Weekly Column
Thirteen-year-old teenagers are not commonly known for their persistent dedication to serving others. I know I certainly wasn't. But every once in a while, I'm privileged to meet someone who challenges that norm.
On days I'm home in South Dakota, I sit down for my morning bowl of Wheaties and flip through our local papers. This week, as I ate my bowl of cereal, I came across a well-researched and well-written article. The title was: "Effort begins to reduce risk of death of South Dakota mothers during childbirth." It was written by local reporter Nick Lowrey from South Dakota News Watch and placed in many papers throughout the state.
At the end of this month, the 62nd annual Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo will be taking place in Rapid City. An estimated 331,000 people from all over the country will descend on Western South Dakota, making it the second largest annual event in South Dakota.
Since 2014, every January marks the "Burning of the Beetle" in Custer, South Dakota. What's turned into a fun tradition and artistic celebration, stemmed from a bleak time in the Black Hills.
The Black Hills National Forest is one of South Dakota's treasures, but if you traveled there several years ago, you'd see a much different forest than you'll see today. For years, the Mountain Pine Beetle infected more than 430,000 acres of forest, leaving millions of trees dead in its path.
Securing our border has been at the forefront of this administration's agenda and rightfully so. I traveled down to the southern border earlier this year and real progress is being made there, however, there is more work to be done.
In the last year, we experienced a true crisis on our southern border with unprecedented numbers of illegal border crossings. Congress and the administration have been focused on how best to combat this crisis, so I welcomed the opportunity to visit a business right here in South Dakota that is playing a key part in increasing security at our borders.
It's been nearly a year since I packed a suitcase and flew to our nation's capital to be sworn in as South Dakota's lone representative. It was a proud moment for my family and me. I stood on the U.S. House floor, raised my right hand, and swore my oath to the U.S. Constitution alongside my three boys and better half. A few weeks later, I was appointed to a leadership position as a Subcommittee Ranking Member on the Agriculture Committee – it's been an honor helping to lead a committee that does such important work for South Dakota.
Dear Santa,
This year, we finalized a trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, gave our troops a pay raise, and in what can only be called a Christmas Miracle – Congress passed a budget. We got a lot done this year, but I wanted to make sure you got my Christmas list just in case there was a little more room in the sleigh.
All I want for Christmas is…