News List

WASHINGTON, D.C. –The House of Representatives today passed H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act – legislation that includes Alaskan Congressman Don Young’s amendment to exempt certain mining activities located on national forest land from the 2001 Forest Service Roadless Rule. Read more »

Today the House passed a bill to open up access to domestic minerals critical to our national defense, manufacturing, communications, and medical care needs. H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012, would help the United States reduce its dependency on foreign suppliers for these minerals and create American jobs. Read more »

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) applauded the House Agriculture Committee for passing a new farm bill last night in a bipartisan vote. The legislation – which is a high priority for Eastern Washington’s agricultural community – now moves to the House floor. Read more »

WASHINGTON – Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Ranking Member Collin Peterson of Minnesota issued the following statements after the House Agriculture Committee approved H.R. 6083, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012 by a vote of 35-11. Read more »

Washington, D.C., Jul 11 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, today introduced The Crop Insurance Subsidy Reduction Act (H.R. 6098) which would significantly reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars used to subsidize crop insurance. H.R. 6098 returns federal crop insurance premium subsidies to their pre-Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA) levels. ARPA was passed in 2000. Read more »

Today, Rep. Scott Tipton was joined by Colorado colleagues Reps. Doug Lamborn, Mike Coffman and Cory Gardner in introducing a bill to increase local control over forest management and wildfire prevention. The Healthy Forest Management Act of 2012 follows a Congressional hearing on forest management held in Montrose, Colorado in May at the request of Tipton and Coffman. Read more »

Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5892, the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act,by a vote of 372-0 today. This bipartisan bill – authored by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) – would facilitate the development of small hydropower and conduit projects and direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to study the feasibility of a streamlined two-year permitting process. Their legislation now moves to the Senate. Read more »

South Dakotans really know how to celebrate our nation's independence. Even with fireworks displays canceled in many areas due to extreme fire danger, folks still came out in droves for parades, barbeques and family gatherings this Fourth of July. Read more »

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson this week discussed agriculture conservation programs and the 2012 farm bill on AgriPulse Open Mic, a nationally recognized agriculture news service. Click below to listen to the full recording. Read more »

Washington, Jul 6 - The House Committee on Natural Resources will convene on Wednesday, July 11th at 10am to consider and vote on H.R. 5987, a bipartisan bill to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that will include Hanford’s B Reactor. The Committee will also consider additional bills at the meeting. Read more »