Weekly Round[s] Up: February 23 – March 1, 2026

Welcome back to the Weekly Round[s] Up. This past week, I attended President Trump’s State of the Union address. The president gave a great message to the American people. I look forward to working with him and my Senate colleagues to continue providing Americans with real results. Our nation is safer, our economy is stronger and our military is the most powerful in the world. We will continue to build on these successes for an even brighter future for America.

In addition, this past weekend, President Trump took decisive action in Iran following weeks of unproductive conversations surrounding their nuclear program, as well as their short and mid-range ballistic missiles. President Trump has taken the right course of action in beginning to eliminate the Iranian regime’s defensive and offensive capabilities. We should be thankful for our men and women in uniform and their ability to project power that keeps our borders safe. We will do everything we can to make sure they are the best led, the best trained and the best equipped fighting force on earth. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers, especially the families of the brave soldiers who have lost their lives in this operation. More on this and the rest of my week in the Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I visited with: Leaders from Heartland Energy; South Dakotans from Northern Plains Joint Venture Partnership; Marty Pennock, Adjutant DAV Department of South Dakota / Disabled American Veterans; South Dakota State Medical Association; South Dakota State University’s National Institutes for Water Resources and Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching; Michael and Wanda Irwin with M&W Towing; South Dakotans with the Wounded Warrior Project; South Dakota members of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; the South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol; and South Dakota Grasslands Initiative.

Met with South Dakotans from: Madison, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Wentworth, and Winner.

Other meetings: Sahrawi Negotiating Team; Mike Gitlin, CEO of Capital Group; Blake Lawit, Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer at LinkedIn; Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair of Supervision of the Federal Reserve; Doug Worman, CEO of CAN Financial Corporation; Robin Vince, CEO of BNY; and Bruce Van Saun, CEO of Citizens Bank.

Hearings: On Thursday I went to a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, you can watch that here. I also attended a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing which you can watch here.

Briefings: I attended two classified briefings: one with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the other with the Strategic Forces subcommittee.

Votes taken: 5 - This week I voted yea on five items including Ryan McCormack, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy and John DeLeeuw, of Texas, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board for the remainder of the term. As well as the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill which failed.

My Staff in South Dakota visited: Onida and Platte.

Steps taken: 60,785 steps of 28.38 miles.

Video of the Week: On Sunday afternoon I went on Fox News to discuss the strikes in Iran over the weekend. Click here to watch.