Opinion

Benjamin Franklin was on to something when he said the only certainties in life are death and taxes. He clearly didn’t live in South Dakota, otherwise “winter” surely would have made his list, too. But he was right.

I grew up in a family that always had a shotgun in the pickup; our vacations were spent hunting in the mountains. Even at an early age, I understood the way guns fundamentally made us more safe, secure, and free. Bryon and I have instilled those values in our kids too.

Earlier this week, I took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to make my first official remarks. A bit of anticipation surrounds the first floor speech given by a member of Congress. Some members rush right in – giving a speech just days after being sworn in.

Credits are more powerful than exemptions and deductions. This is because they reduce taxes dollar-for-dollar, rather than just reducing the amount of income subject to tax. For 2018 through 2025, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) doubles the child credit to $2,000 per child under age 17.

MATTHEW 17:14-20 "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord have mercy on my son: For he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofted times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

As Congress buckles down over the next three weeks to deal with the government shutdown and improve border security, I also want to keep our eye on this important fact: This should never happen again. We had a partial government shutdown for over a month.

Hometowns are the heartbeat of South Dakota. I’m proud to be from a rural hometown.

Rog's Rod & Nimrod As most of my recent ice fishing adventures have either been on Wisconsin lakes with my son-in-law, Tom, or on small SD dams where I was alone at the time (very unwise), I’ve been completely out of touch with the latest trends in SD ice fishing.

It is hard to believe we are already through the second week of session. The committees have started getting through the bills that have been assigned to them and either killing them or sending them to the floor.

I’ve heard it said that 65 percent of children in elementary school today will work in jobs that don’t yet exist. These jobs of the future – the jobs our children will depend on to support families of their own – will almost certainly require access to technology, particularly the internet.