Dusty Johnson and Trump want the Panama Canal back: South Dakota senator cast pivotal vote to give it up in 1970s

Sen. Jim Abourezk was a holdout vote who caved to intense lobbying by President Jimmy Carter

Workers defied disease and hardship to dig a canal through Panama to open a shipping lane between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

In 1978, South Dakota Sen. Jim Abourezk was one of the deciding votes in a narrow Senate majority that voted to give control of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. The move to cede control of the canal was a key piece to President Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy goals.

Now another South Dakotan, Rep. Dusty Johnson, is sponsoring legislation to buy it back. The Panama Canal Repurchase Act authorizes the president to negotiate the return of the canal and report to Congress within 180 days on how those negotiations are proceeding.

The bill is expected to be released today.

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