{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B3D8BA0F-E554-4FFF-87D5-721FC8A6D024", "Thune Highlights South Dakota\u2019s Time-Honored Pheasant Hunting Tradition", "2023-11-30", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about South Dakota\u2019s time-honored pheasant hunting tradition and discussed the important role it has on the state\u2019s economy and its dependence on effective conservation practices. Thune also spoke about the worsening security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border, and he called on the White House and Senate Democrats to prioritize a border security package that includes meaningful asylum and parole reforms.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, before I begin the subject I want to address today, I just want to make an observation about this discussion we're having on our southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd I would reiterate what I\u2019ve been saying now for some time, and that is that it's no longer just a humanitarian crisis.\n\n\u201cIt is every bit of that, but it is a national security crisis.\n\n\u201cWe see the numbers on a daily basis, a number of people who are apprehended at the southern border trying to come into the country illegally.\n\n\u201cThe last three days, the last three days, that's over 9,000 per day, over 9,000 per day, and that doesn't include the gotaways or the unknowns.\n\n\u201cThat's the people who are apprehended coming across the border illegally.\n\n\u201cAnd we now know, in the month of September, for example, that there were a significant number of people \u2013 18, actually \u2013 apprehended coming across the southern border who were on the terrorist watch list.\n\n\u201cPeople coming from all over the world have figured out, if you want a portal, if you want to get into the United States, just come to the southern border and we'll wave you in \u2013 which is essentially what's happening today.\n\n\u201cThe question I would ask, Mr. President, is in what universe does that make any sense?\n\n\u201cI said this yesterday: We are a nation of immigrants.\n\n\u201cWe've been a very welcoming country.\n\n\u201cWe have ways of bringing people into this country legally.\n\n\u201cWe do that on an annual basis.\n\n\u201cBut we are a nation of laws, first and foremost.\n\n\u201cThe rule of law is what distinguishes our country from many other countries around the world.\n\n\u201cAnd yet, at our southern border, that doesn't mean a thing.\n\n\u201cOver 9,000 a day.\n\n\u201cAnnualize that.\n\n\u201cThink about what that means.\n\n\u201cThat's 3 million people a year.\n\n\u201cAnd we have people who want to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to it.\n\n\u201cWe have an opportunity in this national security supplemental bill that will be on the floor perhaps as early as next week that will deal with issues like Ukraine; issues like Israel, what's happening there; Indo-Pacific, where we have national security interests at stake.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we have to deal with the national security crisis at our southern border.\n\n\u201cThis is insanity.\n\n\u201cI don't understand it.\n\n\u201cI don't understand the administration.\n\n\u201cI don't understand some of my colleagues here in the Senate who feel like this isn't something that we need to be dealing with or addressing.\n\n\u201cThis is a national security crisis on a daily basis.\n\n\u201cOver 9,000 in the last three days in a row \u2013 and again, some of which we know, because they are catching them, are people on the terrorist watch list.\n\n\u201cIn what universe does what's being done at our southern border make sense to anybody, any rational person?\n\n\u201cIt doesn't make sense to the mayor of New York \u2013 New York City \u2013 or the mayor of Chicago, where as migrants arrive there, they're having to divert resources to address that.\n\n\u201cThe mayor of New York City said he was going to freeze hiring police officers in New York City.\n\n\u201cThat seems like that\u2019d be a problem if I was a New York City resident.\n\n\u201cHe said he was going to have to close libraries, cut funding for education.\n\n\u201cThat is what we are talking about.\n\n\u201cThis is not just an issue that affects communities on the southern border \u2013 although I\u2019ve been down there a number of times, and believe me, they are profoundly affected.\n\n\u201cThis is an issue where every state becomes a border state, as literally thousands of people on a daily basis are released into the interior of the United States, waved by, no regard or respect for our heritage as a nation of laws and a country that is built upon a foundation of the rule of law.\n\n\u201cIt's got to be fixed.\n\n\u201cIt's got to be done and needs to be done now.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and our folks at the White House understand that.\n\n\u201cWe can't wait any longer.\n\n\u201cThis is out of control.\n\n\u201cOn another subject, Mr. President, there are some things that are timeless.\n\n\u201cThat are cherished by every generation.\n\n\u201cThings that never get old, no matter how long they\u2019ve been going on.\n\n\u201cIn South Dakota, one of those things is our pheasant hunting tradition.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a part of South Dakota\u2019s way of life for well over a century.\n\n\u201cOver the years, as the pheasant population grew, so did the state\u2019s reputation as \u2018The Pheasant Capital of the World.\u2019\n\n\u201cToday, hunters come from all over to participate in the annual hunting season.\n\n\u201cAnd the season opener, which falls on the third Saturday in October, is all but an official state holiday.\n\n\u201cMr. President, pheasant hunting is a tradition in a lot of South Dakota families, including my own.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t remember a time when I didn\u2019t look forward to the start of pheasant season.\n\n\u201cMy dad would take my siblings and me out hunting.\n\n\u201cHe taught us how to bag a rooster and work together as a team in the field.\n\n\u201cHe wasn\u2019t one to miss a pheasant season, even into his late nineties.\n\n\u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve enjoyed sharing this tradition with my daughters and, later, with their husbands.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m looking forward to passing it on to the next generation when my grandchildren are old enough.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I was able to get out pheasant hunting over the Thanksgiving holiday.\n\n\u201cAnd I can say that there\u2019s nothing like a crisp fall day spent in our great outdoors with friends and family.\n\n\u201cI think that\u2019s what keeps so many hunters coming back each year.\n\n\u201cOf course, they also come for the challenge of the hunt and to (hopefully) limit out on roosters.\n\n\u201cLike I said, folks come from all over for South Dakota\u2019s ringnecks.\n\n\u201cLast year, 127,000 hunters came through our state and bagged over a million roosters.\n\n\u201cAnd this year looks sure to be another great hunting season.\n\n\u201cMr. President, there is no shortage of satisfied hunters in South Dakota this time of year.\n\n\u201cBut pheasant season\u2019s benefits go far beyond just the hunters.\n\n\u201cFor communities in the heart of pheasant country, the hunting season has a significant economic impact.\n\n\u201cIn just over 100 days of hunting, pheasant season contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to our state\u2019s economy.\n\n\u201cAnd folks in these small towns always make sure the out-of-towners feel welcome.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just part of who we are in South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, there could hardly be so many satisfied hunters each fall without the conservation efforts of so many landowners and agriculture producers in the state.\n\n\u201cThe size of our famed pheasant population is thanks in no small part to land conservation efforts that provide quality habitat for the birds to roost.\n\n\u201cA good hunting season in the fall depends on the spring nesting season and the ability of pheasants to hide their nests and protect their brood.\n\n\u201cAnd South Dakota\u2019s farmers and ranchers make sure there\u2019s habitat for that nesting.\n\n\u201cMr. President, a lot of the conservation efforts in our state are supported by the Conservation Reserve Program \u2013 the cornerstone of federal conservation programs.\n\n\u201cIt plays a critical role in South Dakota by supporting farmers who take environmentally sensitive land out of production.\n\n\u201cTaking this land out of production protects against soil erosion, improves water quality, and provides wildlife habitat, including for pheasants.\n\n\u201cAnd it provides an economical alternative for farmers, who would otherwise have to invest in expensive fertilizers and other inputs to keep this land in production.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve been a longtime supporter of CRP.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m working to make sure this program is strengthened and supported in the next farm bill so that more farmers and ranchers can access its benefits \u2013 and, of course, so that future pheasant seasons are as good as seasons past.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it might seem that pheasant season is the pride of South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re certainly proud of it.\n\n\u201cBut the pride of our state is really our way of life.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s our values and our work ethic.\n\n\u201cFrom the plains to the ponderosa pines, there\u2019s so much to appreciate about our state and its people.\n\n\u201cSouth Dakotans cherish our freedoms; we love our country.\n\n\u201cAnd we recognize that with freedom comes responsibility.\n\n\u201cWe recognize that sometimes you\u2019ve got to step up and do the work.\n\n\u201cAnd that you need to help your neighbors when they\u2019re in need.\n\n\u201cThese values have been forged in our small towns \u2013 the kind of places where everyone knows each other and everyone does their part.\n\n\u201cThese are the timeless treasures that make life in South Dakota so good.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re a big part of what makes me proud to serve our state here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019re the values Kimberley and I tried to instill in our daughters, and that I\u2019m confident the next generation of South Dakotans will continue to uphold.\n\n\u201cMr. President, whether gathered around a meal of fresh pheasant in our great outdoors or gathered around the Thanksgiving turkey, there\u2019s a lot to be thankful for as a South Dakotan.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful to be a son of our state.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B3D8BA0F-E554-4FFF-87D5-721FC8A6D024"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.094324979931116, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}