WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following news release on June 14, 2023: On Flag Day 2023, U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) joined Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) in introducing a constitutional amendment to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag. "The American flag is one of the most visible and enduring symbols of our nation's great history, our struggle for independence and the continued belief in liberty and j  more

WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release on June 15, 2023: Senator John Hoeven today helped reintroduce the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act. The legislation, sponsored by Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), will expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare and make permanent telehealth flexibilities that were provided in recent years. Doing so w  more

WASHINGTON, June 17 -- Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release on June 16, 2023: Senator John Hoeven this week helped introduce the Pay Less at the Pump Act, legislation sponsored by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to lower energy prices for American families by repealing the $10.5 billion "Superfund Tax" on American energy production. This long-expired tax on crude oil and imported petroleum products was reinstated in the Democrats' reckless tax and spend bill and ra  more

WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release on June 14, 2023: Senator John Hoeven and Senator Marsha Blackburn this week introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act, legislation to require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal immigrants coming across the border and any accompanying children. "I've traveled to the southern border repeatedly over the last few years, and we need to stop the illegal immigration crisis," said Senat  more

WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release on June 15, 2023: U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) at a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, questioned Federal Highway Administrator (FHWA) Shailen Bhatt on the agency's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Performance Measure Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which imposes GHG performance measures on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations without any new auth  more

BISMARCK, North Dakota, June 17 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release and a letter: U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined his Senate colleagues in writing a letter to President Biden calling out a constant lack of transparency related to the takedown of a Chinese spy balloon in February. In it, they expressed their growing frustration with the administration for failing to confront China's ongoing threat.  more

WASHINGTON, June 15 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release and a letter: U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) joined 12 of their colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) in sending a letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro demanding he uphold his commitment to provide an updated 30-year shipbuilding plan to the committee and abide by the Navy's statutory requirement to maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious warfare ships  more

WASHINGTON, June 15 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reintroduced the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) Protection Act of 2023. This legislation aims to combat the rapid increase in the number of "smash-and-grab" thefts targeted at federally licensed gun dealers by enhancing penalties for violations, particularly in cases of burglaries or robberies of firearms from FFLs. "Recent increases of smas  more

BISMARCK, North Dakota, June 17 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) publicly filed weekly grain backlog status updates as required by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB). A summary of the reporting data specific to North Dakota from the last 10 weeks is below. Following STB's April 2022 hearing on "Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service," BNSF Railway, CSX Trans  more

WASHINGTON, June 16 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release on June 15, 2023: U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), members of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced the Payment Choice Act to prohibit retail businesses from refusing to accept cash as a form of payment and prevent them from charging a higher price for using cash instead of other forms of payment. The bill will ensure customers have the freedom to choose how they pay for good  more

WASHINGTON, June 13 -- Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, issued the following news release and letter on June 12, 2023: U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) led 34 of their Senate colleagues on a bipartisan letter requesting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to modify the proposed payment update in the final inpatient prospective payment system rule through the use of special exceptions and adjustments authority. "We  more