Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, it is wet in farm country. In fact, our corn planting is so far behind that many South Dakota producers aren't quite sure how they are going to feed the 5 million cattle that are in our State.

Now, these producers don't want a new government program. They cannot feed their cattle dollar bills. What they want, what they need, is the flexibility to help themselves.

That is why Congresswoman Angie Craig and I introduced the FEEDD Act. It would provide the USDA the flexibility needed so that producers can go in and hay, graze, or chop cover crops that are on prevent plant acres and do that before November 1. Moving that date from November 1 to September 1 could make a real impact. The forage we need will come from those acres. It will come from that flexibility.

Already this bill has received 27 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by 17

national ag groups. I look forward to working with them, to working with the Agriculture Committee, to working with House leadership to move this concept forward.

We also have another option. USDA could do this administratively, and we continue to discuss with them the opportunity to get this success in that way.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to highlight the Johnson farm in Frankfort, South Dakota as the recent recipients of the state's Leopold Conservation Award.

Alan and Mickie Johnson, with their son Brian and his wife Jamie, farm 1,800 acres of cropland and 500 acres of grassland in Spink County.

Using various techniques and technologies, the Johnsons intend to leave the landscape in better shape than they received it. Working with Natural Resource Conservation Service, they have incorporated no-till farming practices and switched to a variable rate fertilizer system.

Using farm bill programs such as EQIP, CRP and CSP, the Johnson family has demonstrated that you can do the right thing for the environment while remaining productive and economical.

As this body debates solutions to environmental challenges, we should reflect on the accomplishments of those hard-working individuals who achieve conservation on the ground.

I commend the Johnson Family on their achievement as stewards of the land as they raise nutritious food that many of us take for granted every day.

Mr. Speaker, in the 1960s, South Dakota's Ben Reifel became the first Lakota Indian to represent our country in Congress. He grew up dirt poor in a log cabin. He dropped out after the eighth grade, later going on to graduate from South Dakota State and from Harvard.

Throughout his career, Ben Reifel, at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade here in Congress, fought to advance economic opportunity for American Indians. He celebrated hard work, education, and self-determination. He was respected in Indian Country, and he was respected in this Chamber.

Last week, I filed a bill to put Ben Reifel's name on the Rosebud Post Office. I am hopeful that young Indian boys and girls will look upon that name and realize that great Americans have come and will come again from that sacred place.

Mr. Speaker, in 1961, South Dakota's Ben Reifel became our Nation's first Lakota Indian in Congress.

He grew up dirt poor in a log cabin in rural Todd County. He dropped out after eighth grade but later graduated from South Dakota State and from Harvard.

Ben Reifel was respected in this Chamber. That gentleman was respected in Indian Country. You see, throughout his career at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade here in Congress, he worked tirelessly to further economic opportunity for American Indians. Ben Reifel celebrated education, hard work, and self-determination.

Yesterday, I filed a bill asking that Ben Reifel's name be placed on the Mission Post Office. It is my hope that young American Indian boys and girls will see that name and realize that great American leaders have come, and will come again, from that place.

Madam Speaker, in March 2019, the Black Hills Veterans community lost one of South Dakota's best. Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad was kidnapped and murdered when he returned to his native country, Pakistan, on a personal trip. Dr. Ahmad provided compassionate care to Veterans for over three years throughout the VA Black Hills Health Care System working in Sturgis, Hot Springs and Rapid City, South Dakota.

For years, Dr. Ahmad served our community and our Veterans and specialized in care for hospitalized patients at Fort Meade Medical Center. His courteous and friendly demeanor only amplified his dedication to helping his patients. We are grateful for his service.

On behalf of the constituents of South Dakota, I extend sincere condolences to his family. He is sorely missed.

Madam Speaker, I am honored to be a part of this Special Order tonight.

I want to highlight the dire situation in my home State of South Dakota. Our State is just barely beginning to recover from dramatic flooding while, simultaneously, we are trying to prepare for the disaster to get worse as a blizzard this week will dump freezing rain and more than a foot of snow onto already saturated ground.

Now, I have heard colleagues talk about similar and, in some cases, even more dramatic damage to their homes, and we have seen, in their States and in mine, commerce interrupted; we have seen livelihoods devastated; we have seen cattle killed; and, worse yet, we have seen human life lost.

Now, within South Dakota, there have been many impacted communities, although perhaps none more dramatically than Indian Country. When I have talked to President Bear Runner, Pine Ridge; President Bordeaux, Rosebud; or Chairman Frazier from Cheyenne River, their texts, their phone calls, our face-to-face meetings, they are heavy with the frustration and the exhaustion, the irritation, the concern about what is going on for their people. Madam Speaker, put more appropriately, they are concerned for what is going on with our people.

Right before I walked onto the floor here, I came from a meeting with Chairman Harold Frazier, and he had picture after picture after picture, Madam Speaker, of the devastation there at Cheyenne River: cemeteries under water, roads under water, cattle under water, cars under water.

I know South Dakota is not the only community that is impacted. Many of us need a helping hand. Many of the people in our States are too proud to ask for a helping hand, but tonight I would just ask my colleagues in this body and my colleagues in the Senate to do everything they can to put politics aside and to pass a disaster relief bill that can do much-needed work for our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to request unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from any further consideration of H.R. 962, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act, and I ask that it be taken up for immediate consideration by this body.

Mr. Speaker, if the unanimous consent cannot be entertained, I would then urge the Speaker and the majority leader to immediately----

Mr. Speaker, I grew up in a large working-class family in central South Dakota. I suppose there were some years when we were more poor than we were working class. But I want to make it clear, my parents worked hard every single day. So did I, and so did my brother and my sisters.

Even with that hard work, there were times when we needed help from government to get by. I am who I am today because of the experiences of both welfare and hard work.

Government assistance can help meet people's basic needs. We all know that. But on its own, welfare alone means surviving just barely on the edges. Welfare can meet short-term basic needs, but education and work--yes, education and work--they deliver long-term hope and dignity and purpose and opportunity.

That brings me, today, to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. Many of us call it food stamps. I know this program well from a number of personal and professional experiences.

Most of you probably know that, under Federal law, able-bodied nonseniors--people between the ages of 18 and 50--who don't have children at home are required to work or train or volunteer or go to school for 20 hours a week to receive their benefits.

To most Americans, these work requirements are common sense, just as they were when they were passed, in 1986, into law in a bipartisan manner. They are common sense because work isn't punishment. Work is opportunity.

Unfortunately, over the years, some States have used gimmicks and loopholes to trigger waivers. Those waivers water down the work requirements that we have been talking about. These, I am sure, well- intentioned but misguided efforts, mean that one-third of our country lives in an area with no work requirements.

Today, despite a record-high 7 million job openings, we have 2.7 million SNAP recipients who can work but who aren't. There is a better way, I am happy to say, and I want to tell you about it.

A few years ago, because of State waivers, too many Arkansans were not experiencing the kind of dignity and opportunity that comes from work, so Arkansas changed course. They put their work requirements back into place, and the results were breathtaking. They were impressive.

People who left the program because they didn't work or didn't train or didn't volunteer ended up better off than they were on welfare. Necessity pushed them into a job path that brought them more resources than welfare alone could ever provide.

With all of those people moving off the welfare rolls and into the workplace, they were earning money, and the State saw its revenues go up.

That kind of success can, and is, happening elsewhere. When Maine reimplemented work requirements, incomes of former enrollees more than doubled and caseloads declined by 90 percent.

These results show all of us how important it is for us to close these loopholes. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue should be commended for his efforts to do just that through a proposed rule, making sure that food stamp recipients are encouraged and rewarded for their work.

I want to make very clear, these actions are not about taking aid away from areas that are struggling with high unemployment. There are clear exceptions for those areas. Instead, this is about prompting more States and more citizens to experience the successes that have been experienced by Maine and by Arkansas.

We all know that every one of us does better, every single one of us does better, when we are pushed, when we are moved past our comfort level. Growth requires effort. That is true in athletics; that is true in academics; that is true in raising children; and that is true in all other areas of life as well. Denying millions of able-bodied SNAP recipients that push, that growth, also denies them a chance at a better future.

In States where work requirements have been reinstituted, a clearer path out of poverty has reemerged. We have to do that elsewhere. We have to do that everywhere.

I close today, Mr. Speaker, by saying that work has dignity; work is opportunity; and work is an American value.

Madam Speaker, it will be the 20th time Spearfish High School will represent South Dakota at the national ``We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution'' competition this spring.

The team won the state competition Thursday at Black Hills State University.

``It's commendable that you guys do this . . . . I think this will be a memorable experience for you,'' Wes Brown, of the Vantage Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides education, training, and support for issues facing communities, said. He thanked the students for their hard work, the judges for their time, and everyone involved for making the event possible.

The We the People program promotes civic competence and responsibility for upper elementary and secondary students. The program was created in 1987, directed by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act.

During the competition, student units take on simulated congressional hearing questions, demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and current constitutional issues. Each unit prepares a four-minute statement to present to the panel of judges acting as a congressional committee, and they then answer follow-up questions posed by the committee members. The units are scored on understanding, Constitutional application, reasoning, supporting evidence, responsiveness, and participation.

The Spearfish team is made up of seniors Lily Dennison, Gene Glover, Paxton Klug, Rigel Roberdeau, Kenna Comer, Kennedy Kaitfors, Rylee Niesent, Taylor Hersch, Justin Steedley, Hannah Tysdal, Ana Buchholz, Peter Marich, Morgan Roberts, Zach Tipton, Sophia Caldwell, Nathan Davis, Thomas Friedrich, Ella Neiman, Tim Doerges, Izzy Drumm, Jay Sayler, and Chelsea Williams. Patrick Gainey teaches the class.

Unit 4, made up of Buchholz, Marich, Roberts, and Tipton, were named the best unit for the Spearfish team, and Friedrich was named the Larson Best Speaker Award for the team.

Lead-Deadwood High School, taught by Matthew Campbell, also competed. The team is made up of students Chayton Bower, Carter Nelson, Eric Schumacher, Kyler Farmer-Winsell, Hunter Gudith, Chase Ladner, Michael Crawford, Harley Priest, Jasmine Riter, Luke Fish, Keegan Huntington, Zak Mau, Wyatt VandeVelde, Dylan Arehart, Dylan Janke, CJ Murray, Megan Snow, Raygan Mattson, Maxx Percy, Mackenzie Wetz, Zoe Bourgo, Brianna Pfeiffer-Munoz, Kaitlin Wilks, Carly Mehlberg, Abiah Morrison, and Alexis Morrison.

Unit 6a, made up of Bourgo, Pfeiffer-Munoz, and Wilks, was named best unit, and Pfeiffer-Munoz was named the Larson Best Speaker Award for the team.

Brown encouraged everyone to spread the word about the program. He said in the last decade, the most teams that participated in South Dakota were seven, versus the two teams competing this year. He added that Wyoming has 18 teams competing to represent the state.

``Thanks so much for putting in the effort,'' Brown said.

Spearfish High School will join approximately 1,200 students from 56 high school classes from across the nation to compete in the We the People National Finals April 26-29 at the National Conference Center in Washington, D.C.

``I'm really proud of how hard the kids worked,'' Gainey said of the students. ``They put in--it's not just class time--they meet outside of school, they meet at each other's houses, they go and interview professionals, they talk to lawyers and public officials, to get information for their presentations. It's a class, I think, that inspires a lot of devotion and commitment to each other. I like it because it's a little bit like football or basketball in that you could have the smartest kid in the state and you still might not win because it's a team effort.''

Mr. Speaker, since it is National Agriculture Week, I thought I would highlight how important market access is to South Dakota.

Now, the numbers don't lie. South Dakota is our Nation's 10th largest ag exporting State. In fact, we send out $4 billion of ag products every single year.

NAFTA deserves a lot of credit for that. In fact, our Nation at large exports more than $38 billion every year to Canada and Mexico.

We need to keep that momentum going, which is why this body needs to ratify the newly negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

USMCA is clearly better than NAFTA was. Let's be clear: That doesn't mean that it is perfect, but it does mean that it is clearly better for our country.

President Trump and his administration have made a number of much- needed improvements to that trading agreement. Let's send a clear message that the United States and South Dakota are open for business.

Mr. Speaker, let's get to work.

Mr. Speaker, in South Dakota, we take great pride in our girls high school basketball, due to the incredible hard work of so many players and coaches.

One of those hardworking coaches is Dawn Seiler, who has been coaching the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles for 20 years. Before that, she coached the McIntosh Tigers for 15 years

Under Coach Seiler, the Golden Eagles of Aberdeen have made it to 18 State tournaments. And after her 596th career victory, she is the all- time winningest coach in girls high school basketball history in the great State of South Dakota.

Coach Seiler has inspired generations of talented young women to do their best, both on and, more importantly, off the court.

Aberdeen is proud of their coach, and they should be.

Coach Seiler, congratulations on your historic accomplishment.

Mr. Speaker, as my new Governor just mentioned in her first budget address, in South Dakota, we don't spend money we don't have.

South Dakota has never incurred any general obligation debt, and that doesn't happen by accident. It takes decades of prudent and, sometimes, unpopular decisions. I am proud to be a part of that history.

Now, in Washington, the story is a little different. We haven't always had that same kind of intestinal fortitude, so our debt is $22 trillion.

Mr. Speaker, I know there is plenty of blame to go around, but I am more interested in solutions. Taking our medicine--and we do need to take our medicine--will not be easy, and we can't do it all at once, but I am ready to take the tough votes. I am hopeful that some of my colleagues are as well.

After all, fiscal responsibility is possible. Just ask South Dakota.