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HORACE, N.D. – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), attended the Autonomous Nation Conference at Grand Farm today, where he delivered opening remarks at the conference on the importance of autonomous technologies to the future success of the United States.

“Defending and expanding our digital infrastructure is key to protecting the United States and continuing American leadership on the world stage in the 21st century,” said Senator Cramer. “As Grand Farm moves forward with its extraordinary efforts to create a fully autonomous farm, it presents an opportunity to bring together private, state, and federal partners to make North Dakota a global hub for the autonomous industry and its cutting edge technologies.”

Senator Cramer’s remarks covered the importance of the creation of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) to defending the technology available to us via space, as well as the bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate recently passed which authorizes increased funding for greater broadband access and takes steps to bolster cybersecurity in light of recent attacks on U.S. pipelines and meat processors by foreign hackers.

Following his remarks, the senator participated in a panel with autonomous industry leaders, where he fielded questions and discussed visits to North Dakota by space leaders and recent formal connections made between the state and federal space agencies like the USSF and NASA.