In 1972, he was elected to the
United States House of Representatives as a Republican. reauthorization of the
Belle Fourche irrigation project, and the inclusion of
oats (of which South Dakota is a major producer) in the farm program. As a fiscal conservative, on April 2, 1984, he introduced S. 2516, the Deficit Reduction Act, a forerunner to the
Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act. As chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water Resources, he exerted leadership in passage of legislation requiring cost-sharing for Federal water development projects. His interest in chairing the subcommittee was spawned by the importance of water to South Dakota's primary industry, agriculture, and the fact the state had been promised irrigation development in trade for inundation of its Missouri River bottom land behind massive dams in order to provide flood control and navigation benefits to downstream states.
Notable Abdnor staffers United States Senator
John Thune had been a member of Senator Abdnor's staff. Other notable members of Abdnor's staff who went on to fill important public service roles include:
John Hamre, Undersecretary of Defense;
Jeff Trandahl,
Clerk of the House; Bruce Knight, Undersecretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Larry Parkinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement and Security, U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and Director, Office of Enforcement, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC);
Phil Hogen, Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC);
Vern Larson, South Dakota State Treasurer and Auditor; South Dakota State Senators
Walter Conahan, Mike Vehle, Lee Schoenbeck and
Scott Heidepriem; South Dakota State Representative Sean O'Brien; Charlotte Fischer, South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner; Roland Dolly, Commissioner of Economic Development for the State Of South Dakota; and
Stephen Censky, Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service, CEO of the American Soybean Association, and
United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. ==Death==