Weekly Round[s] Up: February 17-23, 2025
Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up. We had another week full of meetings, hearings and votes – 32 of them, to be exact. And while voting is a big part of our job in the Senate, we typically don’t take that many in one week! This was due to a process we call a “vote-a-rama,” in which we vote on a series of amendments to our budget resolution before it passes. While it took staying until nearly 5:00 AM on Friday, the Senate managed to pass our budget resolution which accomplishes President Trump’s priorities for his administration. We also confirmed three more nominees to serve as members of President Trump’s team, making a total of 19 cabinet members confirmed. More in my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakotans I met with: Representatives from the Manitou Group, which has equipment facilities in Madison and Yankton.
Other meetings: David Sampson, President and CEO of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association; Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto; Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; Laurent Bili, France’s Ambassador to the United States; Bob Buddecke with Honeywell; and Bob Frenzel, CEO of Xcel Energy. I attended our Senate Prayer Breakfast, where Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was our speaker this week. I also attended a breakfast with the Senate National Guard Caucus where we were able to sit down with National Guard state Adjutants General from across the country.
Hearings: I had one closed hearing this past week in the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Classified briefings: I attended one classified briefing this past week related to my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Votes taken: 32 – we were able to confirm three more nominees for President Trump this past week: Howard Lutnick to lead the Department of Commerce, Kelly Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration and Kash Patel to lead the FBI.
As I mentioned, we also held a vote-a-rama on Thursday night into Friday morning. Two weeks ago, my colleagues on the Senate Budget Committee released our Senate version of a budget resolution. This legislation focuses on accomplishing President Trump’s priorities, including unleashing American energy, bolstering our national security and securing our border. Because this resolution isn’t able to be filibustered, Senate Democrats slowed down this legislation by debating on the Senate floor and offering amendments, which we voted on through the night for hours on end. Despite this process, we still passed the budget resolution, bringing us one step closer to accomplishing the President’s agenda.
Legislation introduced: I introduced legislation with my colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee which would ease burdens and shield small businesses from excessive legal red tape. The Protect Small Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025 would extend the filing deadline for businesses to report beneficial ownership information until January 1, 2026. Read more on this legislation here.
I also reintroduced the Postal Processing Protection Act, legislation that would require the U.S. Postal Service to consider consequences for rural areas during its closure or downsizing review process in order to protect rural mail processing facilities. Read more about this legislation here.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen.
Steps taken: 49,237 steps or 24.57 miles.
Video of the week: I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss the reconciliation process:
