John Thune

I, frankly, am one who believes that we need to do away with it.

The goal in all this should be getting the rates down, promoting economic growth.

This is a big issue. This is going to be very hard.

I agree with the assumption that has been made that comprehensive tax reform is going to be the opportunity to seriously examine how the Federal Government conducts energy policy through the tax code.

I want to congratulate you on your distinguished service in the U.S. Senate, and also for your great work over the years on energy issues.

We look forward to working with the president when he decides to get serious.

There was a report out yesterday that I was proud to see. It came out of Bloomberg News, that recent graduates from a South Dakota engineering college, the South Dakota School of Minds and Technology, are earning more than recent graduates…

There have been countless national, local and private programs aimed at improving STEM education, but there continues to be little discernible change in either student achievement or student interest in STEM.

I will really miss our Ranking Member, Senator Hutchison.

Yes, Mr. President, they did build it.

And yes, Mr. President, they did build it.

I think the question is if the tax system is the appropriate place from which to expand access to education, and if these subsidies are really truly benefitting students or are they just structured primarily to benefit the educational…

I think we all understand the critical role that education plays in our modern society and how important it is that we continue to expand the opportunity for more Americans.

This issue does seem to be quite wrapped up in the issue of drug shortages.

And it also seems that part of the problem stems from questions about the supply chain.

What we need is a Federal system. It's not enough to do something in California.

I'm wondering if anybody would like to comment about whether you think that drug shortage issues can be attributed in any way to the pricing structure within Medicare.

I guess my fear is, along the lines of what Senator Smith said, if you introduce more players--and some of these players are hard to find even to clear the rights.

I believe in the free market, whose instincts are that deregulation is a good, solid, preferred approach.

Make no mistake. Retransmission consent was and is a construct of lobbyists and politicians.

We need to be able to plan. We need to know what the rules are going to be.

I hope that we can find 21st century solutions to 21st century challenges.

The repeal of Jackson-Vanik, yes.

It is important that we reduce the tax burdens on airlines which are inevitably passed on to the American traveling public.

We view the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as an extra territorial tax grab that sets a bad example