivates in our next generation both a profound love of our country and a realistic picture of its virtues and challenges,” continued Governor Noem. “I look forward to working together with the Board of Regents on this goal.”

This past legislative session, Governor Noem advocated for and signed legislation to enhance civics curriculum at the K-12 level. She recently became the first officeholder in America to sign the “1776 Pledge to Save Our Schools.” Last week, Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson and State Historian Dr. Ben Jones wrote to the Biden Administration to push back on their proposed policies advocating for the teaching of the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory.

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Democrats are clucking about a chicken dinner featuring both Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle raising money for Democrat Legislative Candidates.. except it sounds a lot less star studded than the announcement makes it out to be.

On Tuesday night, they will try to help do so again. The former senators are scheduled to speak at the JFK Dinner, sponsored by the Democratic Forum of Sioux Falls.

and..

He said Daschle will speak live via Zoom while Johnson and his wife Barb will speak online from their home in Sioux Falls.

An in-person dinner will be held at 1737 S. Cleveland Ave. for up to 40 persons, with chicken from The Keg served. The cost is $50. People also can watch on Zoom for $35.

Read it here.

So, they’re not really speaking AT the dinner.. they’re piping them both in via zoom.

And looking at the address on Cleveland Ave, up to 40 people are going to pay $50 a head to eat take-out chicken on folding tables in what used to be the Tim Bjorkman for Congress office.

And for $35 you can zoom in and watch all this take place.

I’ve gone to rubber chicken political events for years. And this one sounds like more of a turkey.

 

I had this flyer sent over to me this afternoon, which seems to have generated some controversy in the Rapid City School election coming up in a couple of weeks:

As I’m told, the flyer was supposedly distributed and deposited to the in-school mailboxes of Rapid City Education Association members.

With the association apparently sparing no expense, the front of the flyer notes that for every 10 people that the teachers union speak with about the election, they will be entered into a drawing for a $20 gift card. And they could double their chances for that $20 gift card if they speak to 20 people.  (Big spenders, eh?)

That flyer seems to have drawn the ire of Pennington County Republicans, who wrote themselves about the controversy on Facebook today:

I’m sure there are some federal labor rules which permit labor union communications to members at the place of work.

And while there are laws against paying for petition signature collection, offering the opportunity/raffle of a $20 gift card to union members for teachers to talk to people about the RCEA’s selected candidates isn’t going to run afoul of any laws.. and is kind of cheap.

But the appearance of it might be a turnoff, as evidenced by the Penn Co GOP’s unhappiness over the issue.

There’s a message in the Rapid City Journal and on the website for State Senator Jessica Castleberry asking voters to consider who they put on our school boards, noting that stalkers and beraters are not needed:

It would be highly detrimental to have people at the helm of our school system who stalk, berate, and belittle people they don’t agree with. And- while I firmly believe in free speech- it may be unwise to have school board representatives who have repeatedly stated how much they hate our community, our country, and the people who live in Rapid City. We need people who can see the flaws in the system but fundamentally love and respect our hometown. Just as our teachers should look at our children who are struggling and say, “How can I help?” so should our school board ask our school system. People (even politicians) will show you exactly who they are; all you have to do is look, just a little. Choose carefully, and please do not skip an election of this magnitude.

Read here editorial here.

I missed the accusations of stalking in the school board race.

But it’s Rapid City. So I’m not entirely shocked.

South Dakota News Watch, VIA KELOland, has a story on-line which in the title claims “dissatisfaction with democratic institutions,” but if you look at some of the numbers they were polling, candidates had probably not admit that they’re socialists:

Respondents showed great dissatisfaction with how democracy is working in America right now, and political party division and distrust of competing parties is high. Almost 65% of respondents were very or somewhat dissatisfied with how democracy is working, and nearly a third thought members of the opposing political party posed a “very serious threat” to America and its people…

and.. (and maybe I should note, BUT)..

Democracy is always preferable.
Strongly Disagree — 3.1%
Disagree — 6.0%
Neither Disagree nor Agree — 9.5%
Agree — 38.9%
Strongly Agree — 42.6%

Non-democracies can be preferable.
Strongly Disagree — 37.2%
Disagree — 29.2%
Neither Disagree nor Agree — 16.0%
Agree — 15.3%
Strongly Agree — 2.4%

Read the entire story here.

Of the 500 South Dakotans polled, 81.5% agree Democracy is always preferable, and 66.4% disagree that non-democracies can be preferable?  The big takeaway is that it is important to keep that 33.6% who are apparently open to socialism, communism, or a theocracy at bay, because in there we have 15.1% who dropped democracy between the first and second question.

As Winston Churchill noted, “..it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Defending South Dakota’s Cattle Producers
By Sen. John Thune

There is a high demand for high quality U.S.-raised beef in this country. If there was any doubt, the bare supermarket shelves throughout parts of 2020 proved it. I believe the South Dakota producers who work day in and day out to raise this livestock should be the ones benefitting from this high market demand, but that’s not exactly what’s happening these days.

Just four meatpackers control over 80 percent of the beef processing capacity in this country. These companies are buying beef at low prices and selling it for a much higher margin. Something isn’t adding up, and both cattle producers and consumers deserve answers about this potential market manipulation.

I want the market to operate freely and with as little government intervention as possible, but producers in our state are feeling the pinch. There are consumer protections and oversight mechanisms in place for a reason, and, using those tools, we must get to the bottom of this.

The last few years have been especially difficult for cattle producers in South Dakota and across the country. In 2019, a fire at a meat processing plant in Kansas caused significant market disruptions. Last year, COVID outbreaks caused temporary plant closures. This year, meatpackers are again running at reduced capacity because workers aren’t showing up for work, in part because of the enhanced unemployment benefits the Biden administration is providing. Regardless, the meatpackers have seen substantial profit margins while producers struggle to make ends meet.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the meatpacking industry – again, four companies control more than 80 percent of the market. With such concentrated control, there’s opportunity for manipulation. And while it’s been one year since the DOJ Antitrust Division sent civil investigative demands to these companies, no results from the investigation have been released to the public.

Because of the lack of transparency, and due to the change in leadership at DOJ, I recently led several of my Senate and House colleagues, including Rep. Dusty Johnson, in urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ to continue investigating the beef sector to determine if improper and anticompetitive activity has occurred. This is one of the most important ways we can hold the highly concentrated meatpacker industry accountable to the producers and the consumers who depend on them.

In addition to conducting this investigation, another way to reduce cattle producers’ dependence on the big four meatpackers would be to expand smaller processing capacity, which is why I reintroduced my Strengthening Local Processing Act in February. My bill would provide resources to establish and expand small meat processing capacity. It would also provide meat processors more access to information that is critical to food safety planning, allow more inspector-approved meat products to be sold across state lines, and funnel federal dollars toward training, education, and technical assistance grants. South Dakota’s producers work hard to raise high-quality livestock, and we need to invest in expanded processing capacity to help create more market opportunities for producers and meet consumer demand for their products.

Last month, I requested the Senate Agriculture Committee hold a hearing to consider the challenges facing the livestock industry as well as the bills that have been introduced this year that seek to improve the situation. I recognize that there are contrasting views among the organizations that represent cattle producers on the best path forward to improve the cattle market, but I am hopeful that a hearing would help lead to the passage of meaningful legislation that would create positive results for cattle producers in South Dakota.

It’s critically important that producers have fair and transparent markets for the commodities they produce. I will keep pushing the administration and my colleagues in Congress as we work to meet those goals.

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Triumphs and Mistakes: Learning from Our History
By: Governor Kristi Noem
May 21, 2021

The United States of America has a truly unique and wonderful history. Our nation was the first to be founded on an ideal: that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In pursuit of this ideal, our nation has seen many triumphs. Along the way, we’ve also made some terrible mistakes. Our triumphs have occurred when we lived up to this ideal. Our mistakes have come when we fell short.

As our children and grandchildren grow and learn, they should be taught the full picture of our nation’s history – our fundamental values, our greatest achievements, and the long struggles to overcome injustice as well. Our young people must understand the mistakes as well as the triumphs, of course. But those mistakes must be put in proper context, and right now I am concerned that this is not the case nationally.

Across the nation, we’ve seen a different, misinformed version of American history take root. The so-called 1619 Project (a creation of the New York Times) is being promoted by the Biden Administration as a recommended resource for their K-12 American History and Civics Education programs. The 1619 Project claims that America was founded on racism and slavery, not on an ideal of equality. It seeks to incorrectly re-frame the nation as a story of “us versus them” rather than “We the People.” Moreover, the 1619 Project relies upon the concept of Critical Race Theory to further divide students based on the color of their skin.

This is inappropriate and un-American. It has no place in South Dakota, and it certainly has no place in South Dakota classrooms. According to many historians, this 1619 Project’s version of American history is full of errors and misstatements that should be avoided, not embraced. That is why this week, South Dakota’s Department of Education Secretary Tiffany Sanderson and State Historian Dr. Ben Jones pushed back on the Biden Administration’s support for the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory in our schools.

Similarly, a few weeks ago I signed the “1776 Pledge to Save Our Schools” as a commitment that I will work to make patriotic education a priority in South Dakota classrooms. I will be working with the South Dakota Board of Regents to ensure honest, patriotic education in our institutions of higher education. And my Department of Education will not apply for any federal civics or history grants that are tied to Critical Race Theory or the 1619 Project.

This past legislative session, I worked with the legislature to pass funding for robust civics education that helps our students to learn America’s history and everything that makes our country special. As part of that education, they’ll learn about the history of our state. They’ll learn the history of our tribes as well. And they will learn about America’s mistakes – the times that we fell short of our ideal of equality – so that we can learn from those mistakes. But they’ll learn of our triumphs as well. They’ll learn about the leaders who made those triumphs possible. As a result, I’m hopeful that our students will better be able to emulate those triumphs into the future.

Our nation’s history shouldn’t be political. “All men are created equal” shouldn’t be controversial. I look forward to continuing to promote a patriotic education throughout South Dakota that cultivates in our next generation a profound love for our country.

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Thune: Biden Picks Russia’s Energy Monopoly Over South Dakota’s Energy Independence

“I find it particularly fascinating – or, more accurately, troubling – that the president cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline and its 11,000 American jobs yet is now conceding to Russia on the construction of a Russian pipeline – Nord Stream 2 – by waiving sanctions against the Russian company constructing the pipeline.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the United States’ progress toward energy independence and the importance of all-of-the-above energy policies that invest in oil and natural gas, ethanol and other biofuels, solar, wind, and hydropower. Thune noted that President Biden’s hostility toward affordable and reliable energy security in the United States, his decision to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, and his apparent preference for Russia’s energy monopoly could be detrimental to our national security.