Weekly Round[s] Up: September 21 – October 4, 2026

Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up. Over the past couple of weeks, I have spent time bouncing between meetings, votes, events and briefings in my office and around Capitol Hill. The United States Postal Service Inspector General recently released the report I requested evaluating the quality of mail service in South Dakota. The report confirms what we’ve been hearing: mail service in South Dakota is terrible. I am grateful to the thousands of South Dakotans who sent in their concerns and experiences and helped contribute to this report. We will continue to be persistent and stay on the Postal Service to implement changes as soon as possible. Click here to read my full statement. In other news, the Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act, 77-22. This bipartisan legislation establishes clear, national rules for college athletics while protecting opportunities for student athletes. More recently, the Senate considered the Stop Insider Trading Act, which I supported. Due to lack of support from our Democrat colleagues, this legislation failed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass. The legislation would prohibit Members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks from publicly traded companies. Members of Congress should not be able to personally profit from stock trades while making decisions that can directly impact those companies. I believe Congress should hold itself to a higher standard. I will continue to support efforts to ban congressional stock trading of individual stocks. Additionally this past week, we voted on the Ratepayer Protection Act which protects families and small businesses from paying higher electric bills due to data center construction in their communities. The key to this bill is preserving state and local control. Data centers should only be built if their companies pay their own way and provide the power they consume. Continue reading on for more from my past two weeks in the Weekly Round[s] Up: South Dakota Groups I Visited With in DC: Impact Schools of South Dakota; Austin O’Brien of Madison with Computing Research Association; Dr. Jami Jo Thompson, Superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools; Gold Star Families from South Dakota; Brian and Danielle from Pete Lien & Sons with the National Lime Association; South Dakotans with the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition; South Dakotans with Doctors for America FDA Task Force; Basin Electric Power Cooperative and the South Dakota Cooperatives; South Dakota Members of the Associated General Contractors of America; American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons from South Dakota; Coleen Globke Brasch, my Angels in Adoption honoree; James Dover, CEO, Avera; Travis Entenman, Executive Director, Northern Prairies Land Trust; South Dakotans with Head Start; and Becky Haenfler, South Dakota State Teacher of the Year. I also attended the Cyber, Space & Intelligence Association Meeting, where I introduced Chancellor José-Marie Griffiths and President John R. Ballard of Dakota State University in Madison. South Dakota Groups I Visited With in SD: In Pierre, I spoke to the Leadership South Dakota Class of 2027 for an update on what I am working on in DC and then answered questions. It’s good to see so many South Dakotans participating in this program. I also spoke with a group of students from Rapid City Central High School and attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Tech 4M expo, where I participated in a roundtable and fireside chat. Visited with South Dakotans From: Bonesteel, Box Elder, Bullhead, Chamberlain, Colman, Custer, Dupree, Geddes, Kenel, Lake Andes, Madison, Martin, McIntosh, Mount Vernon, Oelrichs, Parker, Pierre, Rapid City, Renner, Sioux Falls, Timber Lake, Wall and Winner. Other Meetings: Marc Casper, Chairman and CEO, Thermo Fisher Scientific; Dr. Rajesh Pankaj, Chief Technology Officer, InterDigital; Michael Dodd, Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies; Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command; Anna Theofilopoulou, Political Analyst and Writer; Raivis Melnis, The Minister of Defense of Latvia; Laura McGill, Director of Sandia National Laboratory; Cameron Stanley, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office at the Department of War; Hung Cao, Acting Secretary of the Navy; and Dario Gil, Under Secretary of Science at the Department of Energy. In addition to the meetings in my office, I gave remarks at the final session of the Task Force on AI and the Future of Work, participated in a fireside chat at the American Growth Summit and gave remarks at the U.S. Chamber Reception. In week one, I attended the Senate Prayer Breakfast and heard from Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. In week two, I hosted Senate Bible Study and attended Senate Prayer Breakfast where Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was our speaker. Hearings: This past week I attended a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Meeting, which you can watch here and a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing, which you can watch here . Briefings: Over the past two weeks, I attended five different classified briefings, all as part of my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee or the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence. Those include three classified briefings with the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence; a briefing to receive an update on the United States Central Command Area of Operations; and a briefing to receive an update on the budget of the Department of Defense. Votes Taken: Over the past two weeks, I voted 18 times. I voted for Angela Veronica Colmenero, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas. I also took several procedural votes related to the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, which the Senate ultimately passed this past week with strong bipartisan support. Additionally, I voted against a resolution to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran. This past week I voted to confirm Keith Sonderling to be Secretary of Labor. I also voted against Democrat senators’ attempt to pass a CRA related to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule, pertaining to "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027; and Basic Health Program.” Had this measure passed, it would raise premiums, reduce plans options and weaken protections against fraud in the marketplace. Lastly, I voted against a resolution requesting information related to Israel’s human rights practices as they already provide relevant information to the U.S. The Senate also passed the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, which I supported, by a vote of 77-22. The bipartisan legislation establishes federal protections for college athletes, including their rights related to name, image and likeness, while addressing health and safety and other issues facing college athletics. It is now on its way to the House of Representatives for their consideration. I also voted in favor of the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would protect families and small businesses from higher electric bills resulting from data center construction in their communities. Finally, as mentioned, I supported the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would prohibit Members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks. Steps Taken: 60,106 steps or 29.15 miles in week one and 58,249 steps or 28.48 in week two. My Staff in South Dakota Visited: Cottonwood, Forestburg, Fort Pierre, Kule, Miller, Red Owl, Sioux Falls, Wall and Watertown. Video of the Week : Watch my response to the inspector general’s report here .