John Thune

I appreciate you holding this hearing.

SBA has stepped up to the task during these times of need.

Thank you for making that sacrifice.

After 9/11, there was a GAO report issued in 2003 that indicated some of the metrics that the SBA used for determining disaster loan performance were not fully reflecting the program's actual performance.

I will, and I welcome the opportunity to come to the floor and speak to it as well.

I thank you, Mr. President. I say to the Senator from Virginia, if you are looking for, again, a specific timeline on this, I think these were probably condition (D) and condition (E) you were referring to. It may be more easily defined if…

Again, the Senator from Virginia is correct in that the timeline you gave me, the current BRAC timeline, is not impacted until the President would act and make the recommendation to the Congress.

The first criteria that deals with the Overseas BRAC Commission's findings and report would suggest that until those recommendations, until the analysis is complete, until that report has been carefully analyzed, and then ultimately it…

Yesterday the Senate, again, acted in a unified bipartisan manner when it voted 95 to 0 to add an additional $1.5 billion to the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Although a family medical emergency unfortunately prevented me from being…

If in fact the Democrat leadership continues the pattern of the last Congress, and that is to block and obstruct the agenda, then that's a legitimate charge to make.

I would simply add that as we look at the contributions that have been made by the Native American culture to our success in a lot of different conflicts throughout our Nation's history, that these particular men made an enormous…

We are one America, one family. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. I have been reading e-mails from my constituents in South Dakota. "We grieve with our brothers and sisters in New York and Virginia, in Maryland and D.C. South Dakotans…

This is the President's energy proposal. It is about 170 pages long and I will put that next to the last administration's energy proposal, which I cannot find, oh, that is right. They did not have an energy proposal for the last 8 years…

He has come to this Congress I think intent, like many of us have, on making a change for the better to try and create an environment in this country where the American people get to keep more of what they earn, and where we are…

I would simply say in echoing the remarks of the gentleman that if we think about the way that this impacts people, okay, yes, obviously they are going to talk about and we are going to hear a lot of rhetoric on the floor tomorrow and a…

So is it accurate to state that the Committee on Appropriations intends for the Forest Service to fund the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Rapid City, South Dakota at least at the same level in fiscal year 2001 as it did in fiscal year…

I think, again, this makes a strong statement that we are going to support our producers in this country. The dollars that have been put in here for crop insurance, the dollars that are set aside for emergency assistance again this year is…

I think that when we get right down to it on a very basic level, a budget is a statement of priorities. The budget resolution that will be adopted in the House, and I will admit I have not read the fine print at this point, but from all I…

Moreover, it is a moral imperative that we get rid of the marriage penalty and the Tax Code. A lot of people, I think, who probably listen to what comes out of Washington as we talk about this whole issue probably think to some degree that…

I noted the other night in his State of the Union speech he addressed in some fashion this whole issue of the marriage penalty. Unfortunately, his effort is not bold enough, not by the least. If you look at the relief that the President's…

This is a huge issue for the American people, and one which just is so fundamentally unfair. I cannot imagine how we ever got in our Tax Code to the point where we penalize people for being married... For the benefit and privilege of being…

I will continue to come in front of this body and advocate as strongly as I can that we address what is a very serious crisis in the rural sector of our economy in this country, and we can start today by adding this important amendment on…

Mr. Speaker, S. 388, a measure drafted and introduced by Senator Max Cleland, is a commonsense approach to applying the principle of preventive care when coping with natural disasters. S. 388 is substantially identical to H.R. 818, the…

Rural America is in a serious economic crisis. We have a price disaster and, for reasons beyond the producers' control, prices are at historically low levels today. The House took historic action to bring relief to farmers and ranchers by…

Again I thank the distinguished gentleman. As the gentleman knows, the National Guard Starbase program is an important initiative in my State of South Dakota. This program is strongly supported by the South Dakota National Guard and…