{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=C5DBA023-7A8C-4166-8E75-534E5A16EFFC", "Thune: Republicans Are Delivering for South Dakota", "2025-12-15", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s been a busy year here in the United States Senate.\n\n\u201cThe new Republican majority has been working hard to deliver on our promises to the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd while there is still more to accomplish, we\u2019ve gotten a lot done in just one year.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re putting more money in Americans\u2019 pockets.\n\n\u201cSupporting farmers, ranchers, and small businesses, and helping them grow.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re making America safer and stronger.\n\n\u201cInvesting in law and order here at home and a strong military to safeguard our national security.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re creating a brighter future with new opportunities for Americans wherever they live and whatever their American Dream may be.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I want to take some time today to talk about how Republicans\u2019 agenda is at work in my home state of South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd I want to begin with the tax relief Republicans have delivered.\n\n\u201cWhether I\u2019m visiting a small business in Isabel, South Dakota, or talking to farmers at Dakotafest, higher prices are a concern for South Dakotans, as they are for many Americans.\n\n\u201cAnd affordability begins with more money in your pocket, which is exactly what Republicans have delivered with the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if Congress failed to act this year, a typical family in South Dakota would have had less money in their budget.\n\n\u201cThey would have been looking at a $2,500 tax hike next year.\n\n\u201cA typical farm would have seen a $5,000 tax hike.\n\n\u201cAnd tens of thousands of small businesses would have seen their taxes go up as well.\n\n\u201cRepublicans were determined not to let that happen.\n\n\u201cAnd thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, which we passed in July as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, South Dakotans won\u2019t see a tax hike next year.\n\n\u201cInstead they\u2019ll start seeing tax relief in the new year when the new tax law takes effect.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll be able to take advantage of a larger child tax credit, a bigger standard deduction, and a bonus deduction for seniors this tax season.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll see larger tax refunds come April.\n\n\u201cAnd they can expect that to be the new normal \u2013 because the Working Families Tax Cuts deliver permanent, Mr. President \u2013 permanent \u2013 tax relief.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cNo tax hike next year. No tax hike ever.\n\n\u201cAnd working families aren\u2019t the only ones who will be benefiting from tax permanence.\n\n\u201cThanks to Republicans\u2019 tax cuts, farmers, ranchers, and small business owners can also look forward to having more breathing room in their budgets next year.\n\n\u201cThey will benefit from permanently lower tax rates.\n\n\u201cThe 199A deduction \u2013 now also made permanent.\n\n\u201cThe full expensing provision, also now permanent, which makes it easier to replace a piece of equipment and upgrade your operations.\n\n\u201cAnd the now-permanent research and development expensing provision, which is already helping South Dakota businesses innovate.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the death tax relief.\n\n\u201cMr. President, South Dakotans have long believed that the death tax is fundamentally flawed.\n\n\u201cIt threatens too many family farms and ranches and family businesses.\n\n\u201cRepublicans agree.\n\n\u201cAnd so in the Working Families Tax Cuts, Republicans permanently raised the death tax exemption threshold and protected a lot more family farms, ranches, and businesses from this unfair tax.\n\n\u201cMr. President, South Dakota\u2019s farmers and ranchers are always at the top of my priority list.\n\n\u201cAnd these hardworking South Dakotans are seeing more than just tax relief.\n\n\u201cThe One Big Beautiful Bill also made significant updates to the farm safety net to support farmers and ranchers through the economic headwinds that they continue to face.\n\n\u201cOur bill increases reference prices for every covered commodity and makes these prices more responsive to market conditions in the coming years.\n\n\u201cIt increases crop insurance coverage and affordability.\n\n\u201cIt supports livestock producers by making existing programs more responsive to drought and by funding prevention of animal diseases that can devastate livestock.\n\n\u201cAnd it invests in critical conservation programs, including programs that support South Dakota\u2019s wild bird populations \u2013 something that matters a lot this time of year as hunters flock to our state for pheasant season.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Republicans also made the agriculture appropriations bill a priority.\n\n\u201cThis year\u2019s bill, which was signed into law in November, supports agricultural research programs and facilitates marketing U.S. ag products both domestically and internationally.\n\n\u201cAnd it also provides robust funding for the Farm Service Agency, which producers depend on to access the programs that keep their operations running smoothly.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019re not just strengthening farms and ranches; we\u2019re also working to support rural communities in South Dakota and across the country.\n\n\u201cThe needs of rural areas look a little different from other places\u2019 needs.\n\n\u201cAnd they\u2019ve received due attention from the new Republican majority this year.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we prioritized the ag appropriations bill, which delivered significant funding for rural broadband.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve worked with the Trump administration to deliver internet access to unserved areas.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s health care.\n\n\u201cMr. President, folks whose home [is] in a rural area know simply accessing a doctor or emergency room can be challenging.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s all the more true with the troubling trend of rural hospital closures over the last several years.\n\n\u201cAnd with the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans have taken action to support rural hospitals.\n\n\u201cAll 50 states have now applied for funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill\u2019s Rural Health Transformation Program, including South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd South Dakota intends to address some key priorities with this funding.\n\n\u201cThe state is looking to recruit health care professionals to rural areas and to train professionals for rural needs.\n\n\u201cIncentivize regional hubs for emergency services and maternal health.\n\n\u201cAnd bolster health care facilities that serve rural parts of our state.\n\n\u201cThis fund will truly be transformative for health care providers in South Dakota, and in other rural areas across the country.\n\n\u201cWe also used the One Big Beautiful Bill to repeal a burdensome staffing regulation that would have threatened the viability of a number of South Dakota nursing homes.\n\n\u201cThe Biden staffing mandate for nursing homes was unworkable in my state \u2013 and in many others.\n\n\u201cAnd the One Big Beautiful Bill rescinded it, ensuring South Dakota nursing homes can continue serving our residents.\n\n\u201cMr. President, there\u2019s a lot more I could talk about that we\u2019ve accomplished for South Dakota this year.\n\n\u201cThere are the investments in Ellsworth Air Force Base \u2013 including full funding for the B-21 mission and supporting infrastructure.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s the support for local law enforcement in the One Big Beautiful Bill, and new border security resources to help stop illegal immigration and the flow of drugs across our southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd Ron Parsons is confirmed and back on the job as South Dakota\u2019s U.S. attorney.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve repealed electric vehicle mandates that were simply not realistic for a state like ours, where long distances and cold weather are a fact of life.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s WOTUS rule has been repealed as well, saving farmers and ranchers from massive compliance costs.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re even doing our part, Mr. President, to keep the pheasant population in our state strong.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I come here every day to work for South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019ve done a lot this year that South Dakotans can be happy about.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not just my state, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cRepublicans\u2019 agenda is supporting Americans in all 50 states.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re working to make America safer and more secure.\n\n\u201cPut more money in Americans\u2019 pockets.\n\n\u201cAnd create new opportunities for a brighter future.\n\n\u201cAnd Mr. President, we\u2019re keeping our foot on the gas.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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=C5DBA023-7A8C-4166-8E75-534E5A16EFFC"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8159407880157232, "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"}