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mediately designate county Farm Service Agency (FSA) employees who work in service centers in storm-impacted counties in South Dakota as essential. All FSA state and county office employees were sent home by the Obama Administration during the partial government shutdown. These employees are needed to provide assistance to producers and to assist county emergency boards in conducting damage assessments needed for determining eligibility for low-interest emergency loans.
• Because federal offices are closed and the USDA website has been shut down, I am providing a link with additional disaster information on my website: http://www.thune.senate.gov/
• Despite the partial government shutdown, I also felt it was important to assess first-hand the livestock loss and damage resulting from the early snowstorm. I spent Thursday, October 10^th, meeting with Black Hills Power about the restoration efforts, touring areas of Rapid City heavily impacted by the snowstorm, and took an aerial tour of western South Dakota ranches to survey livestock loss with Governor Dennis Daugaard.
• I encourage all South Dakotans to join me in keeping our neighbors in western South Dakota in our thoughts and prayers. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Washington to open our FSA offices in storm-impacted counties and pass a five-year Farm Bill to provide relief to our west river neighbors.