Mitchell Now publishes opinion pieces representing both sides of a variety of topics. Opinions presented do not necessarily reflect those of the newsroom or management. To join the conversation, email your opinion piece to news@kmit.com
Republicans entered 2025 with a long to-do list. We made a promise to the American people to get our country moving again, to secure our border, and unleash American energy. I’m proud to say that we’ve delivered on our promises in 2025, but there’s still more work to be done, and we’ll be keeping our foot on the gas in 2026 to deliver safer streets, put more money in your pocket, and create new opportunities to get ahead.
Senate Republicans spent a lot of time in Washington last year working on executing our agenda. We took the most votes of any Senate in 50 years, and we spent more time in session than the average for the last eight decades. But we won’t confuse activity with accomplishment. What matters is what we delivered for the American people – and that’s a lot.
Last summer we passed landmark legislation that included the Working Families Tax Cuts. Without action from Congress, a typical South Dakota family would have seen a $2,500 tax hike in 2026. One of Republicans’ top priorities was ensuring that did not happen. The Working Families Tax Cuts made permanent the tax relief that Republicans delivered in 2017. It prevented a massive tax hike on working families, small businesses, farmers, and ranchers. And it delivered additional tax relief, including no tax on tips and overtime, tax relief for seniors, and additional relief for small businesses to spur growth and create jobs.
Our historic legislative effort didn’t end with tax cuts, though. It made a critical investment in border security and national security. It repealed anti-energy policies put in place by the Biden administration and helped unleash American energy. And it included measures to strengthen the farm safety net and upgrade our air traffic control system. I often say, this bill rolled 10 years of work into a single bill.
But that’s not the only bill we passed in 2025. Republicans got to work at the beginning of the year to pass the Laken Riley Act, which required detention of criminal illegal immigrants when they commit certain crimes in our country. We repealed a number of Biden-era regulations and stopped California from imposing a de facto electric vehicle mandate on the whole country. The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently scheduled fentanyl analogues as the most deadly type of drug, helping law enforcement combat it.
We also had to spend time overcoming Democrats’ obstruction, from blocking commonsense legislation to slowing down confirmation of the president’s nominees, and of course, Democrats instigated the longest government shutdown in history. Republicans are keeping our foot on the gas to continue working to deliver on our promises to the American people. And we’ll have much more to share as 2026 gets underway.
The American people gave Republicans a mandate, and we are delivering on it: safer streets, more money in your pocket, and new opportunities to get ahead. And there’s so much more still to come.