Happy Monday!
Dear Fellow Republicans,
We wanted to provide you with a roundup of everything you might have missed from North Dakota’s great Republican leaders this past week. Please share with family and friends!
– Perrie Schafer, NDGOP Chairman
North Dakota
Carter 2.0 — Biden Blames Others for His Own Energy Failures
Breitbart
Thus it’s highly unlikely that Biden will heed the words of North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who is also calling for more U.S. production: “We urge President Biden to work with North Dakota and other oil-producing states to continue to grow our domestic oil supply now, rather than taking it from future generations or buying it from foreign sources.”
Doing the Right Thing
Inforum
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and his team are very busy, and that is something else to be thankful for this holiday season. North Dakota has joined three separate lawsuits to challenge the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate push. A federal court issued an injunction to stop OSHA from implementing and enforcing a mandate for large companies and several lawsuits have been consolidated in the Sixth Circuit.
Twin Towns Area celebrates Black Friday
Wahpeton Daily News
Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., also offered this Thanksgiving message. The governor said it has always been his favorite holiday. “The tradition of gathering with family and community and sharing our gratitude is powerful and purposeful. As a state we have been richly blessed with our amazing soil and our natural resources, and when combined with the freedom and ingenuity of our citizens we are feeding and fueling the world. For this and all of our blessings we are deeply grateful,” Burgum said.
Forum Editorial: Tapping our strategic oil reserves is not the way to help consumers
Inforum
The Biden administration’s actions prompted sharply worded objections from the North Dakota congressional delegation and Gov. Doug Burgum, who have been fuming about the administration’s energy policies. And they have a valid point. Among his first actions, President Joe Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline and issued a moratorium on oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Meanwhile, the administration has lately been calling upon America’s adversaries to boost production to bring down prices. So, after halting the Keystone Pipeline, which would have helped North Dakota’s Oil Patch, the administration removed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, increasing European dependence on Russian natural gas.
Rules eased again for water, livestock feed haulers; irrigation workshop set in Bismarck
The Bismarck Tribune
Gov. Doug Burgum announced this week that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted his request to extend an hours-of-service waiver for drivers of commercial vehicles transporting water and livestock feed. Burgum initially granted a 30-day waiver in an executive order Sept. 22, and it was later extended through Nov. 23. It’s now in effect through Dec. 24 or until the end of the emergency, whichever is earlier.
North Dakota unimpressed by release of oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserves
Williston Herald
To Gov. Doug Burgum it was just the latest in a series of “baffling” moves by the administration.“Executive actions taken by this administration have done nothing but erect roadblocks for our domestic oil industry to recover to pre-pandemic levels, and Americans are feeling the pain in their wallets,” he said. “No one produces energy more cleanly and efficiently than we do. But instead of encouraging U.S. operators to produce more oil, this administration has repeatedly urged OPEC to boost oil output and is now tapping into reserves intended to be used for national emergencies.” Burgum urged the Biden administration to work with North Dakota and other oil-producing states to grow domestic oil supply.
Sanford warns EPA official of harm to farmers, industry from revival of Obama-era WOTUS role
Times Record
“The Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule provided common sense and clarity for farmers, landowners and state agencies on which waters aren’t subject to federal control, including most farm and roadside ditches and features that only hold water when it rains,” Sanford said. “We urge the current administration and EPA to reject the Obama-era WOTUS rule, which will create uncertainty about jurisdiction and place unnecessary, burdensome and costly regulations on North Dakota farmers, ranchers and industry at a time of rising inflation and food prices.”
The Supreme Court will hear cases that could undercut Biden’s climate agenda. Here’s what to know.
The Washington Post
[T]he Supreme Court last month agreed to hear cases challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants…The requests were spearheaded by two Republican attorneys general — Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia and Wayne Stenehjem of North Dakota — as well as North American Coal and Westmoreland Mining.
GOP governors team up to get America’s supply chain moving again
Fox Business
The Republican governors signing the letter highlighted that from “coastal ports to inland ports to road and rail, our states can take action to address workforce shortages and prevent bottlenecks, logjams, and other transportation issues.” [T]he governors signing the letter are…Doug Burgum of North Dakota.
Washington, D.C.
North Dakota eyes federal money for expansion of oil well-plugging program
The Bismarck Tribune
North Dakota spent tens of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid plugging more than 300 abandoned wells and reclaiming the sites over the past two years. The cleanup work is ongoing. State officials billed the program as a way to keep oil workers employed when the pandemic prompted a downturn in their industry, as well as a means to address the growing number of wells producers had abandoned…The federal program stems from bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, both North Dakota Republicans.
The fight is on in North Dakota when it comes to WOTUS
Williston Herald
“North Dakotans live and work in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region and have long been subjected to the regulatory ping pong of Waters of the U.S. regulations,” Cramer said in a media statement. “It was never the intent of the Clean Water Act to override states and North Dakota’s leadership against the 2015 rule proves the limits of the federal government. It shouldn’t be this hard to identify what is navigable water and what is not. Cramer added he was grateful that the EPA and Fox followed through on the commitment to hold an in-person listening session in North Dakota to hear from farmers, landowners, and stakeholders.
North Dakota family awaits answers in the jailing of farmer in Ukraine
KFGO
Magnusson said the family has been in frequent contact with Sen. John Hoeven, who is working with the US Embassy in Ukraine and the Dept. of State. Sen. Kevin Cramer and Rep. Kelly Armstrong have also offered their help and support she said.
Columbarium coming to North Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Mandan, state leaders push for change in burial eligibility
KX News
Several leaders, including Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, were at the cemetery Tuesday to discuss the matter…Armstrong says those members of the guard and reserve component sign the same blank check to their country as their active counterparts, and still answer the call of duty on the homefront…“We got a unit at the southern border right now. I mean, the North Dakota National Guard goes where they are needed and they do an exceptionally great job,” said Armstrong.
ND officials blast Biden’s move to release 50 million barrels of oil from U.S. strategic reserve
KX News
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer said the emergency release of oil highlights the failures of the Biden administration’s energy policies. “Releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is absolutely not the solution to bringing high gas prices down,” Cramer said…U.S. Senator John Hoeven also questioned Biden’s energy policies and said the president’s move is unnecessary. “In an energy rich nation like ours, it makes no sense that President Biden has been hampering domestic energy production while asking our adversaries and OPEC for more oil, and is now tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Hoeven said in a statement. North Dakota Congressman Kelly Armstrong echoed similar sentiments in his comments after the president’s move to release the oil. “The Biden administration’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is like putting a band-aid on a large self-inflicted wound.”
‘Am I even fit to be a mom?’ Diaper need is an invisible part of poverty in America
The 19th
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer joined Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, in introducing companion legislation in the Senate to the End Diaper Need Act, a bill Reps. Barbara Lee and Rosa DeLauro have been pushing in the House for years. It would provide ongoing aid to diaper banks — $200 million a year through 2025 — as well as qualify diapers for use with a health savings account, and allow Medicaid recipients to receive diapers for older children with a medical necessity.
Ax-Wielding Antifa Member Attacks GOP Senator’s Office, Dems Give Him Money, FBI Returns Ax
PJ Media
Far-left miscreant Thomas Alexander Starks, 31, of Lisbon, North Dakota, pleaded guilty to destruction of government property last April. Starks brought an ax to Sen. John Hoeven’s office in Fargo on December 21, 2020, and smashed an intercom and glass door…Even better, the FBI returned the ax he used in the attack. Starks is bragging about it on Facebook, where he goes by the name “Paul Dunyan,” a reference to the axman Paul Bunyan.
Increased shipping fees concern Moran, Capito, Hoeven and GOP colleagues
The Ripon Advance
U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and John Hoeven (R-ND) joined a dozen other Republicans to urge the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to reevaluate the new fees being imposed for shipping container carriers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The increased shipping costs, known as Container Excess Dwell Fees, were imposed starting on Nov. 22 and the lawmakers are concerned that they will be passed on to American consumers.
North Dakota leader pleads with Wall Street banker for capital investments to fund state’s carbon projects
Inforum
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., hosted Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan for a conversation before a business audience at North Dakota State University on Tuesday, Nov. 23. Cramer called North Dakota “ground zero” for carbon solutions in introducing Moynihan, who asked Cramer to invite him to the state, which is striving to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 without government mandates under a challenge laid down by Gov. Doug Burgum. The Bank of America, the nation’s second largest, has $250 million in commercial lending in North Dakota, with clients including Basin Electric Power Cooperative, based in Bismarck.
The Memo: Rising costs a growing threat for Biden
The Hill
Earlier this month, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) tweeted that inflation “is not transitory. It’s big and it’s because of the Biden Administration’s terrible economic policies.”
