Below is the letter I submitted to Senators Thune and Rounds of South Dakota:

This “Big, Beautiful” budget bill is going to hurt thousands of people in the state you are meant to represent. If you truly supported family values and want to look out for your constituents, you wouldn’t vote in favor of taking healthcare away from your own people. You wouldn’t be considering disqualifying children under the age of 18 from food assistance by dropping the age of dependents. I fail to comprehend cutting Medicaid when the most recent available reports from SD Medicaid show that 40% of newborns are covered by the program. Over half of every nursing home resident in our state, many being Republican voters, rely on Medicaid.

The effects of cutting Medicaid alone are disgusting, but apparently we are more worried about deregistering silencers? Speeding up deadlines risking a lack of adequate preparation? Giving the richest people in the WORLD more of their money back, and taking more in taxes from the poorest among us? Why would you cut investments into clean energy when South Dakota has received billions of dollars in wind energy investments?

I know Republicans fail to see the value in Planned Parenthood, but the company is more than just abortion care! Planned Parenthood provides contraception to prevent pregnancy- AND THE ABORTIONS OUR STATE OUTLAWED. They provide pregnancy testing and education, cancer screenings, and STD and UTI testing and treatment. These are NOT controversial services, they are vital. Pregnancy education leads to healthier babies. I shouldn’t have to explain why affordable cancer screening is important – early intervention is pivotal for a patient’s survival. Untreated STDs and UTIs can lead to lifelong deformity, sepsis, and different forms of cancer.

If we have an effective missile defense system, why are we giving $25 billion for a new system? Are we that exposed? Have we never been as safe as our government has claimed for decades? Do we not have the strongest, most effective military in the world? I see we are providing more money for border security from both the military and Border Patrol budgets as border crossing reach a record low because coming to our country looks like a death sentence to so many people. Immigrants are disappearing to other countries, why would they even try? Stats are down nearly 100% year to year since 2022. Why would you need to expand?

Stop gutting our universities just because further education leads to progressive values. We the people are disgusted by the vindictive nature of an entire generation that advocated we all go to college. You’ve jacked up the cost of education, and continue to punish the educated, day in and day out. You continue to deny their expertise in fields people have devoted their entire lives to, with little knowledge on the subject, because they do not fit YOUR narrative.

Think about the people who sent you to the capitol. You are hurting South Dakotans with your biasy. Your bias should be to the people. And We the People deserve to be taken care of by the government who also seeks to control and use us. Our country cannot work without the average American. Those who have everything shouldn’t be rewarded at the expense of those who have nothing.