{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://noem.house.gov/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=69CCCBC4-A4F4-41E4-83D6-1414ABFD0869", "Weekly Column: Costly Policies", "2014-10-24", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Kristi Noem", "N000184", "noem.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "I spoke with a young woman in the grocery store last March who had a hand full of coupons and a cart full of generic food. \u00a0We had a long conversation about how tough it was to make ends meet when electricity costs were so high.\u00a0 Then again, the cost of almost everything was seemingly on the uptick.\u00a0 Even the cart of groceries each of us was pushing was going to cost more than it did a few years ago \u2013 and we weren\u2019t alone.\u00a0\r\nMore than half of people say they\u2019re spending more on groceries this year than last.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the reasons I pushed so hard for the Farm Bill to be passed.\r\nGrowing up, my Dad always told me that you can have a decade of good years and lose it all after one bad year.\u00a0 The Farm Bill was designed to help control this risk and ensure disasters like Winter Storm Atlas wouldn\u2019t wipe out a portion of our agriculture industry.\u00a0 Without this safety net, you and I would probably be paying a lot more for fruits, vegetables, cereal, milk, meat and more every week.\r\nEven with the Farm Bill passed, there\u2019s more to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m constantly fighting back the EPA and other agencies to ensure producers, local businesses, and consumers aren\u2019t paying more because of unnecessary regulations. We\u2019ve already been able to stop the EPA\u2019s talks of expanding dust regulations and OSHA\u2019s attempt to regulate small family farms, but this administration keeps pushing new regulations \u2013 that means new costs for the average South Dakotan.\r\nJanuary 2014 represented the largest month-to-month increase in electricity costs in the last four years.\u00a0 Still, the administration is moving forward on new greenhouse gas regulations that could increase electricity costs by $17 billion nationwide.\u00a0 In South Dakota, families earning less than $50,000 per year already spend one-fifth of their after-tax income on energy, which is double the national average.\u00a0 It\u2019s unacceptable to further increase these costs for families.\r\nIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way.\u00a0 I filled up my tank in Watertown last week for less than $3.00 a gallon. \u00a0It\u2019s been a while since there\u2019s been prices like that.\u00a0 We\u2019re seeing these lower prices in large part because U.S. oil production is rising.\u00a0 Because many states have streamlined their regulatory processes, oil production on state lands increased 61 percent between 2009 and 2013.\u00a0 Meanwhile, production on federal lands fell 6 percent.\u00a0 Just think what gas prices might be if we eliminated some of the unnecessary federal regulations too?\r\nPoor policies out of Washington have also pushed the cost of healthcare up for many South Dakota families I\u2019ve spoken to.\u00a0 With healthcare costs expected to rise 6.8 percent in 2015, many South Dakotans are bracing for another round of premium increases.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act with a patient-centered model that targets the primary drivers of healthcare costs.\u00a0 Rather than costly mandates, my plan would infuse more competition into the marketplace, shift to an outcome-based reimbursement model, and limit frivolous lawsuits.\r\nThe fact of the matter is that our paychecks buy less today than they did a year ago \u2013 let alone five or 10 years ago.\u00a0 And still, this administration is working to implement policies that make it harder to stretch a dollar.\u00a0 I believe we ought to be eliminating costly regulations, not adding new ones.\u00a0 We should be restoring genuine accountability to government and making sure Washington is doing more with less \u2013 just like families are.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://noem.house.gov/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=69CCCBC4-A4F4-41E4-83D6-1414ABFD0869"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4250960666686296, "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"}