Weekly Round[s] Up: June 1-14, 2026

We have a lot to cover since our last Weekly Round[s] Up! First up, the big news out of DC: Congress passed the Secure America Act, which funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three years. This took place over a 20-hour vote-a-rama in which we spent all day Thursday and well into the night voting on different amendments until the full reconciliation bill was passed at about 5:00 on Friday morning.

In addition to passing this legislation, I was in a classified setting for about 10 hours working on the full Senate Armed Services Committee version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, for Fiscal Year 2027. This is the 12th NDAA I have had the opportunity to work on as a member of the Armed Services committee. It’s an honor to work on this legislation and deliver real wins for service members across the country. This year’s committee-passed NDAA includes authorizations for $43.7 million for construction projects for the South Dakota National Guard and $3.23 billion for the B-21 Raider procurement. Click here to read more about this year’s NDAA.

More on this past week in the Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I visited with: South Dakota Cattlemen's Association; Lisa Jennings and Dawn Marie Johnson with the Sioux Falls School District; South Dakota Health Care Association; Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz from the Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota; South Dakotans with the National Association of Home Builders; Bridgewater Emery Future Farmers of America (FFA); and representatives from SoDak Diesel & Performance LLC.

Met with South Dakotans from: Box Elder, Bridgewater, Centerville, Estelline, Marion, North Sioux City, Piedmont, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Watertown.

Other Meetings: Troy Meink, Secretary, U.S. Air Force (Troy is from Lemmon South Dakota); Charlie Cooke, Founder, The Cook Political Report; Roger Mason, nominee to be Director of the National Reconnaissance Office; Karl Elmshaeuser, Administrator, USDA Rural Utilities Service; Matt O'Malley, nominee to be Deputy Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment; Skyler Onken, Co-Founder of Twenty; and leadership from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

Last Tuesday, I attended Senate Bible Study hosted by Senator Daines.

NDAA markup: As I mentioned, this past week we completed the markup for this year’s NDAA. This included markups within each subcommittee (which for me included the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Subcommittee on Emerging Threat and Capabilities the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, which I chair) and the full SASC markup. The bill is now on its way to the full Senate for consideration. Click here to read my press release detailing this year’s NDAA.

Briefings: I attended one Senate Select Committee on Intelligence briefing.

Hearings: This past week, I attended a hearing in the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee titled “AI and the American Dream: Promoting Innovation, Affordability, and American Dominance.” Click here to watch my full line of questions.

Votes taken: In the past two weeks, I voted 37 times.

As I mentioned, one notable item the Senate voted on was the Secure America Act, which has officially passed Congress. On Thursday last week, the Senate participated in a vote-a-rama starting at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday and finishing up around 5:00 a.m. on Friday. During this time, the Senate voted throughout the night and ultimately passed the Reconciliation bill which funds ICE and CBP for the remainder of the Trump Administration.

We held multiple votes on President Trump’s nominations, including Justin Smith, Brock Dahl, Anthony Powell and Anthony Mattivi. Click here to read in more detail about these votes.

Steps taken: 62,827 steps or 29.42 miles in week one and 58,239 steps or 27.64 miles in week two.

My Staff in South Dakota Visited: Box Elder, Deadwood, Houghton, Milbank, Mitchell, Sisseton, Spearfish and Watertown.

Video of the week: Early Thursday morning I joined CNBC’s Squawk Box with Joe Kernan and Kelly Evans. Click here to watch the full interview.