John Thune

What concerns me the most is that with the listing of this northern long-eared bat, once again we have a Federal agency that is throwing aside common sense.

Listing the northern long-eared bat under the Endangered Species Act is a misguided attempt by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Thousands of jobs are going to be placed at risk, including more than 1,500 timber industry jobs in my home State of South Dakota.

I'm hopeful that the Senate will be able to pass this bipartisan STB reform bill in the near future.

I am pleased as well to hear that we have an agreement on the human trafficking legislation. It is something that should be above politics. Unfortunately, anything around here, it seems, gets sucked into politics from time to time, but it…

We greatly appreciate the leadership of Chairman Thune for enactment as part of the new Medicare physician payment reforms...

These are decisions that ought to be left to consumers in those countries.

Trade should be a bipartisan issue. It is critically important to our economy.

Let us push this thing across the finish line and hopefully get these trade deals completed and open up what I think are some very significant markets to American businesses, manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers.

One of the key negotiating objectives in the agricultural section of the TPA legislation... is intended to prevent foreign regulatory approval processes from being used as a trade barrier to new agricultural technologies.

I hope that that will continue to be an area of emphasis for you and the negotiators as we move forward.

I think it is really important that this President and future Presidents have the authority, the ability that they need, to bring down foreign barriers to American products.

The promises made during the lead-up to and passage of Obamacare were that premiums were going to go down by $2,500.

Since 2009, premiums for the average family have increased by nearly $3,500.

So, higher premiums, higher deductibles, fewer doctors and providers, and fewer jobs. That is, I think, the story 5 years later.

Even if the argument is made... that premiums have not gone up all that dramatically, when you promise a $2,500 reduction and you see a $3,500 increase, that seems to me to be a pretty big increase.

This whole issue of restricting networks seems to be the other thing--that you have fewer and fewer choices.

I am disappointed to report that we have not yet received a response to that letter, much less a formal nomination.

Is it correct that that particular provision, referred to as the Hyde amendment, has been a part of spending bills dating back to 1976? So for literally 40 years the Hyde amendment language has been included in bills we have passed here…

My understanding is the bill itself is approximately 68 pages long. Is that correct?

Thank you and Ranking Member Wyden for holding this important hearing.

I've worked hard to strengthen our country's emergency response network in part by sponsoring and working on the legislation that led to the creation of FirstNet.

I think that the level of engagement this time around, we just have not seen it at all relative to what happened in 1985 and 1986.

We want one, global Internet that is not fragmented nor hijacked by authoritarian regimes.

In my view, robust economic growth is the primary reason for tax reform...