Weekly Round[s] Up: October 5 - 19, 2025

Welcome back to another Weekly Round[s] Up. We have officially passed two weeks of being in a government shutdown. Democrats have now had 10 opportunities to reopen government but are refusing to do the right thing for the American people. The shutdown is having real, damaging effects on many Americans. Federal workers, including full-time uniformed members of the National Guard have missed a paycheck, food assistance is in jeopardy, some seniors are left without access to telehealth and air travel is growing more chaotic by the day.

On a positive note, the National Defense Authorization Act passed the Senate during the government shutdown. While we still have to conference it with the House version of the NDAA, the Senate version contains many wins for South Dakota. I’m particularly pleased that this version includes my legislation to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land and businesses located near sensitive military sites. The NDAA is a great example of bipartisan work in the Senate. As we remain in a government shutdown, I hope my Democrat colleagues decide to work with us to open the government up. After that happens, we can continue to work through the pressing issues that are facing the American people.

More on the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I visited with: Merchant Payments Coalition; Kory and Ali Anderson with Dakota Foundry; Kelsey Lovseth, NEA Director for South Dakota, Stephanie Hageman, President of South Dakota Education Association; and the South Dakota Newsmedia Association, Flandreau Sioux Tribe, and Student Media Organizations students from Black Hills State University.

Met with South Dakotans from: Brookings, North Sioux City, Vermillion, Watertown, Webster, and Wessington Springs.

Other meetings: CIA General Counsel nominee, Joshua Simmons; Bill Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; Inspector General Michael Horowitz with the Federal Reserve Board, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Oleksandra Ustinova, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Anton Henov, F-16 Pilot, Head of the Ukrainian F-16 Program; Postmaster General David Steiner; Leadership with GeoExchange; General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Department of the Air Force's 24th Chief of Staff nominee; Major General Pirak; Javier Perez-Tasso, CEO of SWIFT; Paul Coussan with the National Parks Foundation; and Marissa Marshall from the Badlands National Park Conservancy.

Hearings: I attended 4 hearings last week including an Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing, two Senate Armed Services Committee hearings, and an Open Nomination hearing for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. During the open nomination hearing, I was able to give opening remarks for Peter Metzger, who I used to work with on the Select Committee on Intelligence. I know he will do great in this new role once confirmed. Watch a clip from the hearing here.

Briefings: Last week, I attended two briefings, one with the Senate Armed Services Committee as well as a closed Senate Select Committee on Intelligence briefing.

Senate Bible Study: I attended our Senate Bible Study, where the verse of the week was Luke 3:8 which speaks of repentance. I also attended our weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast with our speaker, former Senator Don Nickles from Oklahoma.

Votes taken: 32 - I voted again (several times) for the clean Continuing Resolution to extend government funding through November 21. As I’ve said, we need to open government back up. I also voted twenty times on different amendments to the NDAA, ending with the official vote to pass the FY2026 NDAA. I voted for Harold D. Mooty III, of Alabama, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Brookings, Lennox, Mobridge, and Vermillion.

Steps taken: 60,775 steps or 28.93 miles in week one, 45,472 steps or 21.36 miles in week two.

Video of the Week: Last week I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business, watch the interview by clicking below.