Weekly Round[s] Up: February 2-8, 2026

Welcome back to another Weekly Round[s] Up. This week, my DC office was especially full with South Dakotans who are in DC for meetings! It was good to see so many friendly and familiar faces in the office. One highlight from this week was hearing that President Trump called South Dakota native, Royce Williams to inform him that he will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Cold War. Another exciting part of my week was joining members of Congress for the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast hosted on Capitol Hill. More on this and the rest of my week in the Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I visited with: Dakota Mainstem Regional Water System; Troy Wellman, Moody County Sheriff and Andy Howe, Clay County Sheriff; Associated School Boards of South Dakota; South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems; Paul TenHaken, Mayor of Sioux Falls who was in town representing the MENTOR program; National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance; American Indian Higher Education Consortium; and South Dakota representatives from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.

Met with South Dakotans from: Aberdeen, Arlington, Beresford, Britton, Brookings, Bruce, Chancellor, De Smet, Egan, Flandreau, Howard, Huron, Kyle, Lake Andes, Madison, Miller, Mission, Mobridge, Murdo, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Tea, Vermillion, Viborg, Volga, Waverly, White Lake and Woonsocket.

Other meetings: Christian Klein, CEO of SAP America, Inc.; Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Finland’s Ambassador to the United States; Charles Murigande, Senator from Rwanda; Congolese Delegation; Ethiopian Leadership; Jonathan Gould, Comptroller of the Currency; Oana Toiu, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Bete Demeke, President and CEO of Project Mercy.

I also had the opportunity to speak at Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) Intersect Summit with Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture. We talked about artificial intelligence (AI) and its key role in advancing healthcare and shaping our future.

Hearings: I attended four hearings this past week. I gave remarks at Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing, where two of my bills to address issues within the Indian Health Service were heard, which you can watch here. I also questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. You can watch that clip here. I attended a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing where I questioned Admiral (ret.) Charles A. Richard, USN; the Honorable Rose E. Gottemoeller; and Mr. Timothy A. Morrison. Click here to watch. Lastly, I went to a closed hearing in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Briefings: I received two classified briefings.

Senate Prayer Breakfast: This week was a unique prayer breakfast. On Thursday, we held the 74th National Prayer Breakfast. This is an annual event that is an opportunity for Members of Congress and people of all faiths to pray collectively for our nation. It’s always a powerful event that brings people together with a shared purpose.

Votes Taken: 12 - This week I voted on many federal judges including: Brian Charles Lea, of Tennessee, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee; Justin R. Olson, of Indiana, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana; Aaron Christian Peterson, of Alaska, to be United States District Judge for the District of Alaska; Megan Blair Benton, of Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri; David Clay Fowlkes, of Arkansas, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas; and Nicholas Jon Ganjei, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas.

Steps taken: 58,748 steps or 27.79 miles.

Video of the Week: Click here to learn more about Royce Williams being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.