Thune Announces Committee Assignment for 117^th Congress

“It is my privilege and honor to continue serving the people of South Dakota on three prominent committees in the U.S. Senate.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the announcement of the U.S. Senate committee assignments for the 117^th Congress. Thune will continue to be a member of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and the Finance Committee.

“It is my privilege and honor to continue serving the people of South Dakota on three prominent committees in the U.S. Senate: the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and the Finance Committee. These assignments give South Dakotans a seat at the table as we work to solve the most pressing issues for our state. These positions give me an opportunity to craft policy on a wide range of issues including agriculture, infrastructure and broadband investment, health care, tax, and trade—issues that impact all South Dakotans in one way or another.

“As the Biden Administration pursues new policies that will impact our state, I will continue to fight for a better future and stronger economy for South Dakota families.”

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Thune Introduces Amendment to Relieve Mobile and Remote Workers of Unfair Tax Burdens Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today introduced an amendment to the budget resolution that would provide Congress a means to better protect mobile and remote workers from unfair tax burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Doctors and nurses who voluntarily crossed state lines to help during the pandemic – in some cases sacrificing vacation time to do so – should not be at risk of facing a much higher or unexpected tax bill as a reward for their service and sacrifice,” said Thune. “This situation is even worse for residents of states like my home state of South Dakota that don’t have a state income tax against which a credit can be claimed. This amendment ensures these mobile workers are not unfairly taxed, while also providing certainty for those who are working remotely.”

Thune’s amendment is based on his bipartisan legislation, the Remote and Mobile Worker Relief Act, that would ensure that medical professionals from around the country who supported areas hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic do not face unexpected or increased state income tax bills. The bill would also address potential problems remote workers are facing during the pandemic, including the possibility of having their state income taxes become out of balance because they worked from home in a different state than their ordinary place of employment.

Thune wrote an op-ed last June in the Wall Street Journal highlighting the urgent need to prevent unexpected tax bills for remote and mobile workers, and he spoke on the Senate floor in December about how his legislation would spare workers from tax misery this year.

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Rounds Discusses MCOOL and Ethanol with Ag Secretary Nominee

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) issued the following statement today following a discussion with Tom Vilsack, who President Biden recently nominated to be Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack previously served as Governor of Iowa and Secretary of Agriculture under President Barack Obama.

“South Dakota’s farm and ranch families are among the best producers in the world,” said Rounds. “They are great stewards of the land and need to be recognized for their efforts in feeding a growing population.

“Today, I had a productive conversation with Governor Vilsack. I expressed to him the need to re-engage in trade discussions so we can bring back Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) and other issues related to beef markets. For example, we must close a current loophole so that only beef born, raised and slaughtered in the United States should receive the “Product of the U.S.A.” label. He agreed with me that consumers have the right to know where their meat comes from.

“Additionally, we discussed the importance of ethanol, creating new markets for state-inspected meat processing facilities and the need to reform the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“I thank Governor Vilsack for taking the time to meet with me today and I look forward to working with him to address these issues critical to South Dakota should he be confirmed.”

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In e-mail correspondence sent to Republican county leaders today by SDGOP Vice Chair Linda Rausch, Governor Kristi Noem made it clear that she wants the SDGOP to stay the course as they prepare for the 2022 election cycle.

In the letter obtained this afternoon by dakotawarcollege.com, Governor Kristi Noem set out the mission of Republican leaders for the 2022 election; that they “will have brand new legislative districts to campaign in, and we have even more Republicans to elect to office. We will be defending a U.S. Senate seat, a U.S. House seat, the Governor’s Office, and several other statewide offices.”

In the same letter, Governor Noem endorsed the current GOP Leadership team of Chairman Dan Lederman, Vice Chair Linda Rausch, Secretary Marilyn Oakes, and Treasurer Justin Bell to return for another term of office at the election that will be held at the State Republican Party Central Committee meeting this coming Saturday in Pierre.

The current team, led by Lederman, has managed to win a record number of legislative seats for the party, reducing Democrats to their slimmest number of elected seats in recent history.

Thune: Senate Democrats Must Leave Behind Partisan Agenda and Prioritize American People

“I still believe that we can come together in this Congress to address the challenges facing our country. But it’s going to require a lot more bipartisanship than we’ve seen from Senate Democrats.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch Thune’s speech.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed Senate Democrats’ partisan approach to additional COVID-19 relief funding, and noted that Senate Republicans continue to work to reach a bipartisan agreement. Thune also discussed Senate Democrats’ threats to abolish the Byrd rule, which was adopted to prevent abuse of the budget reconciliation process and to protect the rights of the minority in the Senate.

I see Democrats are back on Facebook trying to encourage Billie Sutton to give it another go for Governor after the 2018 race:

But over the past 4 years, they seem to have selective amnesia as to why Sutton lost.

Part of it was leftover from a fairly divisive primary election for Republicans, which I don’t know will happen again.

And there was the other part.. where once you started looking at his record, Sutton just wasn’t anything that people proclaimed him to be:

Increased taxes, fairly wiggly on the life issue, and way too comfortable with the policies of Bernie Sanders.

I don’t know if a re-run of the race is going to go as well as some Democrats think it will be.

Thune, Schatz Reintroduce Bill to Make Annual Veteran Cost of Living Adjustment Automatic

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today reintroduced the Veterans’ Disability Compensation Automatic Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Act, bipartisan legislation that would require the federal government to provide disabled veterans with an automatic COLA in years when there is an increase in benefits payable under title II of the Social Security Act, which sets the requirements for disability insurance benefits.

“Our veterans have made immense sacrifices for our country, the least we can do is give them the peace of mind in knowing their benefits will increase as the cost of living does,” said Thune. “I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation with Senator Schatz to provide our disabled veterans the certainty they deserve.”

“There’s no reason that Congress shouldn’t guarantee an annual cost-of-living adjustment for our nation’s veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country,” said Schatz. “Our bill would make COLA benefit increases automatic so that our veterans have the certainty of knowing they’ll have enough to make rent and put food on the table.”

“MOAA is grateful for Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) for once again championing veterans and their families by introducing the Veterans’ Disability Compensation Automatic COLA Act of 2021,” said Lieutenant General Dana Atkins, president and CEO of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). “Each year veterans and their families must wait for Congress to approve annual cost-of-living adjustments for disability compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and rates for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) for survivors, not knowing if lawmakers will pass the critically important measure so many rely on. This legislation will automatically provide the annual increase for disability compensation and DIC payments at the same percentage rate increase as Social Security, giving individuals the relief, they need to plan financially. MOAA thanks you for your continued commitment to serving our nation’s veterans by ensuring they receive the benefits they earned through service.”

The veterans’ COLA is usually, but not automatically, enacted each year and is already anticipated in the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline, which means this bill is budget-neutral and will provide disabled veterans additional certainty from year to year.

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From Twitter:

.@dakotanews_now and @kotatweets joined me at the Governor’s Residence in Pierre yesterday for a wide-ranging interview. We covered lots of topics. They asked tough but fair questions, and that’s how it should be!
https://t.co/rbQKpiBlSP

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) February 3, 2021

The Primary John Thune facebook group has been getting some attention in recent days, a couple of months after the group founded by Julie Korth of Black Hawk, SD came to exist.

A recent Associated Press article brought up their efforts to find an opponent for John Thune. But… given what they’re using to fire up the group, what kind of candidate is the group trying to replace one of the top Republicans in the US Senate with?

If we’re to take the group’s founder and administrator Julie Korth’s postings to the group at face value, it seems like she wants someone just like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene:

The problem with Korth’s admiration and fealty to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene?  It seems that apparently the type of person Korth admires might be someone with a really, really loose grip on reality:

Greene’s views are just a bit more controversial. They include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

• The QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that Donald Trump is secretly fighting a worldwide child-sex-slavery ring that was supposed to culminate in the mass arrest of his political opposition, is “worth listening to.”

• Muslims don’t belong in government.

• 9/11 was an inside job.

• Shootings at Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Las Vegas were staged.

• “Zionist supremacists” are secretly masterminding Muslim immigration to Europe in a scheme to outbreed white people.

• Leading Democratic officials should be executed.

The most recent Greene view to be unearthed comes via Eric Hananoki. Just over two years ago, Greene suggested in a Facebook post that wildfires in California were not natural. Forests don’t just catch fire, you know. Rather, the blazes had been started by PG&E, in conjunction with the Rothschilds, using a space laser, in order to clear room for a high-speed rail project. Here is Greene’s entire post, via Media Matters:

Read the entire story here.

You know, I think people are welcome to agree or disagree with Senator Thune. But I can’t see that the vast majority of South Dakotans would say that they want to replace him with someone even close to being a QAnon conspiracy nut. Especially someone who believes that the Rothschild family could be using secret space lasers to cause wildfires.

If that’s the kind of candidate Korth is selling, I suspect that the vast majority of Republicans are going to take a hard pass.

At least, in the past when given the choice of an incumbent versus a conspiracy goofball, that’s way GOP voters in South Dakota have rolled.

From Fox News, via Twitter:

In South Dakota, we implemented what Republicans always say that we believe. We respected Freedom and personal responsibility. We trusted families to adapt. We allowed business to innovate and thrive. And the liberals hate it. pic.twitter.com/bCtMKJLmUl

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) February 3, 2021