BROOKINGS, SD - South Dakota Senator John Thune is touring the state this week before the Senate reconvenes on January 23. He's hosting several town hall-style meetings to discuss the economy and other issues with local residents. And Thune believes these meetings get to the root of democracy.

Dozens packed the Brookings Convention Center Monday afternoon for a rare chance to ask Senator Thune questions face-to-face.

Sen. John Thune kicked off a series of town hall meetings Monday, with the first two in Watertown and Brookings.

They were the first of seven town halls that Thune is holding across the state. He has one scheduled for Wednesday in Sioux Falls. The events are open to the public, and Thune will take questions from the audience.

WASHINGTON — South Dakota Sen. John Thune has been elected to the No. 3 spot in the U.S. Senate’s Republican leadership.

Senator John Thune 

Conservationist 

A longtime pheasant hunter, South Dakota Senator John Thune brings an outdoorsman's appreciation of nature to the senate floor. He co-chairs the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus--Congress's biggest and longest-standing group dedicated to interests of hunters and fishermen such as upholding second amendment rights, securing public hunting grounds, protecting fragile waters, and preserving wildlife habitats. 

By Ben Dunsmoor

Published: November 23, 2011, 5:58 PM

SIOUX FALLS, SD - Senator John Thune is hitting the presidential campaign trail.

The South Dakota Republican joined Mitt Romney in downtown Des Moines, Iowa Wednesday just hours after he endorsed the former Massachusetts Governor for president.

Posted: Monday, Nov 14th, 2011

BY: ROGER KASA

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. told a Huron Veterans Day audience here Friday that “freedom isn’t free; it comes with a cost.”

Addressing a large crowd in the Huron High School Auditorium, Thune said freedom also requires the people in America to make sacrifices at home.

U.S. taxpayers received some good news recently. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that she was dumping Obamacare’s Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program, which was intended to provide government-run, long-term care insurance.

Wednesday, Senator John Thune made three stops in the Rapid City area, one of which was to visit some elementary school students.

By SEN. JOHN THUNE | 9/18/11 8:57 PM EDT

Imagine it’s 1986. Apple has just released a compact computer called the Macintosh Plus. It looks a little like a cinderblock standing on one end, has one megabyte of memory and costs about $2,600. It includes a 9-inch, black-and-white monitor and a built-in disk drive that runs the latest 3.5-inch floppy disk technology.

SIOUX FALLS, SD - One of South Dakota's senators also shares a special connection with World War II veterans. Senator John Thune's father, Harold Thune, was a Navy fighter pilot during the war, which is why Senator Thune has been especially supportive of Honor Flight.

Nearly every time a group of South Dakota World War II veterans took off on another Honor Flight, Senator Thune was there to send them off.

Sen. Tim Johnson was on his way to the office. The radio was on, and there was something about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.

Like millions of Americans, Johnson heard about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as he drove to work. And like millions of others, he at first assumed it was a terrible accident.

We all remember where we were that day. Each of South Dakota's politicians has their own unique experience.

And they believe Sunday should be about honoring those who serve, rather than remembering the peril of the attacks.

President Obama's proposed $450 billion American Jobs Act, promising more jobs and more money in Americans' pockets, drew both skepticism and support from South Dakota officials.

Obama's plan would slash the Social Security payroll tax for employers and for tens of millions of workers. For individuals, that tax has been shaved from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for this year but would go back up again without action by Congress. Obama wants to deepen the cut to 3.1 percent for workers.

Washington - President Obama's plan for getting the economy back on track should include cutting federal regulations, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., says.

Obama, who is addressing Congress tonight, is expected to propose a $300 billion package of spending plans and tax cuts.

It's a safe bet that many of America's farmers woke up in early June only to discover that Washington had been taken over by a troop of rhesus monkeys.

What was going on, they must have thought. There it was in the Federal Register, the Mount Sinai of Washington, from which wisdom is handed down from bureaucracies minor and major to the 300 million mortals who inhabit the Republic.