Congress

The U.S. Capitol. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden administration details potential cuts in education, food aid and more under GOP plan

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management.  The series of letters from across the federal government released Monday detail exactly how plans to cut at least $130 billion in domestic spending during […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, participates in a Senate Banking Committee hearing in March 2023. (Screenshot from committee hearing video)

Congressional Roundup: Sustainability vs. safety

BY: - March 17, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of periodic updates on the activities of South Dakota’s congressional delegation. A new bill from Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, would take money away from sustainability efforts in schools and redirect it to school safety. The bill takes aim at $500 million in funding appropriated by […]

An aerial view of Verratti Farms LLC, a dairy and grain operation in Newfane and Gasport, New York, on May 26, 2022. (Courtesy of USDA)

Limits on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland gain support in Congress, despite skepticism

BY: - March 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan momentum is building in Congress to restrict China and other foreign adversaries from purchasing U.S. farmland, a reflection of a similar push by some states as well as apprehension over Chinese spy balloons, rising land prices and growing international competition.  “Foreign ownership of agricultural land threatens small family farms and the overall […]

(Darwin Brandis/iStock Getty Images Plus)

As opioids overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches

BY: - March 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published Thursday. That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises. The 600-page volume — which […]

The U.S. Capitol building is seen on Oct. 22, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate moves toward repealing authority for military force against Iraq

BY: - March 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate took a broadly bipartisan vote Thursday to advance legislation that would end the 32-year-old and the 20-year-old Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq.  The 68-27 vote moves the measure past the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster and towards a final passage vote as soon as next week. House Republican […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, questions witnesses in a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building on Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

South Dakota congressman advocates expansion of work requirements for federal food aid

BY: - March 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at expanding work requirements for federal nutrition aid, reigniting a perennial conflict over how Congress navigates both the farm bill and federal spending.  “Work is the best pathway out of poverty,” Johnson, who in his home state has talked about growing up […]

Cattle near Stoneville, South Dakota, on July 21, 2021. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung)

Ag Department launches cattle contracts library urged by Johnson

BY: - March 11, 2023

A recently launched program championed by South Dakota’s lone congressional representative aims to aid livestock producers in price negotiations with slaughterhouses. The Cattle Contracts Library is meant to log basic information on the prices paid for cattle by the nation’s four major processing conglomerates: Cargill, JBS USA, National Beef Packing and Tyson Foods.  The idea […]

Phillip A. Washington speaks at a nomination hearing with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on March 1, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Head of Denver airport doesn’t need waiver to lead the FAA, Biden administration says

BY: - March 10, 2023

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration — the CEO of Denver International Airport — does not need a congressional waiver to allow him to serve in the role, the U.S. Transportation Department’s top lawyer said in a Thursday letter to Congress. Federal law requires the FAA administrator to be a civilian […]

The sun sets on a wetland northwest of Hartford, South Dakota. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

U.S. House votes to roll back Biden’s WOTUS rule

BY: - March 10, 2023

The U.S. House voted Thursday to undo a Biden administration definition of wetlands that allows for regulations on private lands. The chamber approved, 227-198, a resolution to roll back the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s broader definition of what qualifies as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, for the purposes of federal regulation under the […]

The chair of the U.S. House Elections Subcommittee, Florida GOP freshman Rep. Laurel Lee, gives an opening statement during a hearing March 10, 2023, about the midterm elections. (Committee video screenshot)

GOP state officials at U.S. House hearing push back against federal election oversight

BY: - March 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican election officials from Florida, Ohio and Louisiana on Friday detailed to lawmakers on a U.S. House Administration panel the success of their states’ handling of the 2022 midterm elections, and said they can run their own elections without federal intervention. The chair of the Elections Subcommittee, Florida GOP freshman Rep. Laurel Lee, […]

Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Dr. Jamie Metzl, left, testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic with former New York Times editor and author Nicholas Wade, Dr. Paul Auwaerter of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 8, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Congress unanimously votes to require declassified information on COVID-19 origins

BY: - March 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — The divided 118th Congress approved its first bill Friday, after lawmakers in both the House and Senate voted unanimously to send President Joe Biden legislation that would require declassification of intelligence on the origins of COVID-19. The four-page bill, which the House voted 419-0 to clear, would require the Director of National Intelligence […]

Norfolk Southern's Atlanta headquarters. (John McCosh/Georgia Recorder)

Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes for Ohio crash, but won’t back bipartisan rail safety bill

BY: - March 9, 2023

The CEO of Norfolk Southern, the railroad operating the train that last month derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, apologized for the derailment at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, but declined solicitations to endorse a bipartisan rail safety bill. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw opened his testimony to the Senate Environment and […]