Press Releases

BISMARCK – 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 April 2022 hearing on “Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service,” BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Union Pacific submitted service recovery plans, which... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $350 million for the development of Project Tundra, one of the world’s largest carbon capture projects located near Center, North Dakota. These funds will be distributed through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program, which supports the development of community-informed integrated carbon capture, transport, and storage projects. “North Dakota is a global leader in the... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee in writing a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, calling for the agency to reconsider its August 1, 2023 proposed rule on methane emissions reporting. This proposed rule, more commonly known as “subpart W” of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), excessively increases the tax burden on North Dakota’s energy producers under the... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video and here for audio.*** WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) with a vote of 87 to 13. For 62 years in a row, Congress has prioritized and passed a National Defense Authorization Act, ensuring our troops have the necessary equipment and resources they need to carry out their missions. This year’s bill fully funds nuclear modernization efforts, supports efforts to develop increased... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined his colleagues in sending three letters to President Biden, calling for the enforcement of sanctions on Iranian steel exports and oil sales. The letters were sent weeks after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel. The first letter, led by U.S. Senator Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL), implores the President to target Iran’s steel and metal industries by enforcing all direct sanctions on Iran and... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a total of $1,620,000 to the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota. This award will allow the Spirit Lake Tribe to develop the engineering and technical studies needed to support a future mitigation project application to benefit the community of St. Michael. CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the bipartisan Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023, reauthorizing the 2019 legislation which dedicated a fund through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to provide teachers and parents with accurate, relevant, and accessible resources to improve awareness and understanding of the Holocaust. The reauthorization of this bill would extend the program through 2030. “The alarming rise of... 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 a $500,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA). The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) established the Corridor ID program to facilitate the development of intercity passenger rail... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded a total of $3,000,000 to North Dakota State University’s (NDSU) Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute to continue operating the Region 8 University Transportation Center (UTC). This funding was made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  The Center focuses on maintaining the extensive public infrastructure system of Region 8, which encompasses 410,387 miles of public... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement regarding the Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy killed in the line of duty. “Earlier this evening, our 42-year-old son Ian was involved in a police chase which resulted in an accident that killed an officer. Ian suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations. Kris was with Ian when he insisted on going to his brother Ike. Ike died in 2018. Kris took Ian to the Sanford Health... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) released the following statement today after voting on the supplemental funding bill which includes financial aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan as well as provisions aimed at bolstering border security. “The United States has a vested interest in Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan defending their borders, but Democrats and the Biden administration disregard the lawless national security risk at our own. In this year alone, the equivalent of more than... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland expressing concerns over the lack of action taken following Tyler Cherry, Department of the Interior's (DOI) spokesperson, posting several anti-police statements online. Cherry’s statements were released amid record-low recruitment and retention for the U.S. Park Police (USPP), an agency within DOI. The letter notes the staffing crisis at USPP is a public safety issue which merits... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Emergency Relief Program (ERP) for 2022, which provides $3.74 billion to assist farmers and ranchers impacted by natural disasters in 2022. On November 17th, over 140 agricultural groups sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, raising concerns about the implementation of a new “progressive”... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.*** WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria to discuss the current status of Senate border security and Ukraine aid negotiations. Additionally, Senator Cramer previewed Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing which featured testimony from big U.S. bank CEOs. Excerpts and video below. On Possible Border Policy Changes in Supplemental Funding: “I think for the... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, was the keynote speaker at the Large Public Power Council (LPPC) Thought Leadership event. He was invited to discuss the practical implications of an energy transition, particularly on the resilience, affordability, and reliability of the grid. Senator Cramer has utilized his experience as a former North Dakota utility regulator as Congress debates permitting and transmission... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in introducing U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) Iran China Accountability Act. This legislation would block any taxpayer dollars from being used to advance an Iran nuclear agreement until they terminate cash ties with China and terminate ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas. “We know the pursuit of the Iranian nuclear deal has done nothing to deter Iran’s nuclear proliferation, it has only emboldened and enriched them.... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on the Federal Highway Administration’s illegal, unrealistic rule requiring state Departments of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to reduce tailpipe emissions on our highway system. Before the rule was finalized, Senator Cramer introduced a bipartisan amendment to the... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a letter to President Biden, requesting a full accounting of federal funding used to-date to implement Executive Order 14019 on “Promoting Access to Voting,” which directs federal agencies to submit plans to the White House describing how it will use taxpayer-funded resources to engage in voter mobilization. On May 10, 2023, a group of senators first submitted an inquiry regarding Executive Order 14019. The initial deadline... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a letter calling on the Biden administration to address rising rates of antisemitism directed at Jewish and Israeli students in K-12 schools since the Hamas-led massacre against Israel on October 7, 2023. In the letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, the senators requested the U.S. Department of Education enforce the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and ensure students are not subjected to discrimination... CONTINUE READING

***Click here for photos.*** SIMI VALLEY – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), participated in the 10th annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California which brings together political leaders and stakeholders in the defense community to discuss ways the U.S. can strengthen its national defense and global leadership. The forum is centered on President Reagan’s doctrine of “peace through strength.” During the forum, Senator Cramer joined a... CONTINUE READING