Republican megalaw helps earners with high and middle incomes, hurts poorest, CBO says
August 11, 2025
A sign in an Indianapolis store shown on Aug. 1, 2023, says SNAP benefits are accepted. A new analysis by
A sign in an Indianapolis store shown on Aug. 1, 2023, says SNAP benefits are accepted. A new analysis by
President Donald Trump announces a “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C., during a White House press conference on Aug. 11, 2025.
A January 2025 view of the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) A legislative task force
South Dakota Department of Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt speaks at a press conference in Sioux Falls on April 25, 2025.
Terrence Davis has declared his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for South Dakota secretary of state in 2026. A
A worker installs solar panels on a roof. (Photo by Getty Images) Several congressional Democrats on Friday slammed the Trump
South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks during a press conference Feb. 6, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre with
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, speaks to Rotary members on April 17, 2025, at the Elks Lodge
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, left, and Texas Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, right, listen as Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene
An officer recruit fires a pistol during firearms training at the George S. Mickelson Law Enforcement Center in Pierre on
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025
An elementary school student concentrates while performing a sit-up during physical education class. (Photo via Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President
The South Dakota House of Representatives convenes on Feb. 5, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden
A portion of the Wild Springs Solar project near New Underwood, just prior to going operational in March 2024. (Seth
A dragonfly rests on a blade of prairie grass in western South Dakota. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) A bipartisan group
Nearly all abortions, except those to save a patient’s life, would be banned at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals
A nurse readies an MMR vaccine at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota
From left, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, Gov. Larry Rhoden, Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden, and state House Speaker Jon Hansen. (South
A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service is seen on its building headquarters on Feb. 18, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson speaks during a press conference about election security and integrity on Oct. 9,
Sisseton-Wahpeton Police Captain Gary Gaikowski speaks to the State-Tribal Relations Committee on July 31, 2025, in Agency Village. (John Hult/South
A January 2025 view of the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) While more than a
J. Garret Renville, chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, speaks to visitors from the State-Tribal Relations Committee about the tribe’s artifacts
A Sioux Falls resident votes in the city and school board election at Southern Hills United Methodist Church on April
Kimberlee Browne uses a brush to clear metal shards from the cutting deck of precision machining equipment at Lake Area
U.S. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Alexander Vaden testifies before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on July 30, 2025. (Photo via
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks Aug. 12, 2024, at the David Lust Accelerator Building in Rapid City about
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member
A Sioux Falls School District student walks to the bus. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District) When President Donald Trump
Amanda Lounsbery (left) and her son Hayden Lounsbery survey damage to their family’s soybean fields on July 29, 2025. Their
Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, fields questions during a roundtable discussion at Avera Behavioral Health Hospital in Sioux Falls
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, center, announces his agency’s plans for deregulation from an Indianapolis trucking facility on Tuesday, July 29,
An economic assistance application for the South Dakota Department of Social Services. (Photo illustration by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Changes
A Sioux Falls School District educator teaches students reading at Lowell Elementary during the 2024-2025 school year. (Courtesy of the
The South Dakota State Capitol at Pierre in December 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) A state commission found Monday in
President Donald Trump and European Union leaders announced a trade framework over the weekend that will set 15% import taxes
Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks to reporters from a podium on July 28, 2025, at the Public Safety Administration Building in
State House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, speaks during a Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force meeting on July 16, 2025,
Feeding South Dakota’s Rapid City location on May 30, 2025. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) Feeding South Dakota is the first
A Sioux Falls resident votes in the general election on Nov. 5, 2024, at St. Lambert’s Catholic Church. (Makenzie Huber/South
The South Dakota Educational Telecommunications Board meets in Sioux Falls on July 24, 2025. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) SIOUX FALLS
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., in a file photo from November 2024. (Photo by
A Sioux Falls School District educator works with students at JFK Elementary School. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District) I
Derek Johnson, state economist with the governor’s Bureau of Finance and Management, and LRC Chief Fiscal Analyst Jeff Mehlhaff (left
Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City is pictured on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Photo
National Public Radio headquarters on North Capitol Street in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States
The Federal Corrections Institution in Tallahassee, Florida, photographed on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of the late
The federal courthouse in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) A Sioux Falls jury ordered a former state prison warden
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building in Washington, D.C., pictured on Dec. 18, 2017. (USDA photo
Autumn Tree Top works on a math problem on July 17, 2025, at the Career Learning Center of the Black
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Sunday, June 29, 2025, as the reconciliation package was under
Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University pictured on Sept. 13, 2024. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) WASHINGTON — A measure
Corn grows in a field in southeastern South Dakota in August 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Very little of South
David Sacks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s “AI and Crypto Czar”, speaks to President Trump as he signs a series of
New Nissan cars are driven onto a rail car to be transported from an automobile processing terminal located at the
A South Dakota Department of Social Services economic assistance application. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota will withdraw its Medicaid
At a farm market in St. Petersburg, Florida, on April 14, 2012, SNAP recipients were able to use their Electronic
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana speaks to reporters about the Republican budget reconciliation package at a weekly press conference
A January 2025 view of the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Now that South Dakota
Law enforcement, Sioux Falls officials and legislators participate in a forum on July 22, 2025, in downtown Sioux Falls about
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center) Republicans on
President Donald Trump holds up the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that was signed into law during an Independence Day
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks at Madison’s Lewis and Clark Regional Water System ribbon cutting on Aug. 21,
Toby Doeden announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota during an event on May 28,
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Jan.
From left, U.S. Sen. John Thune, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, all Republicans of South Dakota,
Election workers count absentee ballots for Minnehaha County on Nov. 5, 2024, in the county administration building. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s logo at its downtown Sioux Falls studio. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota Public Broadcasting is
Cells at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. (Courtesy of South Dakota Department of Corrections) South Dakota lawmakers will gather in
A June 2025 view of the area in South Dakota’s Black Hills proposed as a site for the National Garden
The U.S. Capitol on July 2, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. House cleared legislation just after
Makeup covers a bruise on the back of U.S. President Donald Trump’s hand as he hosts French President Emmanuel Macron
South Dakota Board of Regents member Pam Roberts participates in a December 2023 board meeting in Brookings. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota
South Dakota Board of Regents Executive Director Nathan Lukkes participates in a meeting Dec. 14, 2023, in Brookings. (Makenzie Huber/South
Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken speaks to the Project Prison Reset group on April 3, 2025, at the Military Heritage
The National Public Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON —
Republicans in the U.S. Senate are calling on the Trump administration to release billions in frozen school funding. (Photo by
National Public Radio headquarters on North Capitol Street in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States
Students in the Sioux Falls School District play on a playground. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District) Teacher contracts were
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (center) and tribal leaders speak to the media after a public safety roundtable on Aug. 14,
An application for economic assistance from programs managed by the South Dakota Department of Social Services. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
The B-21 Raider is under development by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, California. (Courtesy of Northrop Grumman) Funding for the B-21
Rep. Logan Manhart, R-Aberdeen, speaks in the South Dakota House of Representatives on Feb. 21, 2025, at the state Capitol
The state flag flies in front of the South Dakota Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Two legislative groups
Members of the South Dakota House of Representatives meet on Feb. 4, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Seth Tupper/South
A crowd gathers to hear Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the 2025 McGovern Day dinner on July 13, 2025, in
A worker walks beneath a United Airlines Boeing 737-900ER after it arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on June
Inmates in the East Hall of the South Dakota State Penitentiary on July 8, 2025. (Courtesy of South Dakota Department
From left, Dakota State University President José-Marie Griffiths, Wyoming financial planner Reid Rasner and South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden participate
A new national school voucher program allocates up to $1,700 in federal tax credits for individuals who donate to organizations
A summer day on Golden Trout Lake in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, in east-central Idaho. (USDA Forest Service photo) Members
The National Public Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
The site that was selected in 2023 in Lincoln County for a prison construction project. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) The
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, joined demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, May 15,
Brandon Wipf was appointed to a state Senate seat in South Dakota’s District 22 in July 2025. (Courtesy of Governor’s
A Sioux Falls resident votes in the 2024 general election on Nov. 5 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. (Makenzie Huber/South
Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, speaks on the South Dakota Senate floor on March 3, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) A
South Dakota Department of Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko speaks to reporters on July 9, 2025. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) SIOUX