South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds took time from the Congressional summer break this week to speak to Rapid City community leaders.
Though he said the “world is on fire,” he also said the Senate continues moving forward.
From Russia and Ukraine to issues stateside, the Senator joined the Rapid City business community for a wide-ranging conversation.
On one hand, Rounds said there’s real disfunction in DC. On the other, he said progress is being made – if slowly.
“You’ve gotta work across the aisles," Rounds said. "Although we disagree on a huge number of policy issues, we actually get along in the Senate. What we’re trying to say is you can disagree without being disagreeable. The only way we’re going to get any of this through is if we start refocusing, we find a common ground on that which we can, we take a step forward wherever we can, and if we don’t do that it’s the country that suffers.”
One of those key policy battles brought up – the US-Mexico border. While striking a conservative tone on immigration, Rounds said temporary visas need to be a priority for businessowners and lawmakers. Especially when considering South Dakota’s tourism industry and unemployment figures.
“We need them not just for contractors working roads, bridges and so forth, we also need them for the tourism industry to open up the hotels, motels and so forth – and these are seasonal jobs," Rounds said. "They help our economy, they don’t hurt our economy. When you’re talking under 3% unemployment, it seems to me that one thing we should be able to do is ask for extra allowances for H2Bs.”
Rounds said he’s committed to advocate for temporary visa programs at the national level.
“These are visas. These are folks that come in, work for a period of 9 or 10 months, then they get to go home again," Rounds said. "They take a lot of those resources with them, their families are happy to have that money coming with them, and they can come back again. All it takes is one member who says ‘I don’t like those people coming in.’ All it takes is that type of a thing and one person can stop that.”
Rounds also spoke on military issues, education, and artificial intelligence during his stop.