Thank you all, thank you, Speaker Koppelman, for your kind invitation to address this assembly. Leader Pollert, Leader Boschee, and fellow legislators.


I consider it a really high honor to be able to stand in the North Dakota’s People’s House and address you and about some thoughts about what I think are great opportunities for our great state and our great nation.

 

But, as a “Senator,” it is not lost on me that any self-respecting Representatives feels differently sometimes about us. But I do remind you that I did had the great privilege of spending six years in the People's House in Congress, and as a Representative, a former Representative, I can tell you I always consider myself a man of the House. 

 

And in both roles, I have seen how state and federal policies intersect and looked for ways we can work together to maximize the incredible opportunities we can deliver to the people of North Dakota. This year, I believe there is incredible potential. 

 

First, I want to congratulate you and the state on how well you navigated the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and still are. The virus has brought complex and ever-changing challenges this past year, and without a doubt, there are more opinions on what could have been done differently than there are people in this room.

 

The urgency and the uncertainty of this crisis required fast decisions which will always make people smarter after the fact than they may have felt at the time the action was required. But, from my perch in our nation’s capital, North Dakota takes a back seat to no one.

 

Governor Burgum and his team struck a balance that made the most of the vast federal resources our Congress appropriated to fight the virus, protect our most vulnerable, keep people employed, help workers, and preserve our economy.

 

And you the legislature provided the governor with appropriate freedom and necessary flexibility while maintaining a watchful eye to ensure proper oversight.

 

Our National Guard, our fantastic incredible National Guard, brought a level of professionalism and certainty to an uncertain time.

 

And of course, the dedicated professionals, front-line health care workers showed us what heroism looks like.

 

Now we are in what looks to be the final stages of this battle.

 

And just like in every other step, North Dakota is leading the way, getting vaccine shots in the arms of people who need and want them while keeping the state open for business.

 

Nationwide, there are now more people fully vaccinated than there are people who have tested positive.

 

We have every reason to hope, not to fear.

 

To embrace optimism, not pessimism or cynicism.

 

And to prepare for a bright future free from the pandemic, and with a special emphasis on freedom!

 

As you are aware, when Congress unanimously passed the CARES Act almost a year ago, one of the ways we helped employers and employees was through the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program.

 

As a member of the Banking Committee, I was fortunate to have had unique insight and view of the assistance from the experts here at home. I gained all the things I knew about what to do about PPP from people here.


With the facilities and leadership of Eric Hardmeyer at the Bank of North Dakota, I was able to engage with literally hundreds of lenders at a time through the ND Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of ND, the Credit Unions of the Dakotas, even Farm Credit Services using BND’s technology as we developed and evaluated the program. We had about 400 bankers on the call the day we finalized the bill. Eric helped facilitate webinars prior to the bill’s passage, and then after the bill's passage as we worked through some of the kinks to fix later, and we have.

 

BND gave North Dakota’s lending community a seat at the head of the table so their voices were heard. And it paid dividends, not just by the way for the borrowers and lenders here in North Dakota but for our entire nation.

 

North Dakota had the highest per capita participation in the program, making it wildly successful here at home. The Bank of North Dakota has been an invaluable resource, and I am grateful for the partnership of everyone there.

 

As I am sure you read, Congress passed another stimulus package earlier this week that President Biden signed just yesterday, making it the sixth bill in less than a year. 

 

It is a massive spending bill characterized as COVID-19 relief, funded entirely by borrowing two trillion dollars from our children and grandchildren. It had no bipartisan support, only bipartisan opposition.

 

I opposed it strongly. It doesn't meet the needs of the moment and could end up harming the economy and our workers more than it helps. 

 

But, now that it is law, there are areas North Dakota can take advantage of, including $350 billion set aside specifically for states and communities. 

 

The original draft adopted by the House left states like North Dakota out of the federal cash sweepstakes. Earmarks for big states that shut down their economies were replaced with a formula amended by the Senate to include minimum payments to all states, and we expect North Dakota to receive a sizeable amount. Not that North Dakota asked for it by the way. 

 

I am sure there will be restrictions on how the money is used as there ought to be, but I have faith that you will be as creative and innovative as possible with the resources you’re given to the maximum benefit of all North Dakota.

 

An area not addressed at the federal level, and one of the many unfortunate consequences of the pandemic, has been a rash of lawsuits encouraged by ambulance-chasing lawyers who want to take advantage of educational institutions, health care providers, businesses, and organizations that dare to interact with the public.

 

Attempts by many of us in the Senate to rein in these predatory practices have been met with fierce resistance by trial lawyers, their lobbyists, and of course their legislative allies.

 

But, tort reform is almost exclusively a state responsibility. I have been monitoring the progress of the various pieces of legislation introduced in this body by Representatives Howe, Kasper, and Koppelman to address liability concerns. 

 

You all deserve credit and applause for this, and I am glad it is an effort at the forefront of your work here. I encourage you to see this through to fruition and make North Dakota a safe place for responsible institutions and organizations to operate.

 

While many businesses in our neighboring state of Minnesota have been sidelined by overly restrictive government mandates, North Dakota businesses continued to operate safely and efficiently. We are better off this year because of it. 

 

But sadly, since then, the threat of nuisance litigation has been held over the heads of many, many employers. That’s not the culture of our state. 

 

Let’s make North Dakota a regional sanctuary for businesses that do the right thing. 

 

As the nation moves beyond the urgent needs of the pandemic, one area in which we hope to make progress during this session of Congress is building, improving, and maintaining our aging transportation infrastructure. In the Environment and Public Works Committee over the last few years, we have held several hearings on this important topic, including one just last week.

 

Unlike the recent assortment of one-time programs found in this week’s partisan spending bill, infrastructure is a long-term investment to spur job creation and economic growth.


Of course, transportation infrastructure is more than highways and bridges. I think you all know that.


It includes pipelines, ports, waterways, broadband, railroads, and much more, all of which provide jobs in their construction and maintenance. But just as important, it creates assets that carry our commodities, manufactured goods, and services to customers all over the world. It is impossible to put too high a value on an asset that has as its primary goal, the safety, and profitability of our economy and citizens.

 

It remains one of the most bipartisan policy areas in Washington, and one I support. This week I was named the ranking member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, giving you all a seat at the head of the table as we develop the next comprehensive and long-term transportation legislation.


Last year we were able to make some real progress. We saw our biannual water infrastructure legislation signed into law, which included support for several North Dakota priorities. It showed success was possible and gave us a blueprint to follow as we seek to continue to make more progress. 

 

My priority is to pass a long-term highway bill that prioritizes the distribution of funds by the government through a formula so rural states like North Dakota with our vast miles and small population get adequate resources and flexibility to spend the money on the priorities that make sense to us, to you, and your constituents.

 

Too often, Congress diverts funds to discretionary grant programs that look good on paper but they short-change low-population states with less money and representation.

 

North Dakota Department of Transportation Director Bill Panos has been an excellent partner in these efforts, keeping me and my office appraised of North Dakota’s priorities. I will continue to partner with him as he partners with you as we build an infrastructure bill that works for our state.


While infrastructure is a high priority of mine, the work of the Environment and Public Works Committee covers much more than that.

 

When I was elected to the Senate in 2018, I put together a committee assignment strategy to maximize North Dakota’s muscle in the upper chamber, requesting assignments to complement Senator Hoeven’s longstanding memberships. 

 

One of them was of course EPW, where overseeing environmental issues pairs well with Senator Hoeven’s agriculture and energy assignments. EPW oversees issues on water, air, highways, bridges, dams, nuclear energy, fisheries and wildlife, and many others. 

 

Tackling each of those issues has been an opportunity to:

1) work with the State of North Dakota to protect its regulatory primacy, 

2) to work on behalf of North Dakotans to advocate for your needs, and 

3) to showcase North Dakota and the incredible work being done here which can serve as a model across the country.

 

One example is in our transmission grid resiliency efforts. The grid failures in other states over the last several years, most recently Texas and California, tragically highlight the shortcomings of their policies.

 

We in North Dakota know that intermittent energy sources are not sufficiently reliable, no matter how much some may want them to be. Texas and California were brought to their knees due to poor planning and investments. And they own that.

 

My work on the Environment and Public Works Committee has provided a valuable 

avenue to support coal and nuclear producers so we can make sure our state and nation have access to reliable electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

 

That’s one of many reasons I invite North Dakotans to share their common sense with Washington. In the last couple of years, I’ve had the privilege of welcoming four of them to testify before the Committee.


One was our great Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring who outlined the detrimental impact brought by the Obama Administration’s Waters of the US rule. He has been a powerful voice, pushing back against Washington's incursion on our farmers and landowners.

 

Game and Fish Director Terry Steinwand did a superb job of testifying about how to combat invasive species.

 

Environmental Quality Director Dave Glatt shared his expertise before the committee when we debated cooperative federalism, making sure Congress remembers that sovereign states are supposed to be a partner, not a slave to the federal government.

 

And Paul Sukut of Basin Electric showcased North Dakota’s ability to reduce green house emissions through innovation rather than federal mandates. 

 

Thankfully, with North Dakotans’ help, I have had some success. I was able to secure the passage of several water infrastructure priorities such as authorizing Minot’s Flood Control plan, rethinking Snake Creek Embankment’s maintenance problems, certifying the Williston Levee, and several others.

 

We were also able to use the bully pulpit to get a withdrawal of the Water Supply Rule, a bureaucratic overreach by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to federalize all of the water in our country’s major rivers. Including of course, the Missouri. 

 

This was followed by the Trump Administration repealing other misguided water policies and further removing the federal government’s fingerprints from North Dakota’s water decisions. 


In both cases, I had a great partner in our state’s Attorney General, Wayne Stenehjem, who has relentlessly fought with me for North Dakota’s rights. 

 

I really appreciate Wayne’s leadership, and as we head into the Biden Administration, his office will need all the support we all can give. The defense of state sovereignty and private property rights is growing increasingly difficult, but this is a fight where we all must stand our ground and not surrender.

 

With the dramatic increase in executive actions coming from our new President, it is important that you all equip the Attorney General with the resources he needs to push back. And I haven’t even talked to him about this, so he didn’t write this part of the speech.


Whether major federal acts like the Clean Power Plan or Waters of the U.S., or obstruction to important energy infrastructure like the Dakota Access Pipeline, it is impossible to put a value on victory in the federal judiciary against infringement by Washington, 

but the cost of defeat is enormous and North Dakota’s leadership is critical to securing every state’s sovereignty in our system of federalism.

 

When you hear Senator Hoeven and me talking about confirming over 200 federal judges, like Dan Traynor and Peter Welte here in North Dakota over the last four years, it was for moments like this. Their presence and hundreds like them on District and Appellate Courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States helps ensure that we are ready to meet the moment.


Just as North Dakota contributes to our energy security, it also plays a vital role in our national security.

 

As a complement to Senator Hoeven’swork as a defense appropriator, I became the first member of Congress in history from North Dakota to serve on an Armed Services Committee.

 

Whether it’s two of the three legs of the nuclear triad in Minot; Space Force operations in Cavalier; critical Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance capabilities in Grand Forks and Fargo; or our National Guard installations in Bismarck and throughout the state, North Dakota punches way above its weight class in defending our nation.

 

From my seat on the Armed Services Committee, I’ve had the privilege to see firsthand how North Dakota has established an environment in which our defense assets can thrive. 

 

First and foremost, thank you. Thank you for the support you’ve given to our service members and their families. This hasn’t gone unnoticed at the Pentagon nor in Congress.

 

Legislation for military spouse teacher certification, military spouse occupational licensure access, and hopefully this year enhanced military spouse license portability, are all not only the right actions to take, but they make our job at the federal level much easier when advocating for increased missions and manpower in our state. 

 

Also, your continued investments in capabilities like Beyond Visual Line of Sight, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, and the UAS Test Center at Grand Sky have helped grow our national defense capabilities in ways that we could probably not have imagined when it began. 

 

That seed money helped attract major defense technology companies to invest in Grand Sky and operate in our airspace. I talk to companies like Northrop Gruman, General Atomics, Boeing, Lockheed, SpaceX, and several others on a very regular basis, and they have taken notice.

 

The investments have paid off. North Dakota was recently rated number one for “States Prepared for the Drone Industry,” which has helped us generate even more interest from businesses and government, both big and small, to consider bringing their operations to North Dakota.

 

But don’t take my word for it, look at the people who have come to the Grand Forks Air Force Base just in the last year and a half or so as well as the University of North Dakota to see what we’re accomplishing.

 

We’ve had visits from the Administrator of NASA, the first Space Force Chief of Space Operations (and by the way it was his very first official visit as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, the Commander of Space Command, the Director of the Space Development Agency, and most recently the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. 

 

They all come to see the amazing work being done in our state for the security of our nation, work made possible by the defense professionals thriving in the environment you helped create. And that work will lead to greater opportunities for the region. 

 

Future space missions at Grand Forks Air Force Base may be on the horizon, and we expect to see Space Force research opportunities coming soon to the University of North Dakota. 

 

UND President Andy Armacost is proving to be a capable leader as we position the university for such possibilities, and I am grateful for his continued partnership. 

 

So whenever the opportunity presents itself, I urge you to continue your part in fostering a culture of military excellence.

 

While we are always thinking of the current and future generations of warfighters, North Dakota never forgets those who risked their lives for our freedom.

 

As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, it is heartwarming to see the excellent work being done on the state and local level to care for the over-fifty-thousand veterans who call North Dakota home. 

 

One obvious area where we can work together and have is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Now, you're not going to find a louder proponent of this innovative treatment in the United States Senate, except probably for Senator John Hoeven. And that’s because we have heard from many North Dakotans who tell stories of how HBOT changed their lives when no other treatment worked.

 

Last year Congress passed a comprehensive veterans mental health package that included my legislation to have the Veterans Affairs Department further study HBOT in an objective manner. 

 

There is obvious resistance to this treatment by the bureaucracy, but an objective study would force them to accept the obvious reality that this treatment can greatly improve people’s lives, and such an acknowledgment will open the door to even further opportunities.

 

But you all have been excellent partners in this fight. Your legislation to authorize and fund an HBOT pilot program last session helped me advance those same efforts on a federal level, and it gets help to veterans in need along the way.

 

I have spoken with our new Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough about this issue several times, both publicly and privately - as recently as yesterday morning - and will continue to do so.

 

Together our efforts will help create a brighter future for the people who were willing to risk their lives for the safety and security of our country.

 

I was going to spend a couple of pages on election reform. Obviously, you don't need a lecture. Scott, good job. That's all I can say. Good job.


I could really get into the H.R. 1 thing, but you should know we are doing some things at the federal level as well, not to impose further on your jurisdictions, but rather to rein in the federal government's efforts to do so. The Constitution is pretty clear about it all.


Senators Rubio, and Hagerty, and I introduced a bill just last week that puts some guard rails in that prevent states from getting federal grants if those states violate their own laws to change how an election would be carried out. So, good job.

  

In D.C. calls those things voting rights. I’m glad to know you know better. It’s a partisan bill that takes all the bad ideas that have created the distrust we see today in our system, makes them permanent, and forces states to follow them.

 

And, if those First Amendment freedoms were not already under attack enough - that is, expression of political speech - religious liberty is also imperiled through a bill that has been dubbed the Equality Act.

 

I strongly oppose this act and urge you to do the same. All citizens should be treated with dignity and respect, without fear of discrimination, but that is not what the Equality Act does.

 

The equality act would deny Americans constitutionally guaranteed liberties and force them to comply with federal laws that violate their conscience.

 

It would greatly expand access to abortions, force health care providers to provide them, supersede existing state laws banning them, and use federal tax dollars to pay for them.

 

It is a dramatic federal overreach and violation of the Constitution’s protection of religious liberty, and it would limit your ability to make that case in court.

 

The Equality Act levels unequal treatment on unborn children and religious Americans. It’s antithetical to our nation’s founding, trampling on the First Amendment. It is the job of our nation’s leaders to uphold God-given rights, not chip away at them.

 

And if equality is really the goal, one area to start would be prohibiting biological men from participating in women’s sports.

 

We’re in the fourth quarter of a global health pandemic with stagnant unemployment and crippling debt, and yet the President decided that one of his first priorities the day after his inauguration was to sign an Executive Order requiring schools that receive federal funding to allow biological boys onto girls’ sports teams or face the wrath of Washington.

 

We have all praised and encouraged our daughters and sisters and granddaughters as they compete in sports. We applauded their achievements and the great strides they have made. We’ve hoped that maybe they could get a scholarship to the college of their choice. How disappointing to see their progress be trampled by mandates to pad the egos of biological boys. 

 

We are turning into a culture that teaches our daughters the best way to succeed is to be a man. We're going backwards.

 

My colleagues and I have introduced legislation to protect women’s sports, and I'm grateful to see you’ve done the same. Again, you're usually ahead of us. 

 

Friends, we live in the most exceptional country in the history of the world. Better than that, you and I get to serve the most exceptional people in this great nation of ours.


Our country needs North Dakota’s example in many areas. Common sense, work ethic, respect for each other, and – do I dare say – traditional values and virtues rooted in faith in the God who created us and put us here.


We don’t all have to look or be the same to share common values. We don’t all have to vote the same to love one another. In fact, diversity in a nation that values the individual is one of our greatest strengths when channeled properly.

  

The rise of socialism as a legitimate economic and cultural model is the enemy of creativity and innovation. The woke culture being pushed on us aims to erase our history and judge our nation by its sins rather than its unmatched contributions to freedom here and around the world.

 

And if you meet anyone who thinks cancel culture doesn’t exist, show them some of what’s happening in the United States Congress.

 

The actions of the House are reflective of a society increasingly eager to whitewash history and silence opposition, rather than learn from our past and foster a spirit desiring of debate and discussion.

 

It’s a sect of society that carries a banner of justice and equality but seems fine with disenfranchising those with whom they disagree and deploying the actions of history’s oppressors, not the oppressed. 

 

Book banning never seems to end after just a couple of authors. Censorship rarely stops with the silence of just a few fringe actors. Rewriting history seems to only increase the chance the buried lessons will be repeated.

 

Let me be crystal clear – we have no reason to rewrite our history. We are the most exceptional country in the history of the world.


We have never been perfect. No nation has. We are still forming our ‘more perfect union.’ Our exceptionalism should be championed in the classroom and in all of our institutions, not spoken of as a pejorative. 

 

The United States is still the shining city on a hill, and I refuse to be guilted into apologizing for American greatness. I hope you’ll join me in that fight.

 

The success of cancel culture and its legislative agenda relies on the failure of dissenting voices at the federal level and acquiescence at the state.

 

We’ve all heard the famous words of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” 

 

States like ours are becoming the guardians of God-given liberties and freedoms. Where persuasion in the public square fails, states stand as a defense against federal tyranny. If you hear one thing from me, let it be this: stand strong, friends. Stand strong.

 

As you move forward in the second half of this legislative session in earnest, great opportunity awaits where federal and state policies intersect.

 

The spirit of ingenuity is alive here.

 

Together we can achieve great accomplishments in the areas of energy, infrastructure, national security, technology, manufacturing, and of course agriculture, all because of American exceptionalism.

 

And may this time, and our partnership, be defined not as a time of just stringent opposition to inevitable progress, but a time of bold solutions developed through collaboration and an understanding that North Dakota’s excellence will always be better than Washington’s mediocrity.

 

Now is not the time for good men and women to do nothing, and I know you won’t. You’re doing a lot. 

 

Thank you, and God bless you and your work. And God bless North Dakota, and the United States of America!