John Thune

I think the NFL's initial response to this matter was completely inadequate.

Especially in January.

Senator Nelson and I and a few others on the Committee are introducing legislation today that would incentivize individuals who uncover serious allegations of vehicle defects or noncompliance with motor safety laws to blow the whistle.

We failed Lieutenant Erdman, and our dealer failed Lieutenant Erdman.

Will Takata initiate an investigation and release a public report about whether there was any wrongdoing?

Well, thank you, Senator Nelson, for serving as Chairman of this morning's hearing to examine the alarming Takata airbag recalls and the actions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There are media reports, as I referenced earlier, that Takata may have been aware of the dangerous airbag defects as early as 2004.

Does it make sense to have an independent investigation similar to what General Motors did with the ignition switch issue?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

What change have you made in that process that leads you to believe that?

On Monday, November 17, 2014, I was unable to be present for rollcall vote No. 276, on the motion to concur to the House amendment to S. 1086, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, due to inclement weather and travel…

I think that the world is gradually going to shift against thinking like yours.

The numbers I used were based on a September delivery for corn to an elevator in central South Dakota, based on 2013 rates and what we think the 2014 rate is going to be.

I think that my observation has been, and as I acted once in this arbitration process...

I consider it a failure on my part to expose certain things and techniques.

Mr. Hamberger, you talked about Chicago. We hear about Chicago all the time.

Rail is the most efficient and it's really the only way to get to the market. So if we don't have that, we don't have an economy.

We had a big problem in South Dakota this last year during the spring. There was a real concern about getting fertilizer shipments there in time to plant the 2014 crop during that short planting window.

Mr. Dooley, you talked about some of the rail inefficiencies in the chemical industry.

I appreciate your leadership in those areas where we have worked together and thank you for your years of public service.

The leadership efforts of Senator John Thune... has helped and will be needed moving forward

It's time for the STB to refocus its mission on providing regulatory balance to support the businesses and the people who use the rail network.

I find it hard to believe that we would have seen the kind of action that we needed to see taken had it not been for the agency and for the attention, obviously, the Congress has paid to this issue.

The bill introduced by Senators Rockefeller and Thune will help change that.

I have often said that North Dakota has oil, Wyoming has coal, Montana has some of both, and in South Dakota we have pheasants.