MIKE ROUNDS

When President Joe Biden speaks about the “scourge” of gun violence, his go-to answer is to zero in on so-called assault weapons.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is under investigation for using a state-owned airplane to fly to political events and bring family members with her on trips.

Russia has imposed sanctions on 25 Americans, including actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller.

A bipartisan group of senators is considering how Congress should respond to the horrific shooting of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

Fighting for decades over abortion policy, Congress is about to run into the political limits of its ability to act in either direction on the issue.

Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently.

Former President Donald Trump stepped up his election-year effort to dominate the Republican Party with a Saturday rally in Arizona.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has repeatedly made it clear that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election in a fair process.

Jean Rounds, the wife of Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, has died in hospice care.

The South Dakota Supreme Court is weighing whether to unseal a search warrant and affidavits in an investigation into billionaire banker-turned-philanthropist T.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is conceding that Democrats face a tough pathway to delivering a $3.5 trillion package for family, health and environment programs to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Democrats have started pushing their $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health, and environment programs through the Senate.

Senate Democrats say they’ve reached a budget agreement envisioning spending an enormous $3.5 trillion over the coming decade.

Sen. Bernie Sanders says he and President Joe Biden are on the same page over a “transformative” infrastructure package.

Congressional Democrats are eyeing a $6 trillion infrastructure package that goes far beyond roads and bridges.

A bipartisan senators’ group working on a $1 trillion infrastructure compromise has now doubled in size, expanding to 21 members.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and congressmen is urging the federal government not to approve recommendations to remove 144 cities from the designation of metropolitan statistical areas. Reclassifying them as “micropolitan” would put key federal funding at risk, they said. Doing so would reclassify more than a third of the current 392 metro areas as micropolitan statistical areas. In a separate letter to the Office of Management and Budget, Hoeven said the proposal also would hurt micropolitan areas that were on the cusp of becoming metro areas. “If a metropolitan statistical area is redefined as a micropolitan area, it may fall out of the conversation.

From left, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined the Democratic senators for a private virtual meeting, both declaring the Republicans' $618 billion offer was too small. “President Biden spoke about the need for Congress to respond boldly and quickly,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the lunch meeting. The president made it clear that he won’t delay aid in hopes of winning GOP support. Biden proposes $170 billion for schools, compared to $20 billion in the Republican plan.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden told Republican senators during a two-hour meeting Monday night he's unwilling to settle on an insufficient coronavirus aid package after they pitched their slimmed down $618 billion proposal that's a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking. AdRepublicans are tapping into bipartisan urgency to improve the nation's vaccine distribution and vastly expand virus testing with $160 billion in aid. Psaki said earlier Monday there is “obviously a big gap” between the $1.9 trillion package Biden has proposed and the $618 billion counteroffer. It also includes $20 billion to reopen schools compared to $170 billion in Biden's plan. The Republicans offer $40 billion for Paycheck Protection Program business aid.

Republican senators are balancing the demands of deep-pocketed donors who are distancing themselves from Trump and voters who demand loyalty to him. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., who serves in the largely ceremonial role of Senate president pro tempore, is set to preside. Still, the mounting Republican opposition to the proceedings indicates that many GOP senators will eventually vote to acquit Trump. A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump. If not, what is?” Romney was the only Republican senator to vote for conviction when the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial.

(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)WASHINGTON – A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial, a sign of the dimming chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the U.S. Capitol. “I think the trial is stupid, I think it’s counterproductive,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.. Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he believes there is a “preponderance of opinion” that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.

“Their intent is to delegitimize this election and thereby delegitimize President-elect Biden’s presidency,” said Valerie Jarrett, who was a White House senior adviser to President Barack Obama. He has cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Still, Republicans have allowed Trump's misinformation to flourish, pushed along by conservative media and on the internet. The turmoil surrounding the transition, he added, said more about the person leaving the White House than the one who will soon enter. Those lies helped fuel some of the hard-line opposition to Obama within the party, making it difficult for more mainstream GOP leaders to work with the White House.

Trump's exchange with Democrat Joe Biden left the extremist group Proud Boys celebrating what some of its members saw as tacit approval. “I don’t know who Proud Boys are. When pushed by Wallace, Trump asked for the name of a group to condemn — and Biden suggested Proud Boys. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said. Proud Boys members are ardent Trump supporters known for their violent confrontations with antifascists and other ideological opponents at protests, often drawing the largest crowds in the Pacific Northwest.