John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight
Three spending bills passed this week through the U.S. Senate that include millions of dollars earmarked for South Dakota projects, according to U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota.
Congress is working through appropriations bills ahead of a Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
Rounds issued a statement Thursday lauding passage of bills to fund departments including Interior, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as Commerce, Energy and Justice.
“Our ‘minibus’ appropriations package includes several wins for programs in South Dakota,” the Rounds statement said.
The Rounds press release laid out a series of earmarks in the three bills. Earmarks, also called congressionally direct spending, are one-time funding requests from members of Congress for projects in their districts.
Rounds listed $41.5 million worth of earmarks he secured for South Dakota:
- $8.9 million for Oglala Sioux Tribe sanitation facilities.
- $6.6 million for Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sanitation facilities.
- $20.3 million for Water Investment in Northern South Dakota (WINS).
- $50,000 for the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ BIA Route 6 at Cherry Creek project.
- $50,000 for the Corps’ Big Sioux Ecosystem Restoration and Cultural Resources project.
- $50,000 for the Corps’ Little Bend and Counselor Creek Restoration and Resiliency project.
- $50,000 for the Corps’ West Bend and Vicinity Restoration and Resiliency project.
- $500,000 for the Corps’ Lower Big Sioux Watershed Comprehensive Study.
- $3.9 million for upgrades to security equipment and technology at the existing jail and jail expansion for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
- $675,000 for technology upgrades and training for the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
- $343,000 for a project to monitor and forecast South Dakota air quality impacts from wildland fires at South Dakota State University.
Rounds said the legislation also includes “robust” funding for ongoing projects in South Dakota, and other South Dakota provisions. Among those are $418 million in total funding for infrastructure upgrades and scientific research projects at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, $17.5 million for the Mni Wiconi water project, a provision requiring a report on law enforcement staffing at Mount Rushmore National Memorial and a required briefing on timber harvest levels in the Black Hills.