United States Senator John Hoeven for North Dakota

WASHINGTON – Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) today led a bipartisan group of senators calling on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to abandon the department’s proposal to implement a border-crossing fee for those entering the United States from either Canada or Mexico at land crossings. The agency recently announced it planned a study to evaluate the proposal.

The Senators raised concerns that such a fee would negatively impact trade and commerce in communities near the borders and cited bipartisan opposition to the study in the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

“Canada is by far our largest trade partner and we need to continue to foster a mutually beneficial relationship with them,” Hoeven said. “Rather than charging a fee that would hurt business in our border communities, we need to build a pro-growth business environment that will stimulate our economy and create jo...

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today called on Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to address high gas prices in North Dakota and the Upper Midwest owing to planned refinery shutdowns and the resulting shortages of fuel. Hoeven and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have also introduced legislation to help reduce the impact of simultaneous refinery shutdowns on gas prices.

In a letter to the energy secretary sent Friday, Hoeven also called on Secretary Moniz to use existing laws to help coordinate planned refinery shutdowns and scheduled maintenance to avoid the prices hikes owing to fuel shortages. Hoeven said energy legislation passed in 2007 gives the secretary explicit authority to “make available to refinery operators information on planned refinery outages to encourage reductions of the quantity of refinery capacity that is out of service at any time.”

“Recent and simultaneous closures of several oil refining facilities in the Mid...

WASHINGTON – Senators John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp, and Representative Kevin Cramer today pressed President Barack Obama to approve Governor Jack Dalrymple request for a major disaster declaration for 16 counties and the Spirit Lake Nation due to spring flooding.

“The combination of a heavy snowpack, very late snowmelt and other factors led to overflowing rivers and extensive overland flooding,” the delegation wrote. “Rapidly rising temperatures accelerated the pace of the late snowmelt, which overwhelmed major rivers and their tributaries across the state.

“As a result, cities and counties invested in emergency protective measures, including earthen levees and sandbag dikes, but damages were still sustained to area roadways and other infrastructure. The impacts from these floods have grown beyond the capability of the state and local jurisdictions to respond and we hope you will approve this declaration as soon as possible to ensure n...

WASHINGTON – In support of the Iranian people, Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the Government of Iran to hold a free, fair and open presidential election next month. The resolution highlights the fact that Iran’s Supreme Leader, who outranks the president, is not accountable to the Iranian people through elections, and that Iran’s government has a long history of abusing human rights and holding elections that are neither free nor fair.

“Iran needs to know that the eyes of the world are on them, and that a dishonest presidential election will not provide legitimacy to the Iranian regime,” Hoeven said. “Candidates have been blocked from standing for election for political reasons, and the real power continues to reside with the Supreme Leader who is unelected and unaccountable. This resolution will show the world that we know the voices of the people of Iran...