Weekly Round[s] Up: May 12-18, 2025
Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up. Here in the Senate, we continue working to confirm President Trump’s team. While the cabinet is almost entirely filled, there are around 1,300 positions in the executive branch that require Senate approval – think assistant secretaries, deputy secretaries and ambassadors. This means that personnel issues make up most of our votes around here, but it’s well worth it to get highly qualified folks in these positions to work on behalf of the American people. We even confirmed one nominee this week that’s from South Dakota: Dr. Troy Meink, nominee to serve as Secretary of the Air Force! More on this vote and the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I met with: The Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce; Kym Black, Senior Vice President at U.S. Bank; Brett Pharr, CEO of Pathward; Larry Deiter, Director of the South Dakota Division of Insurance; members of the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota; Boyd Gourneau, Chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe; and members of the South Dakota CPA Society.
South Dakota towns represented: Bruce, Dakota Dunes, De Smet, Freeman, Madison, Mitchell, Parker, Pierre, Rapid City, Scotland, Sioux Falls, Turton and Watertown.
Other meetings: Members of the American Bankers Association’s Card Policy Council; Darren Pleasance, President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; Nat Friedman, board member at the Arc Institute; and Tom Reid, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary at the Comcast Corporation.
I spoke at the Washington Center’s National Security Seminar this past week. I also attended our weekly Senate Bible Study, where our verse of the week was Isaiah 49:1, and our Senate Prayer Breakfast hosted by Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas.
Legislation introduced: I introduced the Bolstering Research and Innovation Now (BRAIN) Act, legislation to advance research for brain tumors and improve brain tumor treatment and care. Read more here.
In addition, I sent a letter to Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy asking them to update the process for funding tribal transportation projects. Read more about this and the full letter here.
Hearings: I attended six hearings this week: two hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and two closed hearings in the Select Committee on Intelligence. You can watch clips of the SASC hearings here and here. I attended a hearing in the Appropriations committee, where we heard from Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Watch that clip here.
In addition, I attended a hearing in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to introduce Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire, who testified before the committee. Watch my full introduction here.
Classified briefings: I attended one classified briefing as part of my work on SASC’s Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.
Votes taken: 19 - As usual, most of these votes were on nominees to executive positions. One confirmation from this past week that I’m particularly excited about is Dr. Troy Meink, who was confirmed to serve as Secretary of the Air Force. Dr. Meink is a native of Lemmon and graduated from South Dakota State University (go Jacks!). I’m pleased to have supported his nomination, and I know our country is safer with Dr. Meink serving in this role.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Brandon, Crooks, Garretson, Milbank, Rosebud, St. Francis, Salem, Watertown and White Owl.
Steps taken: 54,073 steps or 26.68 miles.
Video of the week: As I mentioned, I introduced Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire at a hearing in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs:
