Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced today members of his staff will hold mobile office hours in Mott and Hettinger on Tuesday, August 16. “Since it’s not always possible for people to travel to my in-state offices, these mobile office opportunities help bring the services we offer closer to the constituents who need them,” said Senator Cramer. “Having members of my staff in Mott and... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced today the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Rural Development awarded Reservation Telephone Cooperative a grant of $18,501,541 to provide access to high-speed internet. The funds will be used to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network. This network will connect Dunn, McKenzie, and McLean counties in North Dakota as well as communities in Montana. This project will also serve the Fort Berthold Reservation... 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 – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will extend the deadline for agricultural producers to return their pre-filled applications for Phase One of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP). A new deadline will be announced at least 30 days after the last Phase One applications mailings have been sent. USDA also announced multiple program fixes to account for issues North Dakota’s producers have experienced since the program was... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced the U.S. Department of Army awarded a $20 million multiple award contract to four North Dakota companies: Gast Construction Company in Fargo, Incorporated, MDM Construction, LLC in West Fargo, Smithco, Incorporated in Fargo, and T.F. Powers Construction Company in Fargo. The contract supports maintenance, repair, and construction activities at the North Dakota National Guard facilities. CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced legislation to make states eligible to receive excess planes from the Department of Defense (DoD) to increase their wildfire suppression and emergency response capabilities. The Emergency Aircraft Act would also remove the current cap on how many excess planes DoD can transfer to other federal agencies for wildfire suppression purposes. “The Emergency Aircraft Act of 2022 removes arbitrary... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio***WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, issued the following statement on Senate passage of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022: “Every two years, the Water Resources Development Act offers an opportunity for Congress to provide the Army Corps of Engineers direction to set up... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Asylum Accountability Act, legislation which would significantly sharpen the penalty for those who fail to appear in immigration court by permanently barring absconding illegal immigrants from gaining a benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The surge of crossings at our southern border is driven by illegal immigrants believing they will be able to apply for asylum, abscond from their... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a broad package to clarify and strengthen violent crime laws related to homicide, bank robbery, carjacking, kidnapping and other offenses. The Combating Violent and Dangerous Crime Act resolves discrepancies brought on by conflicting court decisions and clarifies congressional intent regarding crimes of violence and their respective penalties. Despite an ongoing crime wave, no Democrats have agreed... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Harju, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC), discussed North Dakota’s Class VI well primacy, the effectiveness of current and proposed tax credits to reduce carbon emissions, permitting timelines, and net-negative carbon oil production through... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – To further cut off Russia’s revenue and combat Beijing’s continued support for Vladimir Putin, U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced legislation to impose mandatory sanctions on any entity which registers, provides insurance to, or facilitates registration of any vessel engaged in the shipment of Russian oil, petroleum products, or natural gas to the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC). The sanctions would terminate when the President... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced today the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded the following grants totaling $615,575 from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): $159,000 to the Stanley Airport Authority; $126,575 to the City of Mohall; $110,000 to the Lisbon Municipal Airport Authority; $110,000 to the Washburn Municipal... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.***WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced John Harju, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC), as a witness at today’s Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing entitled, “Examining the Development of Projects and Implementation of Policies that Support Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Technologies.” In his... CONTINUE READING

U.S.-Canada border ports of entry in North Dakota still operate on reduced pandemic hoursWASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus calling for a return to pre-pandemic hours at the northern border ports of entry. North Dakota ports of entry continue to exercise reduced and restricted operating hours first introduced at the beginning of the pandemic over... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded the following grants totaling $1,403,313 to multiple airports within the state of North Dakota for runway installation, construction, rehabilitation, and assessments:$613,076 to Washburn Municipal Airport;$319,537 to Barnes County Municipal Airport Authority; $191,700 to Northwood Municipal Airport Authority;$105,300 to Lakota Airport Authority; $87,300 to Rugby Municipal Airport Authority;... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.***WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined Fox Business’ Kudlow to discuss his opposition to the semiconductor legislation on the Senate floor this week. He also highlighted the supply chain and national security implications of the Fufeng group’s purchase of farmland near Grand Forks Air Force Base. Excerpts and full video are below.On Opposition to the Semiconductor Legislation:... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement ahead of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee nomination vote on Joseph Goffman to be Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Air and Radiation: “As one of the key architects of the Clean Power Plan in the Obama Administration, Joe Goffman’s bias against North Dakota energy is clear. Despite recent direction from the Supreme Court on the importance of... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) penned an op-ed in The Hill on the importance of creating and passing legislation the way our Founding Fathers intended calling for an end of legislating by gang. In the piece, he remembers former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) for the way he ran the House of Representatives when in leadership and highlighted Leader Armey’s message on the importance of excellency over congressional expedience.“Too many bills these days are crafted without... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced today the F-M Ambulance Service Inc. received a $200,000 grant for mental health and substance abuse service from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The funds will be used for the F-M Ambulance Service’s FM Ambulance Rural Emergency Medical Services. CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.***WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Excerpts and full video are below.  On National Security Concerns:“I am worried about it because China has proven themselves to be both capable and more than willing to steal intellectual property, to intercept the data, and they’re very good at it. Grand Forks is not only an important Intelligence, Surveillance, and... CONTINUE READING