Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $240,000 Brownfields grant to the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ). The funding was provided by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The IIJA provided additional funding to carry out the Brownfields grant program. The funds will be used by NDDEQ to expand public education and outreach of the North Dakota Voluntary Cleanup... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in introducing the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2022. The legislation would allow the year-round, nationwide sale of ethanol blends higher than 10%. Increasing the availability of biofuels like E15 would benefit the economy and the environment. This federal legislation would also end years of regulatory... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Rural Development has awarded a total of $1,450,000 in Water and Waste Loans and Grants to the City of Ashley, North Dakota. $823,000 in a Water and Waste Disposal Loan $627,000 in a Water and Waste Disposal Grant This investment will be used for sewer main replacement for the City of Ashley along Highway 11 prior to the North Dakota Department of Transportation road project. The... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s proposed methane venting and flaring rule: “The Department of the Interior’s proposed rule is nothing more than another layer of unnecessary, duplicative bureaucracy designed to impair oil and gas production on Federal and tribal land. Democrats have tried this before and courts found it... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the following Head Start Indian Grants: $1,434,599 to the Cankdeska Cikana Community College; and $1,251,249 to the Three Affiliated Tribes.  The funds come through the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which promote school readiness for young children and toddlers from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.*** BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) released the following Thanksgiving Day video message today: “Thanksgiving takes on a new level of celebration for my family and me this year. We recently learned that I am a direct descendant of Pilgrims. In fact, I had three ancestors aboard the Mayflower when she arrived in the New World in 1620, including my 10th great-grandfather, Governor William Bradford of... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss the COP27 agreement to create a climate reparations fund. Excerpts and full video are below. On Climate Reparations: “It might be the most absurd international policy I’ve ever heard of. We can’t afford to give more money to other people, especially for the purpose of reparations as some sort of a guilt payment, because... CONTINUE READING

Senators push transportation board to include coal industry representatives WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) wrote a letter to Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Martin J. Oberman requesting a plan to fill three vacant seats on the STB’s Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (the Committee), which have been vacant for more than two years, with coal industry representatives. “Coal remains the largest volume commodity on... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), announced his nominees to be appointed to the U.S. military academies today. “One of the great joys of serving North Dakota in Congress is nominating some of our best young patriots for appointments to our military academies. We send our best of the best. After visiting with Mikko, Elyssa, and Zachary, I am honored and grateful they are willing to answer the call to... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to Senate appropriators calling for $25 million in FY2023 funding for the Carbon Materials Science Initiative at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The initiative was enacted to research converting coal and coal waste into raw materials necessary for advanced technologies and industrial applications. The initiative would also establish carbon materials research... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging it to not place overly burdensome emissions regulations on commercial motor vehicles. In March 2022, the EPA proposed a rule that provides two options for reducing tailpipe nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from commercial motor vehicles. Option 1 drastically aims to reduce 90 percent of NOx emissions by 2031, which will be... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in introducing legislation to ban the issuance of B-1 and B-2 nonimmigrant visas to the 93 million CCP members. Currently, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are eligible to receive 10-year, multi-entry B-1 and B-2 visas to the United States for vacation and to perform non-official government business. This legislation works to disincentivize Chinese nationals from joining the CCP and further restrict... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement on North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Gerald VandeWalle’s retirement: “Supreme Court Justice Gerald ‘Gerry’ VandeWalle has led a remarkable life of public service and dedication to North Dakota. Our great state has benefited from his wisdom and candor as he sought to uphold the law with impartiality in every decision he made. Gerry’s got great judgement, great demeanor, and a great... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – 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 hearing on “Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service” in April, BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Union Pacific submitted service... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – Bloomberg Government published an article highlighting the productive partnerships and effective governance of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee. The article highlights legislative feats from the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) leads alongside Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), including authorization bills for surface transportation and drinking water and wastewater infrastructure that laid the groundwork... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.*** WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss the importance of nuclear energy and the role of energy in national and economic security. He also discussed predictions for the 2024 presidential race. Excerpts and full video are below. On Unleashing American Energy: “[American energy independence and dominance] added to our national security. It reduced inflation and brought down... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced North Dakota received a $5 million grant from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for state broadband planning. The state will use this initial funding to expand high-speed internet access through planning and pre-deployment activities under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, highlighted the importance of the new bridge funding programs in the bipartisan Investment Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) at an EPW hearing.  In a discussion with Senator Cramer, Cass County Engineer Jason Benson mentioned the county expects to replace over 41 major bridge structures in the next 20 years. The IIJA... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement after voting in opposition to the Respect for Marriage Act: “Today’s vote is the first step leading to the normalization of religious discrimination, and it’s a bridge too far. The Respect for Marriage Act opens up religious institutions and non-profits to senseless litigation challenging the First Amendment liberties enshrined in our Constitution. I wish the federal government never got... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to the Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Agriculture (USDA), questioning whether it would produce a report outlining options to improve the federal mineral permitting process on the timeframe required by federal law. Under Section 40206 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Departments were required to complete the report within one year of enactment—which was yesterday—but... CONTINUE READING