Saving the People from Their Government
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)
When you sent me to Washington 4 1/2 years ago, I pledged to work on your behalf to get government out of the way and stop interfering with your everyday lives. I’ve always believed Americans flourish best in an environment that values personal freedoms and encourages innovation. For too long, the federal government has operated with a “Washington knows best” mentality.
When we discuss ways to reduce government interference, I often look to President Ronald Reagan, who set the gold standard for limited government. Through the “Reagan Revolution,” he sought to reduce Americans’ reliance on the federal government. We continue to embrace this ideal in the United States Senate.
We already have too much government. With more than 1 million federal regulations on the books and laws such as Dodd-Frank and Obamacare enacted over the past decade, part of our focus when introducing legislation is how we can limit government and eliminate burdensome regulations. For example, last year we passed S. 2155, an effort to reduce burdensome regulations on community banks and credit unions. I was proud to offer seven provisions to that package, which was the first major rollback of Dodd-Frank. I’ve also introduced the RESPECT Act which would eliminate a number of offensive, outdated statutes that are still part of current law related to Native Americans. There is no reason laws should still be on the books today allowing for the forced removal of Native American children from their homes to be sent to boarding schools or the federal government to withhold rations or money owed to Native Americans.
President Reagan often said that government is not the solution, government is the problem. We see evidence of this regularly in our office. In fact, a significant part of our job is to help South Dakotans having trouble dealing with a federal agency. Our state staff is trained to help people navigate the federal bureaucracy, often when they have nowhere else to turn. We’ve helped veterans receive long overdue medals, helped families who aren’t receiving social security and other benefits and helped people dealing with immigration issues, just to name a few.
My office has also a spent a significant amount of time urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to do its job and fulfill its legal obligation to make certain that veterans with private health insurance are covered by the VA if their outside insurance does not cover the full amount of non-VA emergency care. Despite its unanimous support and clear congressional intent, the VA has continued its previous policy of denying veterans’ eligible emergency room claims. Such instances of federal agencies failing to live up to their promises to the American people are unacceptable.
In South Dakota, we value our freedom. Freedom to choose our health care and our doctors. Freedom from high taxes that the government decides how to spend. Freedom to exercise our Second Amendment right to bear arms and protect our families. Our office continues to seek ways to get government out of the way so individuals can go about their lives freely and without worry of government intrusion. Visit my website, www.rounds.senate.gov, to contact any of my offices if you ever need assistance. In South Dakota we just don’t need more Washington over-regulation.
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