WASHINGTON, June 13 -- Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) led a bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza urging the administration to ease paperwork requirements for small businesses seeking loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The letter, signed by 44 senators, specifically requests that the loan forgiveness application for  more

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) sent a letter to the Departments of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) urging the administration to take immediate action to help make certain servicemembers and veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances receive the care they need during the coronav  more

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) introduced legislation that would extend for two years The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) "Temporary Policy for Preparation of Certain Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer Products During the Public Health Emergency." Extending the FDA's guidance will grant additional certainty for ethanol operations that have made investments or changes in operations to serve the current and p  more

WASHINGTON, June 4 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following remarks: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, discussed Senate Republicans' continued effort to provide Americans who are feeling the economic effect of this global health crisis with real relief. Thune highlighted three tax bills he has introduced that would help Americans during and after the pandemic: the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act, the NEW GIG  more

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and U.S. Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging it to exercise its authority to allow producers to graze or harvest cover crops on prevented plant acres prior to November 1. "While we do not expect nearly as many prevented plant acres as last  more

WASHINGTON, June 4 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) this week participated in a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing titled, "The State of Transportation and Critical Infrastructure: Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic." In the hearing, Thune questioned a panel of experts on the challenges transportation workers are facing during this global health crisis in an effort to better protect the  more

WASHINGTON, June 11 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following remarks: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) highlighted the heightened value of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States, especially in rural areas like those in his home state of South Dakota, where access to specialty care is more difficult to find. Thune has long been a proponent of telehealth, most recently helping champion provisions in the CARES Act, cosponsoring the CONNECT for Health Act, and  more

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following remarks: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, discussed how the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted America's dependence on our agriculture producers. Thune recently introduced the Paycheck Protection for Producers Act, which would help more farmers and ranchers benefit from the Paycheck Protection Program. He also introduced the Hand Sanitizer Guidance Extension Act of  more

WASHINGTON, June 10 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following remarks: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)discussed the far-left push to defund police departments across the United States. Thune also discussed Democrats' continued legislative partisanship, even during a national crisis, and expressed his desire to work with Senate Democrats to provide relief to the American people who are suffering during this health crisis. * * * Excerpt of Thune's remarks below: "Mr. President, be  more

WASHINGTON, June 13 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following op-ed: For the last few months, essential employees across the country have been showing up for work, often risking their health and safety when they do. We've all heard harrowing stories of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals who've spent weeks away from home so they could help treat patients and comfort families, sacrificing time away from their own. We've also heard stories and seen the realities o  more

WASHINGTON, June 12 -- Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Chairman of the SASC Cybersecurity Subcommittee, made the following statement after the committee approved the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). "Passing a strong, bipartisan NDAA each year is one small way for us to show our gratitude to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect  more

WASHINGTON, June 10 -- Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) led a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation to expand telemental health services in rural areas. The Home-Based Telemental Health Care Act of 2020 would establish a grant program for health providers to expand telemental health services for those specifically in rural populations working in farming, forestry and fishing industries.   more

WASHINGTON, June 10 -- Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced legislation that would revise the way producers calculate their Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan award. PPP was created by Congress in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help small businesses retain their employees and cover other qualifying business expenses, and it provides forgivable loans to small  more