Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), released the following statement after voting against Jacob “Jack” Lew’s nomination to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the State of Israel. The Senate confirmed Lew by a vote of 53-43. During the Obama administration, Lew served in a variety of roles including White House chief of staff, secretary of the treasury, director of the Office of... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, issued the following statement regarding the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) holding public meetings this week on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). “The Dakota Access Pipeline has been safely operational for over half a decade and is the best method of transporting crude oil. Yet, radical left-wing environmentalists keep... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) in a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, expressing concerns with United States’ adversaries exploiting the southern border. “It’s no secret the Biden administration has failed to take care of the border. President Biden is turning a blind eye to agents overwhelmed by the increase in... 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, released the following statement after the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Department of the Interior announced $27 million for the Garrison-Diversion Unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program in North Dakota. This award will support efforts associated with the expansion of the Fort Berthold, Standing Rock, and Spirit Lake... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) in introducing the Further Strengthening America’s Supply Chains and National Security Act. This bill seeks to address the growing impacts of generic drug shortages and strengthen the supply chain of high-quality, domestically produced pharmaceuticals. “Just like energy and critical minerals, we have shifted too much of our medical supply chains to China and India,” said Senator Cramer.... CONTINUE READING

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 – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and colleagues in introducing a resolution opposing a carbon tax. The resolution urges Congress and the president to focus on pro-growth solutions that encourage increased development of domestic resources. “American businesses already pay a de facto carbon tax in the form of environmental stewardship,” said Senator Cramer. “Piling on a... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, joined his colleagues in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, requesting the administration confront the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing footprint in the U.S. financial system and global payments market. The senators called on the Biden administration to closely examine the infiltration of Chinese payments... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U. S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, co-led a bipartisan letter expressing several concerns regarding a potential critical mineral free trade agreement between the United States and Indonesia. The letter follows reports that the Biden administration is in negotiations with Indonesia on a limited free trade agreement for critical minerals, primarily nickel. Nickel is a key component of electric vehicles (EVs). To... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development, released the following statement after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency jointly finalized principles to prod banks into defunding fossil fuels in the name of climate change. “Banks were not created to be arbiters of public policy, but now environmental activists have... 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, and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), introduced legislation to reauthorize the National Dam Safety Program (NDSP). The program is the primary source of federal support for dam safety programs managed at the state level. The NDSP, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides critical grants to state dam safety agencies.... CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined his colleagues in reintroducing the Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2023. This legislation amends section 401 of the Clean Water Act and makes several key clarifications to existing law about the appropriate scope of review for a water quality certification. Additionally, it places procedural guardrails and requirements on states as they process requests for... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a total of $6,756,103 to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services through the Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five Program (PDG B-5). This program, funded through the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), provides competitive grants for states to improve early childhood education, quality, and access. CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office announced North Dakota will receive funding for three projects from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program.   “These awards will help North Dakota write another one of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act success stories,” said Senator Cramer. “By investing in... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.*** BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released the following statement after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced its approval of WBI Energy’s Wahpeton Expansion Project, consisting of 60.5 miles of new pipeline which will deliver up to 20.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to communities in southeastern North Dakota. Watch Sen.... CONTINUE READING

***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.*** BISMARCK — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss President Biden’s address to the nation and the administration’s lack of a plan to counter Iran.   On President Biden’s Oval Office Address: “Joe Biden could get up and recite Lincoln's second inaugural address and screw it up because the deliverer of the message is just so inept, and frankly,... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden, requesting an immediate update on the administration’s plans to implement the landmark Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) agreement. The senators also stressed the need to receive the Submarine Industrial Base (SIB-25) report from the administration, including the cost estimates for what additional investment in the domestic submarine... CONTINUE READING

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), joined his colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden requesting more border wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border and to resubmit the administration’s emergency supplemental request to include border wall funding. The letter follows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement, walking back a notice of determination of border wall construction along the U.S. southern... CONTINUE READING

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 – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, joined his colleagues in introducing the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act, which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) de facto mandate of electric vehicles. The proposed rules, announced by the EPA in April 2023, would set emissions standards at the strictest level ever for criteria pollutants and... CONTINUE READING