Weekly Round[s] Up: Jun 15-22, 2026
Another week in DC means another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up! This past week, my schedule was packed with meetings with people from all over South Dakota. I enjoyed visiting with many middle school and high school students this past week who were on school trips to see our nation's capital. We also took procedural votes to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. This bicameral, bipartisan housing reform bill includes four of my provisions to modernize rural housing programs and cut red tape.
As usual, I was back in South Dakota over the weekend where I attended a couple of events in Deadwood and Aberdeen. I had a great time visiting with members from the Livestock Marketing Association in Deadwood and veterans at the South Dakota American Legion’s 107th Annual State Convention held in Aberdeen. On Sunday, I spent time with my family celebrating Father’s Day. Being a dad is the single greatest job in the world, and I am blessed to be a dad of 4 and grandfather of 11. More on this past week in the Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I visited with: South Dakotans with the American Academy of Family Physicians; Liz Olive, CEO of Vista Care South Dakota; 40 students on the South Dakota Rural Electric Association Youth Tour; South Dakota REALTORS; and President Barry Dunn of South Dakota State University (go Jacks!).
I was also able to visit with a bunch of South Dakota students who were in DC for a school trip, including: Deuel Middle School, Webster High School and students from all across the state here for National History Day.
In addition, on Friday, I attended the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) Annual Convention in Deadwood. This was a great opportunity to speak with LMA leaders from across the state and country. On Saturday, I traveled to Aberdeen to attend the South Dakota American Legion 107th Annual State Convention. It was good to visit and thank our veterans for their service and incredible sacrifice for our country.
Met with South Dakotans from: Aberdeen, Brookings, Clear Lake, Deadwood, Hot Springs, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Vermillion, Watertown, Webster and Wentworth.
Other Meetings: Jay Clayton, Nominee for Director of National Intelligence; Lt. Gen. Douglas Scheiss, Nominee to be Chief of Space Operations for U.S. Space Force; John Doyle, CEO of Marsh; Erich Hernandez-Baquero, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Space Acquisition and Investment) nominee; Dr. Pradeep Khosla and Dr. Alexander Khalessi; Mark Cruz, Nominee for Director of Indian Health Service; Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo; Ken Gleuck, Oracle's EVP of Global Government Affairs; Jay Hurst, Nominee to be Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller); Shane Smith, CEO of Smithfield Foods; Jeff Ledbetter, Nominee for Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Sarah Heck, Head of Policy for Anthropic; and Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ.
On Tuesday, I attended our weekly Senate Bible study, this time hosted by Senator Daines from Montana. And on Wednesday, I spoke at the USA Artificial Intelligence Summit.
Briefings: I received one Senate Select Committee on Intelligence briefing and another classified briefing as part of my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Votes taken: I took 10 votes this past week, including: Justin D. Smith, of Missouri, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit; Michelle Steel, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Korea; and George Holding, of North Carolina, to be United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
As mentioned above, I voted in favor of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. I also voted Nay on a resolution to remove US Armed Forces from Iran, a resolution requesting information on Honduras’s human rights practices, and I voted against a resolution preserving Biden-Harris Immigration Court Backlogs CRA. Click here to read in more detail about these votes.
Steps taken: 61,241 steps or 28.68 miles.
My Staff in South Dakota Visited: Aberdeen, Corsica, Deadwood, Mitchell, Mobridge, Newell and Rapid City.
Video of the week: On Wednesday, I joined Blake Troli from KOTA to discuss the US-Iran peace deal and the National Defense Authorization Act. Click here to watch the full interview.