12.22.20

Hoeven Statement on Passage of FY2021 Funding Legislation

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement after Congress passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 funding legislation.

“We were able to secure priorities important for North Dakota, including funding for our military members and their missions, assistance for our farmers and ranchers impacted by disasters, resources for the new BIA law enforcement training center at Camp Grafton, and legislation to advance the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library,” said Hoeven.

“As we work to rebuild our economy, we also need to get back to regular order and consider appropriations bills one at a time so we can prioritize funding and find additional savings.”

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to secure provisions for North Dakota, including:

  • WHIP+ Funding: An additional $1.5 billion for the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+), to ensure funding is sufficient to meet demand from producers who were impacted by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019.
  • Legislation enabling the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation to purchase Forest Service land in Billings County to construct a library and museum honoring the life and legacy of President Teddy Roosevelt.
  • Grand Forks Air Force Base: Language preventing the retirement of the RQ-4 Global Hawk, including those based in Grand Forks, and $29 million to enable the aircraft to reroute around adverse weather.
  • Minot Air Force Base: More than $2.3 billion to keep nuclear modernization efforts on schedule, as well as $194 million for new helicopters and $590 to maintain the existing ICBM fleet. 
  • Tribal Public Safety: Continuing the 5% set-aside for tribes from the Crime Victims Fund, and an additional $2.5 million to continue Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement specialized training courses at Camp Grafton.
  • Water Resource Development Provisions: Includes authorization for the Minot region’s flood protection project, enabling federal funding for construction of the project’s fourth phase, and extends Hoeven’s provision that prevents the Corps from charging fees for using water from the Missouri River reservoirs through 2030.
  • 45Q Extension: Provides a two-year extension on construction deadline for the 45Q tax credit, which will help advance the development and implementation of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology and provide an important revenue stream to coal producers.  
  • Fossil Energy R&D:  The bill includes $750 million in funding for fossil energy research and development to advance new technologies that allow us to continue harnessing our abundant oil and coal resources, including important support for CCUS efforts in North Dakota like Project Tundra and the Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Initiative. 

Hoeven and Senator Kevin Cramer opposed the inclusion of a one-year extension of the wind production tax credit (PTC) and offered a provision to strip the PTC extension, however the amendment was blocked. Click here for more on their efforts to block the wind PTC. 

The FY2021 funding legislation was paired with legislation to provide additional COVID-19 relief for American families, small businesses and schools as well as additional support for testing and vaccines. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to secure $13 billion in support for farmers, ranchers and the agriculture sector as part of that agreement. Click here for the Senator’s statement on the COVID-19 relief provisions.

-###-