Mike Rounds

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, right, shakes hands with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, X and SpaceX, on Sept. 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C., during a discussion about artificial intelligence. (Official U.S. Senate photo by Dan Rios)

Q&A: Rounds on regulating AI, which will impact ‘every single aspect of our lives’

BY: - October 15, 2023

Talk of artificial intelligence is all but unavoidable in 2023.  The emergence of tools like ChatGPT for text generation and Midjourney for art have pushed the technology into the public consciousness in a way voice recognition like the iPhone’s Siri or autocomplete features on a word processor never did. AI is an umbrella term that […]

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 […]

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican, talk to reporters in the Senate Daily Press Gallery about congressional action on artificial intelligence. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

U.S. Senate to examine AI’s wide-ranging impact, Schumer and Rounds say

BY: - September 14, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said Thursday they’re part of a bipartisan and private-sector consensus about the need for government oversight of artificial intelligence on a range of issues. Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Rounds held an informal bipartisan news conference Thursday to discuss […]

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. […]

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 […]

Two B-1B Lancers assigned to the 28th Operations Group, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, take off for a Weapons School Integration mission at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada on May 30, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Wyatt Stabler)

Defense bill passes Senate with Thune & Rounds support, but deep divide with House looms

BY: - July 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators avoided a heated partisan split as they passed the massive annual defense policy package late Thursday —  in stark contrast to the GOP-led House version, in which far-right members included language to restrict abortion access and transgender care for service members. Senators passed the National Defense Authorization Act, 86-11, but lawmakers […]

Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University, moderates a briefing on artificial intelligence for U.S. senators on July 26, 2023. (Courtesy of the Office of Sen. Mike Rounds)

Dakota State president moderates artificial intelligence briefing for senators

BY: - July 27, 2023

Dakota State University President Dr. José-Marie Griffiths moderated a briefing Wednesday on artificial intelligence for members of the U.S. Senate, according to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota. Griffiths said in a news release, “With so many questions about where AI is heading and how it will change the world, it is important that our leaders […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)

Senate approves Rounds amendment to block ag land purchases by adversaries

BY: - July 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators approved bipartisan amendments to the annual defense policy bill Tuesday night that would prohibit China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from purchasing U.S. farmland and screen American investment in high-tech ventures on foreign adversary soil. By a 91-7 vote (including yes votes from both of South Dakota’s senators), the lawmakers approved […]

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 […]

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 […]

COMMENTARY
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks with Roger Zakheim, the director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, before a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 15, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

When it comes to classified docs, Trump and the DOJ, Rounds wants it both ways

BY: - June 23, 2023

The federal indictment of former President Donald Trump has elicited a variety of responses from members of the Republican Party. Sen. Mike Rounds has decided to straddle the fence on this one. If he straddles it much harder, he’ll get splinters.  After Trump’s indictment, Rounds put out a statement, the gist of which is that […]

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)

Congressional delegation active on rural airports, pistol braces, drug prices

BY: - June 17, 2023

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, said his amendments to pending legislation could protect three South Dakota cities from about $4 million in air-service fees. The cities are Pierre, Aberdeen and Watertown. The bill’s original language would have charged the cities’ airports new fees for the next decade to participate in the Essential Air Service program, […]