Dusty Johnson

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson speaks on the House floor in September 2023 about his bill to protect land at the Wounded Knee Massacre site. (Courtesy of Rep. Johnson's office)

U.S. House passes Johnson’s bill to protect Wounded Knee land

BY: - September 20, 2023

The U.S. House approved by voice vote Wednesday a bill that would help protect land at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, where an estimated 350 Lakota were killed by U.S. soldiers. The site is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux […]

COMMENTARY
Gov. Kristi Noem greets former President Donald Trump at a rally Sept. 8, 2023, at The Monument in Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

So this is what passes for ‘unity’ in the Trump era

BY: - September 16, 2023

There was a time in 2004 when South Dakota Democrats had plenty to celebrate. This was back in the days before South Dakota politics was awash in red. It was likely even before the days when anyone would characterize states as red or blue. On the national level, there was a short time when South […]

South Dakota's all-Republican congressional delegation, from left: Sen. John Thune, Rep. Dusty Johnson and Sen. Mike Rounds. (Photos courtesy of Thune/Johnson/Rounds offices; composite by South Dakota Searchlight)

State’s all-Republican congressional delegation will not attend Trump’s SD event

BY: - August 22, 2023

When the South Dakota Republican Party hosts former President Donald Trump on Sept. 8 in Rapid City, the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation will not be there. All three have scheduling conflicts, their offices said. South Dakota’s senators have endorsed South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott in the Republican presidential primary, rather than former President Donald Trump. […]

Hundreds of people attend the Aug. 17, 2023, grand opening of a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

With reorganization plans squashed for now, VA celebrates new Rapid City clinic

BY: - August 17, 2023

RAPID CITY — The long-debated, evolving plans for veterans’ health care in the Black Hills took a step forward Thursday with the grand opening of a new outpatient clinic. The 49,000-square-foot Rapid City facility is triple the size of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ previous clinic in the city. That’s a welcome development for Ricky […]

Sen. John Thune, Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Dusty Johnson attend a forum at Dakotafest in Mitchell on Aug. 16, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

At ag forum, Johnson, Thune and Rounds reject ‘loud’ approach to politics

BY: - August 16, 2023

MITCHELL — U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, received applause Wednesday at an agricultural trade show when he countered a call for more aggressive confrontation in politics.  An audience member at a Dakotafest forum on the farm bill asked why Johnson doesn’t attack his colleagues across the aisle with greater vehemence. Johnson said being loud […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and Kiara Ehle, a Ben Reifel Intern, at St. John’s Church on the Pine Ridge Reservation in June 2023. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Dusty Johnson)

South Dakota congressman fosters tribal connections with Ben Reifel Internship

BY: - August 7, 2023

An internship offered by U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson is fostering connections between Washington, D.C., and tribes in South Dakota. The Ben Reifel Internship has existed for several years and is named after the only Native American to represent South Dakota in Congress. Among internships sponsored by South Dakota’s congressional delegation, it’s the only one focused […]

COMMENTARY
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, speaks to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 14, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of Rep. Johnson's Office)

Johnson subjects military funding to partisan politics, despite pledging otherwise

BY: - August 5, 2023

How times have changed for the Republican Party. It was once the party of law and order. Now Donald Trump, its top candidate for president, is facing his third recent indictment, this time for fomenting the overthrow of the very government he purportedly wants to lead. It was once the party of business, but now […]

A sign on the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Johnson votes yes on VA spending bill that renews abortion, transgender fights

BY: - July 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans approved their first government spending bill Thursday, following tense debate about whether the Department of Veterans Affairs should provide abortions in limited circumstances and the GOP’s decision to cut military construction funding. The 219-211 mostly party-line vote (Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, voted yes) on the Military Construction-VA appropriations bill […]

An American Airlines plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 1, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

House passes aviation bill, including Johnson amendment, that boosts smaller airports 

BY: - July 20, 2023

The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years, including a big increase in subsidies for airlines providing flights to smaller markets. The chamber voted 351-67 to approve the bill, which would authorize $104 billion for the agency through 2028, increase authorized spending levels for rural […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, questions witnesses in a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building on Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Congressional Roundup: Foreign ownership, culture wars in the military, child tax credit, and more

BY: - July 15, 2023

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, is supporting another effort to limit foreign ownership of U.S. land. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party recently introduced the Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act, with the support of Johnson, who’s a member of the committee. The bill would expand the jurisdiction […]

The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 2, 2020, near Keystone. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Park Service opposes Johnson’s Mount Rushmore Protection Act, calling it ‘unnecessary’

BY: - July 13, 2023

The National Park Service, which manages the preservation and upkeep of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, testified in opposition to South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson’s “Mount Rushmore Protection Act” on Thursday — not because the agency disagrees with the bill’s intent, but because the agency views the bill as “unnecessary.” NPS Deputy Director for […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, participates in a Senate Banking Committee hearing in March 2023. (Screenshot from committee hearing video)

Congressional Roundup: Rounds advocates for defense and AM radios

BY: - July 1, 2023

A congressional defense spending bill includes about $400 million for South Dakota construction projects, according to Sen. Mike Rounds. Rounds, a Republican, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Earlier this week, the committee sent the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2024 fiscal year to the full Senate. “The NDAA is […]