In December, the Democrats’ effort to ram their reckless tax-and-spending spree through Congress during the holiday season was fortunately derailed. Halting their radical, partisan spending package, hopefully permanently, would prevent raising taxes on middle-income families, giving some of the wealthiest individuals in our country a massive tax break, and prioritizing Green New Deal-style policies – just to name a few. It would be a huge win for South Dakota families, farmers and ranchers, and small businesses. I’m confident that as folks continue to learn more about the many egregious and heavy-handed policies that define this bill, Americans will reject it. Rest assured, I’m doing everything in my power to make sure the Democrats’ radical bill will never see the light of day.

As a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, advocating for meaningful policies that will directly benefit South Dakota farmers and ranchers is a top priority for me. Sometimes helping our agriculture community means stopping bad policies from going into effect. This year, Republicans were able to stop the Democrats’ proposed double death tax, which would have hit generationally owned enterprises hard, particularly in rural communities, and could force families to sell off part of the farm or business just to pay the new tax. This is profoundly unfair to hardworking farmers and ranchers, and it should go without saying that the government should not be in the business of shuttering family farms and businesses. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have fought against the death tax – in any form – for many, many years, and I will continue to do everything I can to protect our nation’s agriculture producers.

As the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the current top Republican on the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, I have long worked to expand access to rural broadband and make South Dakota a leader to which the rest of the country can look. It is crucial that rural communities across South Dakota have access to fast and reliable broadband services, and I continue to use my committee seniority to fight for predictable and efficient support for broadband providers to help enable the continued deployment of these services throughout our communities.

Last year, Senate Republicans used the Congressional Review Act, a legislative tool that allows Congress to weigh in on rules and regulations issued by federal agencies, to push back against the Biden administration’s federal vaccine mandate. To be clear, the federal government has no business implementing sweeping mandates like this one, and I’m glad a bipartisan majority of the Senate agreed. I continue to hear from South Dakotans in every corner of the state about the devastating impact this mandate would have on an already stretched and strapped workforce. Getting vaccinated is a personal choice, and Washington bureaucrats need to stay out of it.

Even if the resolution to block the vaccine mandate passes the House, President Biden is still expected to veto it and continue with his heavy-handed, government-knows-best strategy. Fortunately, the Supreme Court is expected to eventually decide the matter. 

The Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act in December, which authorizes critical funding to continue essential preparation for the B-21 mission at Ellsworth Air Force Base. I am incredibly proud that South Dakota and Ellsworth were chosen to serve as the first operating base for the B-21, and I am committed to ensuring that it has everything it needs to continue serving as one of our nation’s essential military assets for decades to come. 

These are just a few examples of the work we’ve done in the last year. As always, fighting for South Dakota is my number-one priority. I’m focused on the same principles and priorities that have always guided me: working hard, fighting for what matters, and listening to my top advisers – you, the people of South Dakota. It’s a privilege to give our state a seat at the leadership table in Washington and make sure the voices of South Dakotans are being heard. It is an honor of a lifetime to serve you in the U.S. Senate, and I look forward to delivering more wins for the great state of South Dakota in the new year.

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As my third year in Congress comes to a close, I have been reflecting on all that has happened in the short span of a year. I started off the year being sworn in for my second term as South Dakota’s lone representative and was appointed to two committees—the Agriculture Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. These two committees are critical for the progress of South Dakota and played a vital role for our country as we have dealt with the impacts of a global pandemic, issues with the supply chain, and inflation.

Since January 3^rd, 2021, Congress has been nothing short of eventful. Just days in, we witnessed an attack on the Capitol Building.  This shifted the tone in Washington and created an even more difficult environment. I’ve spent the year identifying solutions to real problems facing our nation and building coalitions to support solid policies, even in a hyper-partisan atmosphere. I believe this attitude has allowed me to get bills across the finish line that would’ve been stalled otherwise.

In August, I was proud to be named the most transparent and accountable Republican Member of Congress by the Congressional Management Foundation, as well as the most effective on agriculture policy. 

My main priority as your representative is South Dakota. I’ve taken several hundred meetings with South Dakotans while in Washington. In the last year, I’ve toured hundreds of local businesses, hosted dozens of townhalls, and met with hundreds of community leaders throughout our great state. A byproduct of long days and meetings with local business owners and officials are more than twenty pieces of legislation that I introduced, four of which have been passed by the House and are awaiting action in the Senate.

South Dakota experienced a lot of supply chain issues this year, as did most of the world. From backlogged ports to a shortage of truck drivers, high demand and low supply, prices skyrocketed and empty space on store shelves were a common sight. I’ve been working to combat the delays and price hikes with the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, the biggest overhaul of federal maritime policy since 1998, which would ease backlogs at ports in America. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act passed the House in December and is on track to be passed by the Senate in the new year. This legislation puts South Dakota consumers, small businesses, farmers, ranchers, and American manufacturers first and addresses anti-competitive and unfair practices on behalf of foreign flagged ocean carriers.

Additionally, supply chain issues have caused problems for many meat packers and butchers in South Dakota. This is why I introduced the Butcher Block Act, which would rebalance the cattle market by easing regulatory barriers and offering USDA-backed meat processing grants for small processors looking to expand or add shackle space.

While things started to get back to normal over the summer and the nation experienced job openings that remain unfilled despite high unemployment rates, I introduced the Get Americans Back to Work Act. This legislation would remove the additional federal unemployment benefit, incentivizing those who are unemployed to get back to work, benefiting local and national economies.

I’m tremendously proud of the work South Dakota’s congressional office has accomplished this year, and I hope you are, too. I look forward to seeing how we can continue to serve you in 2022.

The Argus has a story this morning which has huge implications for people who will be running for state legislative office.

The Minnehaha County Auditor has announced that they won’t have accurate voter lists for the new legislative districts until February 28th – nearly 2 months later!

The changes include the addition of one legislative district encompassing the northwestern part of Sioux Falls for a total of nine districts in Minnehaha County and new boundaries for each of those districts, said county auditor Ben Kyte at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

“If you were a smaller county you would go into your database and change each one of those,” said Kyte. “That’s not practical for 60,000 voter changes.”

and..

Kyte pointed out the boundary changes create challenges for individuals looking for an updated registration list. Individuals interested in running for office and are seeking a voter registration list at the beginning of January won’t be able to get an updated list until after February.

Read it all here.

Ugh. What a mess. This seems an awful lot like all the times we’ve read about the Minnehaha County Auditor being unable to count the votes on election night anymore.

Now practically on the eve of it happening, they’re announcing that candidates who start running for office on Saturday won’t have voter lists available until the end of February?

Maybe this would have been good to talk about before the week where petitioning begins? Amazing.

What are the implications? First and foremost, This means that candidates could turn in petitions with errors, potentially causing issues with the validity of their petitions.

Luckily, petitions can be turned in to the Secretary of State until 5:00 p.m. on March 29, 2022, and candidates are able to turn in additional signatures up until that point. But it will cause headaches for everyone, especially it will be 2 months until they can be sure their petitions are accurate & sufficient.

What’s my advice for candidates running for the State Legislature?  (At least on the GOP side)

• Whatever your count is for the numbers needed to run for office in your district – at least double it. Obtain 100-125 signatures. You should be doing far more than the minimum anyway.
• Know your district’s new map by the precincts, not by the overall district map. The questionable areas that they’re going to be fiddling around with are split precincts. You can always collect your signatures in precincts that aren’t split.
• You MUST check your signatures on your petitions when the lists are finally available. Make copies before you send them in, so you can double check.
• You can turn in more names until the deadline. At least at the point when they do get lists available, you’ll have a month to fix any errors and add signatures.
• Don’t sweat it. Errors happen, and problems arise. Just be ready to respond.
• FOLLOW THE RULES.
• And for gosh’s sake, if you are sending in anything during the last two weeks before March 29th, SEND IT REGISTERED MAIL no matter what the well intentioned clerk at HyVee mail desk or the post office tells you. Certified mail doesn’t cut it.

Any questions?

COVID numbers are up by single digits in the latest update from Sanford Health:

Compared to last week’s numbers, they’ve inched up by a few, but the percentages of mainly unvaccinated people being hospitalized continue to hold true.

From the Associated School Boards website comes praise for Governor Noem’s teacher pay increase proposal:

Schools received a nearly unprecedented state aid increase proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem for the 2022-23 school year.

At Gov. Noem’s budget address this month she proposed a 6 percent increase in state aid for the 2022-23 school year. The 6 percent increase brings $41 million in new, ongoing funding to state aid.

and..

“We’re incredibly thankful to Gov. Noem for the proposed increase,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said.

“It’s a much needed increase as schools are trying to keep in teacher pay with regional states, attract classified staff members and face increasing costs with high inflation.”

Read the entire article here.

A red wave across this country portends to wash out Democrats in Congress after dismal polling results for President Biden:

“I’ve been telling Democrats, especially Democrats in targeted seats, enjoy the holidays, and you got a decision to make: retire or lose next fall,” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Hill.

Emmer cautioned that a GOP House majority is not guaranteed, though he asserted that as many as 70 Democrats could lose their seats in a possible wave, warning “in this environment, no Democrat is safe.”

and..

That confluence of factors is leading Democrats to privately — and in some cases publicly — concede that their grip on the House is tenuous.

“The environment is particularly dour, both because of rising prices, economic anxiety, frustration about feeling stagnant when it comes to COVID, that it is not behind us despite the fact that we’ve been living with it for two years,” Democratic pollster Molly Murphy said. “If this environment holds, it’s going to be pretty damning.”

Read the entire article here.

Today, Rachel Dix of Aberdeen filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office to form a campaign committee to run for the State Senate in District 3:

This sets up a potential primary for the State Senate seat currently held by former majority whip and current Senator Al Novstrup, who has represented Aberdeen in the State House or the State Senate since 2003.

In a quick review of records, I don’t note that Senator Novstrup has ever faced a primary election in any of his races for the State Legislature.

Novstrup’s latest term of office in the Senate has had him either unopposed, or facing (now Nebraska resident) Cory Heidelberger, whom he defeated by a minimum of 1500 votes in each of their two head-to-head battles. 

pic.twitter.com/OeMtBUZtwl

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) December 27, 2021

and..

After a year, we finally agree @potus. The federal government isn’t the solution. That’s why from the start, SD took a different approach by trusting our citizens to be responsible and make the right decisions for themselves & their families. Now rescind all the federal mandates.

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) December 28, 2021

From the Argus Leader this morning comes some light humor from Democrats on their hunt for a standard bearer to take on Governor Kristi Noem:

Noem this fall formally announced her candidacy in the November election. And while the 50-year-old Republican doesn’t yet have a declared Democratic challenger, state party officials say an announcement is near.

Read it here.

Ten months ago, and again more recently, SDDP Chair Randy Seiler was talking about being ‘optimistic’ about the future, and was talking about having candidates for US Senate, Governor, and Congress.

Fast forward, and they have a life-long Indy as their US Senate Candidate who talks about making states raise taxes, no candidate for Governor on the horizon, and they’ve outsourced their search for a Congressional candidate.

Try not to hold your breath waiting for those promised candidates. They’ve been saying the same thing for nearly a year now, and not surprisingly, have yet to produce.