Senator Mike Rounds’ WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: March 10-16, 2025
By US Senator Mike Rounds

Welcome to the Weekly Round[s] Up! We’ve reached the end of a 10-week in-session work period. This is the longest continuous stretch that the Senate has been in session in over 15 years. During this time, we’ve confirmed 21 out of 22 of President Trump’s cabinet level nominees and kept the government open and funded. On Friday night, we passed a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown and keep it open until the end of this fiscal year. While I believe we should always aim to fund the government through regular order appropriations, a government shutdown would be detrimental for our country. This CR makes certain our troops and other essential personnel get their paychecks. More on this and the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakotans I met with: The Rapid City Youth City Council; South Dakota members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Tommy Ibrahim, President and CEO of Sanford Health Plan; the School Nutrition Association of South Dakota; South Dakota members of the Livestock Marketing Association; representatives from South Dakota Impact Aid schools; a group of small business owners from South Dakota; South Dakota members of the International Dairy Foods Association; South Dakota members of the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Elementary School Principals; Chairman J. Garret Renville and leaders of Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate; and Matt Brakke, New York Life insurance agent from Pierre.

South Dakota towns represented: Artesian, Belle Fourche, Beresford, Bonesteel, Box Elder, Bullhead, Chamberlain, Colman, Custer, Dupree, Estelline, Fairfax, Geddes, Harrisburg, Hurley, Huron, Kenel, Martin, Milbank, Mitchell, New Underwood, Pierre, Pine Ridge, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Sturgis, Timber Lake, Wall, Winner, Woonsocket and Yankton.

Other meetings: Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s Ambassador to the United States; Travis Hill, Acting Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, Commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command; David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs; Robert Dussey, Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mauro De Lorenzo, Executive Director of the Strategy and Policy Council in the Office of the President of Rwanda; Gen. Michael Langley, Commander of U.S. Africa Command; and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). I spoke at an event hosted by Punchbowl News on space policy, which you can watch here. I also attended our weekly Senate Bible Study, where our verse of the week was Psalm 111:10.

Hearings: I attended three hearings this week. We had one closed hearing in the Select Committee on Intelligence. We had one hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss the Military Health System, which you can watch a clip of here. We also had one hearing in the Banking Committee to discuss housing policy. Watch that clip here.

Classified briefings: I had one classified briefing as part of my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.

Votes taken: 25 – We confirmed one more cabinet level nominee this week: Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor. In addition, we voted to keep the government open and running through the end of the fiscal year.

As I mentioned earlier, I firmly believe continuing resolutions are no way to run our government funding. However, the alternative of a government shutdown – where troops and other essential personnel are not getting paid – is much worse. This CR goes until the end of September of this year, which coincides with the end of this fiscal year. I joined the Appropriations Committee this Congress precisely to prevent this process of kicking the can down the road with a series of CRs each fiscal year. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get the appropriations process done on time this year.

Legislation introduced: I introduced two bills that would strengthen Second Amendment rights for military families and full-time travelers. Both pieces of legislation, the Traveler’s Gun Rights Act and the Protect Our Military Families’ 2nd Amendment Rights Act, would amend sections of the Gun Control Act of 1968 to make exceptions for Americans with unique living situations. This includes spouses of service members and full-time travelers whose permanent residence is a private mailbox or post office box. Read more about both of these bills here.

In addition, I introduced legislation to extend the reporting deadline for Indian Health Service (IHS) patients who seek emergency care outside of IHS facilities. The IHS Emergency Claims Parity Act would extend the emergency notification requirements of IHS’s Purchased and Referred Care program from within 72 hours to 15 days. Read more here.

Medical debt resolution: I introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Medical Debt Rule. Finalized with only days left in the Biden administration, the rule would ban credit bureaus from including medical debt on credit reports. In turn, banks and credit unions have a less clear credit picture of who they’re lending money to, which could force them to limit access to capital. Read more about this here.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen and Fort Pierre.

Steps taken: 48,849 steps or 24.31 miles.

Video of the week: I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business this week:

Rounds Urges Ag Secretary to Clarify Disaster Assistance Eligibility for Producers

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to request the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) develop a transparent set of crop insurance requirements for disaster assistance programs. This request comes after ambiguous guidance in previous programs required producers to return a portion of disaster assistance payments.

In recent years, Congress has provided billions of dollars in supplemental appropriations to USDA to fund temporary or ad hoc programs for losses not always covered under permanent programs. Because ad hoc programs respond to different natural disasters, participating producers encounter different eligibility rules and payment structures. In Phase 2 of the Emergency Reserve Program (ERP), USDA required applicants to list “all eligible yield-based crops that could have been affected by a qualifying disaster event.” As a consequence, many producers initially believed only impacted acres had to be listed on the application, leading many producers to unintentionally list an incorrect acreage amount on their application. After USDA discovered some applicants mistakenly did not list a farm’s entire acreage, the agency caused confusion by requiring these producers to return portions of ERP 2 payments.

On December 20, 2024, Congress passed additional disaster assistance to compensate producers for natural disaster losses sustained in 2023 and 2024.

“As USDA prepares to allocate additional disaster assistance, it is my hope the agency will consider the lessons of ERP 2 when preparing for the next application cycle,” Rounds wrote. “This would entail providing farmers with a transparent set of crop insurance requirements. American farmers and ranchers are the backbone of this nation and consistently deal with a number of uncontrollable factors, including extreme weather and volatile markets. Improving disaster assistance program guidelines will provide an additional certainty for American producers.”

Read the full letter HERE or below.

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Dear Secretary Rollins,

Congratulations on your recent confirmation to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). I am looking forward to working with you on issues impacting South Dakota producers.

Since the founding of our nation, American producers have worked hard to help feed the world. While American farmers and ranchers continue to experience tremendous success, the agriculture sector will always face significant risk.

During the last two years, farmers across the United States have dealt with a multitude of natural disasters. This includes severe drought, flooding and derecho weather events. In response, Congress has rightfully stepped up to provide disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers. While producers are thankful for this needed disaster assistance, USDA’s ambiguous program guidance has created real problems for some farm families.

After Congress appropriated funding for Phase 2 of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP), USDA established an application process to determine producer eligibility. USDA required Phase 2 applicants to list “all eligible yield-based crops that could have been affected by a qualifying disaster event.” As a consequence, many producers initially believed only impacted acres had to be listed on the application.

These unclear administrative guidelines have created headaches for some producers. After USDA discovered some applicants mistakenly did not list a farm’s entire acreage, the agency required these producers to return ERP 2 payments. This requirement burdened producers that were already dealing with an uncertain farm economy.

As USDA prepares to allocate additional disaster assistance, it is my hope the agency will consider the lessons of ERP 2 when preparing for the next application cycle. This would entail providing farmers with a transparent set of crop insurance requirements.

American farmers and ranchers are the backbone of this nation. Our producers consistently deal with a number of uncontrollable factors, including extreme weather and volatile markets. Improving disaster assistance program guidelines will provide additional certainty for American producers.

I look forward to collaborating with you on this issue.

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Referring back to the SD News Watch article where the SDGOP’s New Chairman Jim Eschenbaum discussed his support for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012:

Eschenbaum voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought electing the first Black president would help address racial tensions. He was ready to vote Republican in 2012, upset with runaway spending following the Great Recession but was unimpressed with GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign and supported Obama again.

..I thought there were a couple of items worth pointing out.

Back when he was running for the chairmanship, in his letter to Central Committee members dated 1/4/25, Eschenbaum discussed how as part of his chairmanship, he noted his intent to create a conservative scorecard for telling Republicans how to vote:

7.  If the State Central Committee is on board with it, and approves it by vote, I would like to put together a committee to create a Conservative scorecard.

and..

A scorecard would inform Republican voters Statewide about who is aligning with, and protecting our Constitutional Rights and Freedoms, and who isn’t. There is no reason to keep electing politicians who don’t follow their oath and the platform. 

1/4/25 Eschenbaum Letter (you can read at link.)

But given Eschenbaum’s past support of President Obama, I also am reminded of what one pundit had to say about the 44th President:

Rush Limbaugh noted in 2015 of Eschenbaum’s guy “Barack Obama’s number one enemy is the Republican party and the Conservative movement.“

So, if Jim Eschenbaum thought so much of former President Barack Obama, who was noted as the #1 enemy of the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement, and Eschenbaum could not figure that out.. does he have the qualifications to cast judgement over who is and who is not protecting freedom as determined by the South Dakota Republican Party in South Dakota?

Just askin’

Interesting Dakota Scout article being pushed out this morning with regards to potential property tax relief being floated by Governor Larry Rhoden in the form of a new sales tax for counties:

Gov. Larry Rhoden is expected to make a recommendation to a task force convened by the state Legislature charged with coming up with further property tax relief initiatives in the coming days. And though the still-new governor isn’t yet sharing the details, he’s said it’s likely to entail creating a new source of funding for cash-strapped governments blamed for the recent escalation on homeowners’ tax bills. Chief among them — counties.

“There are a lot of different things we’re considering right now, but we want to present a bill that gives individual counties options,” Rhoden told members of the media during a recent news conference at the state Capitol.

Read the story here.

With a number of legislators who live or die on the “no new taxes”mantra, it will be interesting to see how the Governor intends to push this through.

Have you seen all the talk on Facebook about life-long Republican office holders and activists being called RINOs (a derisive term meaning Republican In Name Only) by the group that’s now in charge of the SD Republican Party?

Let’s not forget this from November, when the crazies demanded an ideological purge of the GOP..

Their efforts in trying to purge life-long Republicans might be because they wanted a new kind of Republican in there.

While the rest of us have been out trying to elect Republicans for the last 20, 30 years or more, we find out today that new SDGOP chair Jim Eschenbaum might not have been so much on board. Especially considering he explains how he was a 2~time Obama voter; In 2008 and again in 2012:

The state GOP’s executive director, Reggie Rhoden, announced he is leaving that administrative role. It could be filled by volunteers or with more involvement from county officials, said Eschenbaum…

and

Eschenbaum voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought electing the first Black president would help address racial tensions. He was ready to vote Republican in 2012, upset with runaway spending following the Great Recession but was unimpressed with GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign and supported Obama again.

It was Trump’s resonance in rural America, combined with the leftward drift of the national Democratic Party, that thrust Eschenbaum into the Republican ranks.

Read the entire story here.

The Democrat party drifted leftward since Obama? I tend to think it drifted leftward with Jim’s Eschenbaum’s guy.

For those who have been trying to cast those they deem as ideologically impure Republicans out of the Grand Old Party, I’d kindly suggest “you first.”

From Feb 2024, Governor Noem banned from reservations for saying that there was cartel activity on South Dakota reservations:

Gov. Kristi Noem is once again banned from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. https://t.co/Tmb57zQ0HL

— The Dakota Scout (@TheDakotaScout) February 3, 2024

A year later, it looks like she might’ve been right:

Former Gov. Noem took a lot of heat for calling this sort of thing out in early 2024. https://t.co/ErVh4Tkgfc

— Joe Sneve (@DakotaScoutJoe) March 19, 2025

Gov. Rhoden Offers Black Hills Land to President Trump for “National Garden of American Heroes

PIERRE, S.D. –  Today, Governor Larry Rhoden sent a letter to President Donald J. Trump proposing a location in the Black Hills in site of Mount Rushmore as a location for the “National Garden of American Heroes.” You can find the letter here.

“Five years ago, in an Independence Day speech at Mount Rushmore in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, you announced a ‘National Garden of American Heroes’ to honor the greatest men and women who helped make America exceptional,” wrote Governor Larry Rhoden. “I would like to offer those same Black Hills as the perfect location for this garden. In fact, we have a plot of land available in sight of Mount Rushmore that would be ideal for this fantastic effort.”

Chuck Lien and his family own a tract of land in site of Mount Rushmore, which they are willing to donate to the project. Former Governor Kristi Noem previously offered the Black Hills as a potential location for the garden back in 2020. You can find materials on the Lien family’s proposal, including Former Governor Noem’s letter, here. Additional resources, including mockups of the proposed Garden of Heroes at this location, are available upon request.

President Trump originally announced the Garden of American Heroes in his speech at the Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration on July 3, 2020. He subsequently signed an Executive Order in January 2021 establishing the Garden. He signed an Executive Order “Celebrating America’s 250^th Birthday” this past January, which included the revival of the Garden.

“The Black Hills mark the perfect location to achieve your vision for the National Garden of American Heroes,” continued Governor Larry Rhoden. “Together, we will make this project happen in a way that honors America’s heroes, takes advantage of South Dakota’s natural beauty, and incorporates the most iconic monument to our greatest leaders: Mount Rushmore National Memorial.”

George Washington, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harriet Tubman, Babe Ruth, and other notable Americans from all walks of life will be among those honored in the National Garden of American Heroes.

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From Twitter:

Good. Stop the insanity!!!!

EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rep Unveils Bill To Prevent Federal Dollars From Subsidizing Sex Change Surgerieshttps://t.co/DLWOwp1NkP

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 18, 2025

Johnson Bill Prohibits 340B Health Care Facilities Savings for Transgender Surgeries 

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced the No 340B Savings for Transgender Care Act to prohibit covered entities in the 340B drug program from using their savings to offer free or discounted procedures such as transgender surgeries or hormone replacement therapy.

“Transgender surgeries do not qualify as essential, life-saving health care,” said Johnson. “Low-income families and rural communities rely on programs like 340B for their health care. Ensuring these dollars are spent where they are needed the most will keep the program sustainable and as effective as possible to help those in need.”

“The 340B program was created to help safety net providers deliver vital healthcare services to America’s most vulnerable communities,” said Riley Gaines, an outspoken advocate on transgender males competing in women’s sports. “But this crucial program has been hijacked to fund and promote dangerous and elective procedures disguised as ‘gender-affirming care’ – including chemical and surgical castration. This blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars diverts resources away from the program’s true mission: addressing urgent health needs and fighting real public health crises. The No 340B Savings for Transgender Care Act is a necessary step to protect the integrity of this program and ensure federal funds go where they’re truly needed. I applaud Congressman Johnson for his courageous leadership in standing up for the most vulnerable and giving a voice to those who have none.”

The No 340B Savings for Transgender Care Act would:

• Prohibit 340B entities from using savings derived from participation in the 340B program for transgender services.
  • This includes sex reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments for the purpose of gender alteration of a transgender individual.

The No 340B Savings for Transgender Care Act is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Austin Scott (R-GA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Michael Rulli (R-OH), Mike Ezell (R-MS), Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Barry Moore (R-AL), and John Rose (R-TN).

Read full bill text here.

Background on 340B:

Congress created the 340B program to help safety-net providers spread scarce federal resources. Drug manufacturers provide outpatient drugs at discounted prices. This in turn allows covered entities to utilize the savings from what they would have spent on full-priced medicines to provide more services for their communities. The 340B drug program is a crucial component to serving the needs of patients in rural America.

However, some entities are abusing this by using their participation in this federal program to push their gender ideology. For example, Howard Brown Health – a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Chicago, IL – publicized that they utilize their 340B status to fund services like, “hormone therapy, group therapy, and gender-affirming surgical navigation.”

Riley Gaines is a graduate from the University of Kentucky where she was a 12x NCAA All-American swimmer. In 2022, Riley competed against a trans-identifying male swimmer, Lia Thomas, at the NCAA championships. Since directly experiencing the injustice of allowing men in women’s sports and women’s locker rooms, Riley has been outspoken on why this issue is blatantly unfair and harmful to females.

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Gov. Rhoden Signs Agriculture Bills on National Agriculture Day

PIERRE, S.D. –  Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed six agriculture bills in honor of National Agriculture Day.

“Ag is King in South Dakota, and as a lifelong West River Rancher, I am deeply committed to ensuring that it thrives,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “These bills are an important show of support for the farmers, rancher, and producers who work hard to feed our communities. As long as I am Governor, I will keep South Dakota ag Open for Opportunity!”

Governor Rhoden signed the following six bills into law:

• SB 14 revises and repeals provisions related to agricultural production facilities and provides a penalty therefor;
• SB 120 updates the membership of the Animal Industry Board to include a poultry producer;
• HB 1021 modifies the annual fee for concentrated animal feeding operations and establishes an application fee;
• HB 1083 modifies the requirements for obtaining an agricultural processor’s lien;
• HB 1116 repeals a reporting requirement regarding industrial hemp; and
• HB 1143 requires that the director of equalization adjust certain agricultural land values.

Governor Rhoden has signed 142 bills and VETOED one this legislative session.

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