WASHINGTON, D.C. (KELO.com) –Senator Mike Rounds is reveling in 2019’s legislative
accomplishments: including solidifying Ellsworth Air Force Base as a long term cog in our national
security, as it will be the location for the first two B-21 Raider bomber squadrons; the CREATES Act,
which he says will help lower prescription drug costs by fast-tracking the approval process of generic
drugs; and year-round sales of E15 for the first time. That boosts South Dakota’s ethanol industry.
Rounds is also excited about the repeal of the Cadillac Tax, an Obamacare tax that threatened to raise
healthcare premiums even higher; the unilateral trade deal with Japan that will cut tariffs and pave the
way for more sales of American beef and other ag products to Japan; House passage of the USMCA and
the fact that President Trump is closing in on Phase 1 of a trade deal with China that aims to increase ag
exports to $40 or $50 billion.
Rounds also praises the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020, which creates a
cyber consortia for certain schools such as Dakota State University in Madison. The consortia will provide
an opportunity for schools designated as National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security
Centers of Academic Excellence to lend their cybersecurity expertise to the Department of
Defense. In addition, the NDAA includes the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade.
Rounds says “We were also finally able to enact legislation to make sure thousands of “Blue Water” Navy
veterans can receive the disability and health care benefits they earned after their exposure to the
dangerous pesticide Agent Orange while fighting in the Vietnam War.”
(Colin Strombeck of KELO Radio News contributed this report.)
