Category: Uncategorized

Cracking Down on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
By Sen. John Thune

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that as much as $500 billion is stolen from federal programs each year due to fraud. That’s not an inconsequential sum, and every dollar of waste, fraud, and abuse is a dollar that isn’t going to an American in need.

Recent reports suggest that widespread fraud has taken root in Minnesota with as much as $9 billion or more stolen from federal programs since 2018, and prosecutors have indicted numerous individuals for a number of schemes. I hope that these individuals are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that we soon get to the bottom of what happened in Minnesota.

Over the past year, Republicans have been working hard to prevent the type of waste, fraud, and abuse that is now coming to light in Minnesota. Our landmark legislation, the Working Families Tax Cuts, contained a number of reforms to guard against abuse, focus federal dollars on those most in need, and hold states accountable for the federal funding they receive.

New measures in the law prevent noncitizens from receiving federal health care and nutrition benefits and refocus those programs to serving American citizens. It includes stronger work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults without young children. It increases accountability, requiring states to check enrollees’ eligibility for Medicaid twice per year and taking aim at duplicative enrollment in federal health care programs, which is estimated to cost taxpayers $14 billion per year.

These are just a few of the commonsense reforms that Republicans enacted last year to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse. Unfortunately, while one would hope this would be a bipartisan issue, it’s not. Democrats panned the commonsense measures in the Working Families Tax Cuts as “cruel.” They have said little about the fraud scandal in Minnesota, and they have shown they are perfectly willing to allow waste, fraud, and abuse to continue in the Obamacare exchanges.

Although there is evidence of fraud in the exchanges and in the Biden COVID subsidies, which were especially susceptible to fraud, Democrats want to extend those subsidies without any reforms. A recent GAO report revealed that the ACA exchanges continue to enroll fake individuals, improperly pay out taxpayer-subsidized health insurance, and fail to ensure payment accuracy. The agency tested 24 accounts, and 23 of them were enrolled with false or no documentation to verify Social Security numbers, citizenship, or reported income. Then there are the 40 percent of enrollees in fully subsidized health insurance who never filed a claim. But despite these and other issues, Democrats voted numerous times to extend enhanced subsidies without a single reform.

We have a responsibility to taxpayers to be good stewards of their tax dollars and ensure that money goes toward its intended purpose. We need to have guardrails on federal programs to protect against nefarious schemes and bad actors and restore integrity to these programs. Republicans have made progress on that this past year, and our work continues.

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December 2025 wasn’t looking much like Christmas for the SDGOP. Or maybe it was.  Because as opposed to raising nothing, they managed to raise $7.01 in unitemized contributions.

SDGOP January 2026 FEC Report by Pat Powers

If you’re selling matches in the snow, I suppose $7 might look like a lot.  If you’re a former Obama supporter and 32-year Democrat like Jim Eschenbaum in charge of the State’s largest political party, you probably need to be replaced.

$7.01 raised. $4.53 in interest, and they again raided the State account. This time for $1497.63.  This is pretty in line with how the rest of their year has gone (I made a chart), where they raise nothing, and transfer money from the other account.

They spent $433 and have $35,953.37 left in the federal account at the end of 2025.

Election year 2026 doesn’t look to be starting off very good for the SDGOP.  (Maybe Eschenbaum should stay out of playing favorites in the primary, pay attention to the job he took on, and and start raising money?)

You know that State Representative Lana Greenfield was a long-time teacher. So she’s probably used to students being unhappy over their classroom seating assignments.

Today in House Education which Lana leads she got to experience that all over again. Before they heard a measure on unruly students in school, Representative Greenfield got to deal with District 5 (Watertown) State Representative Josephine Garcia who had a temper tantrum when she and Representative Phil Jensen received new seating assignments:

I’m wondering if the bill should be amended to deal with allowing legislators to receive instruction in alternative settings instead of students?

(Sorry for the quality, I zoomed in to try to catch Rep. Garcia’s tantrum in all it’s glory)

*Update* 

A legislator told me that  supposedly Garcia and Phil Jensen went to House leadership to complain about the seating arrangements.. and (allegedly) threatened that their caucus – I’m assuming the free-dumb caucus – would somehow not participate if they didn’t get their seat back.

What I’m told is that leadership actually informed them that if they didn’t follow the rules, sit where they’re assigned, and show up for committee they would be replaced.  So we’ll see how next week goes.

Rounds Issues Statement Following Senate’s Passage of Appropriations Package

Rounds secured $41.5 million in funding for projects in South Dakota

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued a statement following the Senate’s passage of a package of three appropriations bills for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The legislation, which included Interior, Environment and Related Agencies (Interior), Energy and Water Development (EWD) and Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS), passed the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

“I’m pleased that the Senate has passed our second appropriations package for FY2026,” said Rounds. “This appropriations package reduces the cost of running these agencies by $2 billion compared to what a continuing resolution with current funding levels would have been. Our ‘minibus’ appropriations package includes several wins for programs in South Dakota. I’m particularly glad to have secured funding for projects across the state, from rural water development to tribal construction projects to law enforcement security upgrades. It also funds programming at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, a world-class underground laboratory outside of Lead.

“We’ve now passed half of our required appropriations measures for FY2026. The work we do within the Senate Appropriations Committee is an example of what we can accomplish when we work together. The Senate continues to work our way through the regular order appropriations process, which we’ve returned to under the leadership of Majority Leader John Thune and Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to fund the rest of government ahead of January 30.”

Rounds has served on the Senate Committee on Appropriations since January 2025. He serves on six subcommittees, including Interior and EWD. Read a list of Rounds’ wins in the appropriations bills below:

Interior:

• Includes two of Rounds’ Congressionally Designated Spending (CDS) requests totaling $15.507 million:
  • $8.92 million for the Oglala Sioux Tribe Sanitation Facilities Construction Project
  • $6.587 million for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Sanitation Facilities Construction Project
• Includes robust funding requested by Rounds for several tribal programs:
  • $570 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Public Safety and Justice
  • $996 million for Indian Health Service’s Purchased and Referred Care Program
  • $87 million for Bureau of Indian Education’s Tribal Colleges and Universities
• Includes a provision to require a briefing on current timber harvest levels in the Black Hills National Forest
• Includes a provision to require a report on law enforcement staffing levels at Mount Rushmore National Memorial

EWD:

• Includes six of Rounds’ CDS requests, totaling $21 million:
  • $20.3 million for Water Investment in Northern South Dakota (WINS)
  • $50,000 for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)’s BIA Route 6 at Cherry Creek project
  • $50,000 for USACE’s Big Sioux Ecosystem Restoration and Cultural Resources project
  • $50,000 for USACE’s Little Bend and Counselor Creek Restoration and Resiliency project
  • $50,000 for USACE’s West Bend and Vicinity Restoration and Resiliency project
  • $500,000 for USACE’s Lower Big Sioux Watershed Comprehensive Study
• Includes robust funding requested by Rounds through the Department of Energy for projects and infrastructure at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) outside of Lead:
  • $260 million for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE)
  • $114 million for the Proton Improvement Project-II
  • $44 million for SURF operations and infrastructure upgrades
• Includes $17.53 million for the Mni Wiconi water project

CJS:

• Includes three of Rounds’ CDS requests, totaling $4.938 million:
  • $3.92 million for upgrades to security equipment and technology at the existing jail and jail expansion for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office
  • $675,000 for critical technology upgrades and training for an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program within the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office.
  • $343,000 for a project to monitor and forecast South Dakota air quality impacts from wildland fires at South Dakota State University
• Includes $250 million for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)

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Senate Committee Approves Three Bills sponsored by Attorney General Jackley

 PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley thanks the State Senate Judiciary Committee for passing three of his legislative bills during a hearing Thursday (today) at the State Capitol.

“I appreciate the good discussion with committee members on the three bills, and I look forward to continued discussion as the bills move through the legislative process,” said Attorney General Jackley.

Committee members approved:

• SB 41: Revise a provision related to criminal invasions of privacy, prohibit the creation and distribution of digitally fabricated material of an identifiable individual, and provide penalties therefor.
• SB 42: Enhance the penalties for ingestion, possession, possession with intent to deliver, and delivery of a controlled substance in a state correctional facility.
• SB 43: Address search and seizure provisions applicable to digital currency.

The bills now move to the full Senate floor for further consideration.

Three other Attorney General-sponsored bills will be heard by the State Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

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From Facebook:

Friday Court Hearing on Attorney General Jackley’s Injunction On Abortion Deceptive Advertising Postponed Over State’s Objection

PIERRE, S.D. – Friday’s scheduled court hearing on South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley’s motion to stop Mayday Health from deceptively advertising the sale of abortion pills and abortion services in South Dakota has been postponed at the request of Mayday Health.

The State objected to the postponement, arguing that the deceptive advertisements remain harmful to women and need to be immediately taken down.

The date and time of the rescheduled hearing has not yet been set.  The hearing will be held at the Hughes County Courthouse in Pierre.

For more information, contact Tony Mangan at 605-773-6878.

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Gov. Rhoden Casts Vision and Establishes Guardrails for Future Fund

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed Executive Order 2026-03, which establishes guardrails and casts a vision on how he intends to use the Future Fund during his administration.

“Let me be clear: I support economic growth. That growth should be bold enough to seize opportunity and wise enough to prepare for the future responsibly,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “This Executive Order is the responsible way to prepare for the future. Much of it is a direct reflection of how we do business today, and it’s a promise for how my administration will administer Future Funds going forward. This is a great step to keep South Dakota Open for Opportunity.”

The Employer’s Investment in South Dakota’s Future Fund, commonly called “the Future Fund,” was established by the Legislature in 1987.Over 1,600 projects have been supported by the Future Fund since then, including the Build Dakota Scholarship, the Sanford Underground Research Facility, support for the Ellsworth Air Force Base, hundreds of South Dakota’s most successful businesses, and, more recently, new business parks in Aberdeen and Watertown and Dakota BioWorx in Brookings.

Governor Rhoden is committed to the accountable administration of the Future Fund which include some of the following guard rails:

• Each Future Fund grant will be awarded on a reimbursement basis, requiring receipt of itemized invoice of expenditures and reasonable proof of payment prior to any disbursement of funds;
• The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) should require a matching commitment or in-kind consideration for the benefitted entity when feasible;
• Each agreement shall require a grant recipient to have a conflict of interest policy in place;
• Each grant must have a written, signed agreement prior to disbursement of funds;
• GOED shall ensure that all executed Future Fund agreements are posted on OpenSD in compliance with SDCL 1-27; and
• GOED shall provide a report to either the Joint Committee on Appropriations or the Interim Committee on Appropriations on a biannual basis about each Future Fund award.

“These guardrails ensure we continue investing in the right projects, at the right place, and at the right time,” said GOED Commissioner Bill Even. “Thanks to Governor Rhoden’s leadership, South Dakotans can have confidence that the Future Fund is being used both responsibly and transparently to promote the future growth of South Dakota.”

You can find more information about the Future Fund here.

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Thune: Regular Order, Bipartisan Results on Appropriations

“[M]y hope is that we’ll be able to build on the progress we’ve made this past year to get the appropriations process back to what it should be – an open process that every senator can participate in.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor: 

Click here to watch the video.

From Fox News, former SDGOP Executive Director Madison Sheahan has resigned from her current position as ICE Deputy Director to run for Congress in Ohio:

Madison Sheahan, the deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is resigning from her role to run for Congress in Ohio, multiple federal law enforcement sources told Fox News.

The announcement was made internally this morning, the sources added. Sheahan is running for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, currently represented by Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who assumed office in 1983 and is the longest serving woman in Congress. Kaptur was re-elected in November 2024, despite many of the counties in the district voting in favor of President Donald Trump that year.

“No Excuses. Let’s Get It Done,” read a message on Sheahan’s campaign website. “Former ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan is fighting to protect American jobs, American paychecks, and American values in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.”

Read the entire story here.