Weekly Column

Agriculture producers need relief. For months, South Dakota and our neighboring states faced record flooding and now we're seeing continued wet conditions from rainfall. For those of us who didn't grow up in Ag, rainstorms are equated with things like blankets, movies, and cancelled ball games. For South Dakota producers, more rain means delay. It means folks can't plant their crops — it means folks can't make a living.

In my ongoing effort to make myself and my office as open and accessible as possible, I wanted to give you an update of my work in D.C. and in South Dakota. I hope you'll take the time to give me feedback on this new format by reaching out to one of my offices (/) or by finding me on social media @RepDustyJohnson!

I got your letter and I wanted to thank you for the invite to your high school grad party. I'm going to try my best to make it.

When Professor Sean Flynn, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, released his book Without Reservation: Benjamin Reifel & American Indian Acculturation, I was quick to snag a copy. I was fascinated by the story of the first Congressman of Lakota Sioux descent, Ben Reifel.

Throughout Ben Reifel's career at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade in Congress, he worked tirelessly to further economic opportunity for American Indians. He celebrated education, hard work and self-determination.

Our nation's immigration problems are not new, and frankly, they're getting worse. I had the opportunity to cut through the noise and travel to our southern border last week to see what's going on for myself.

For as long as I can remember, immigration reform headlines have frequented the front pages of our newspapers. It's a tough system to understand, and an even tougher system to legislate. Many of the world's greatest leaders have tried and failed over the years, and even some successes have resulted in failure years later.

Many people are familiar with the work I do in D.C., which ensures South Dakota's voice is heard on a national level about the issues that matter most to our state. However, I believe the most effective work gets done right here at home. I have offices in Sioux Falls, Aberdeen and Rapid City, where my staff works every day to help folks who are having issues with the federal government. We call it casework.

Over the last several weeks, South Dakota and our surrounding states have endured record level flooding. This has been a dire situation for the families and communities across the Midwest. Our state has barely begun to recover from dramatic flooding, and now we are seeing blizzard conditions in mid-April. More than a foot of snow on already saturated ground may only make matters worse for families already suffering from flood damage.