Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin

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Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

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Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and a bipartisan group of colleagues to introduce the Farmers First Act of 2023, legislation to address the mental health crisis in rural America and expand access to critical mental health support and resources for our nation’s farming and ranching communities.

The Farmers First Act of 2023 will reauthorize the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN), a program that connects farmers, ranchers, and other agriculture workers to stress assistance programs and resources. Through FRSAN, state departments of agriculture, state extension services, and non-profits receive funding to establish helplines, provide suicide prevention training for farm advocates, and create support groups for farmers and farm workers. The Farmers First Act of 2023 would increase funding for the program, authorizing $15 million per year for the program for the next five years, up from $10 million.

“Colorado’s farmers and ranchers face uncertainty from forces beyond their control – from severe drought to a broken immigration system,” said Bennet. “This important bipartisan bill builds on our efforts in the 2018 Farm Bill to improve access to affordable mental health services in our rural and farming communities. Given all that our producers do for our country – providing the food, fuel, and fiber we rely on everyday – this is the least we can do for them.”

This funding comes as suicide, mental health challenges, and stress are on the rise in agricultural and rural communities. According to the National Rural Health Association, the rate of suicide among farmers is three and a half times greater than among the general population. A Morning Consult poll found that during 2021, most farmers and farm workers (61%) and rural adults (52%) reported experiencing more stress and mental health challenges compared to the prior year. The same poll also found that while the stigma around seeking help or treatment for mental health has decreased, it remains a factor, especially in agriculture.

The Farmers First Act of 2023 would reauthorize the FRSAN and build on Bennet’s work to successfully include this program in the 2018 Farm Bill. Four regional centers established through FRSAN are currently increasing access to farm stress services including expanding access to hotlines, training Americans in rural areas to recognize the signs of depression, anxiety or suicidal ideation, and creating support groups for farmworkers. 

The Farmers First Act of 2023 increases funding available for the program to $15 million per year through 2028, allowing grantees to hire additional staff to support farmers, including behavioral health specialists to provide counseling to agricultural workers, and bolstering grantees’ efforts to address the unique needs of different farming populations, including Veteran farmers and farmers of color.

In addition to Bennet, Baldwin, and Ernst, this bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.); Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; John Boozman (R-Ark.), Ranking Member; Tina Smith (D-Minn.); Jerry Moran (R-Kan.); and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The Farmers First Act of 2023 is supported by the National Farmers Union, National Rural Health Association, National Milk Producers Federation, Agricultural Retailers Association, The National Council, FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative, National Young Farmers Coalition, Organic Trade Association, American Psychological Association Services, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, Rural & Agriculture Council of America, NCBA CLUSA, Farm Credit Council, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Organic Farmers Association, National Pork Producers Council, American Soybean Association, FarmAid, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, Sustainable Food Policy Alliance (SFPA), National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Organic Coalition, Farmer Veteran Coalition, and American Farm Bureau Federation. 

A summary of the bill is available HERE. The text of the bill is available HERE. 

Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

05.22.23

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (R-PA) sent a letter with 82 of their colleagues to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging it to withdraw portions of a proposal which would place more stringent vapor emissions requirements on small bulk gasoline plants.

The rule would lower compliance thresholds using plants’ theoretical maximum design capacities, rather than their actual throughput. If finalized, it could drive compliance costs, impact regular service, and during emergencies, choke off supplies to entire communities. As such, the group also suggested the EPA convene a Small Business Advocacy Review panel to engage energy marketers in a conversation about the proposal’s consequences.

“We are concerned with the adverse economic impacts Subpart BBBBBB could impose on small business energy marketers, specifically in rural America and areas subject to extreme weather… We understand that the EPA takes its mission seriously. However, we hope the EPA will be mindful of its statutory obligation to understand the impact of this rule on small business interests and the American people,” the Members wrote in the letter.

Joining Lankford and Cramer are Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jim Risch (R-ID), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Mike Lee (R-UT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Ted Budd (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Boozman (R-AR), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Hoeven (R-ND), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Thune (R-SD), and Katie Britt (R-AL).

Read the letter here or below.

Dear Administrator Regan: 

We write regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to revise the current requirements for small gasoline bulk plants under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollution [NESHAP Subpart BBBBBB (small bulk gasoline plants)]. We are concerned with the adverse economic impacts Subpart BBBBBB could impose on small business energy marketers, specifically in rural America and areas subject to extreme weather. 

Gasoline is typically shipped to customers daily in cargo tank vehicles that pick-up product at a large supply terminal and deliver a full truckload directly into customer storage tanks. However, some customers, including state and local governments, farmers, ranchers, commercial end-users, and first responders, require a smaller volume of gasoline than a full truckload on an even less frequent delivery schedule. In those instances, our constituents’–small, family-owned companies’–bulk storage plants are used as intermediaries. Small gasoline bulk plants, as well as straight trucks or tank wagons, factor into the small gasoline distribution segment.

If finalized, this rulemaking would require the installation of gasoline vapor balancing equipment for delivering to a bulk storage plant and loading a cargo tank wagon at virtually all small, intermediate storage bulk plants. The compliance costs associated with the proposed NESHAP Subpart BBBBBB rule would make the intermediate storage of gasoline at and its distribution from these bulk plants unworkable. This infeasibility is directly tied to the rule’s proposal to lower the compliance threshold for small gasoline bulk plants from 20,000 gallons per day of actual throughput to just 4,000 gallons of daily maximum design capacity.  Since the proposed threshold in the NESHAP Subpart BBBBBB rule is based on a theoretical maximum design capacity rather than actual daily throughput, almost every small bulk plant in the nation would be negatively impacted by its requirements – forcing them to downsize, close, or face the high cost of compliance.  In other words, we see this proposal inevitably and implicitly leading to higher fuel costs or the elimination of intermediate gasoline storage at small bulk plants, impacting supply to end users offering vital services to their local communities and potentially cutting off whole communities during an emergency.    

We hope the EPA will withdraw provisions of the proposed NESHAP BBBBBB rule applied to small bulk plant facilities and convene a Small Business Advocacy Review panel to actively engage small business energy marketers in a meaningful discussion on the full extent of the regulatory impact of the proposed rule, as required under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. We understand that the EPA takes its mission seriously. However, we hope the EPA will be mindful of its statutory obligation to understand the impact of this rule on small business interests and the American people.

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Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

May 22, 2023

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, joined U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to reintroduce their bicameral Affordability is Access Act. The legislation would ensure that once the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) determines an over-the-counter birth control option to be safe, insurers fully cover over-the-counter birth control without any fees or out-of-pocket costs. Companion legislation was also introduced in the House of Representatives. The introduction comes after the FDA Advisory Committee’s unanimous vote recommending that the FDA move forward to approve the first-ever application for over-the-counter birth control.  

Recent polling has found that nearly 8 in 10 voters have a favorable view of birth control pills and more than 7 in 10 support making the pill available over-the-counter.  The Affordability is Access Act addresses the reality that for many—especially those with the tightest budgets—true access requires affordability. 

“As women’s comprehensive access to reproductive health care services are rolled back, curtailed or cut off by extreme GOP-controlled state legislatures, every effort must be made to keep this essential care within reach. That’s why it’s paramount that Congress is proactive to put measures in place that will keep over-the-counter birth control affordable for all Americans, pending the FDA’s final determination,” said Shaheen. “I urge the FDA to move swiftly and follow in the footsteps of the Advisory Committee to make birth control available to women over-the-counter, and for Senate leadership to act in tandem so we can ensure it’s accessible to anyone who seeks it.” 

“The ability to access and afford birth control can be a central part of a woman’s reproductive freedom,” said Hassan. “While anti-choice extremists are focused on stripping away a woman’s fundamental rights, it’s more important than ever that we take steps to protect a woman’s freedom. Our bill ensures that if the FDA makes birth control available over the counter, women who want it can afford to get it. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this commonsense legislation.” 

Under the Affordable Care Act, all private health insurance plans are required to fully cover — without copays or out-of-pocket costs — all U.S. FDA-approved, granted, or cleared methods of contraception. The Affordability is Access Act would ensure that this also applies to over-the-counter birth control. The Affordability is Access Act would also maintain the FDA’s sole authority to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and make them available over the counter without a prescription, and ensure retailers provide contraception without a prescription. The legislation states that any retailer that stocks contraception that the FDA has approved, granted, or cleared without a prescription may not interfere with a consumer’s access to or purchase of such contraception. 

The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). 

The bill is endorsed by: Contraceptive Access Initiative (CAI), National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), National Health Law Program, Upstream USA, Reproductive Health Access Project, American Humanist Association, Physicians for Reproductive Health, National Partnership for Women & Families, Healthy Teen Network, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, The National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America, The American College of Nurse-Midwives, Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access (CECA), The Guttmacher Institute, Power to Decide, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), National Coalition of STD Directors, Ibis Reproductive Health, Population Connection Action Fund, The Center for Biological Diversity, National Council of Jewish Women, Collaborative, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, National Women’s Law Center, American Public Health Association, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Advocates for Youth, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Catholics for Choice, and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.   

Read the full text of the Affordability is Access Act here.  

Shaheen and Hassan are steadfast defenders of women’s reproductive freedom. In recent weeks, Shaheen has led two initiatives to specifically protect servicewomen’s access to comprehensive reproductive health services, which include bringing costs for contraceptives for those who rely on TRICARE in line with what civilians pay, as well as providing paid leave for abortion and other reproductive care needs. For years, Shaheen has fought to expand coverage of women’s reproductive health and successfully pushed an effort through Congress that was signed into law to ensure servicewomen have access to abortions in cases of rape or incest. Shaheen and Hassan recently helped reintroduce the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Healthcare (EACH) Act, a bicameral bill that would help guarantee abortion coverage—without restrictions—for millions of Americans. Senators Shaheen and Hassan are also leaders in the fight to protect Title X family planning centers. 

Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

This Bill Would Allow Individuals With Temporary Protected Status And Their Families Who Have Been In The U.S. For At Least Three Years To Apply For Legal Permanent Residency

Nevada Is Home To Over 6,000 Temporary Protected Status Recipients

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) helped introduce the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and in Emergency (SECURE) Act, which would allow qualified Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and immediate members of their family to apply for legal permanent residency. Nevada is home to over 6,000 TPS recipients, most of whom are from El Salvador or Honduras. Senator Rosen recently sent a letter calling on the Biden Administration to continue protecting displaced Salvadorans and Hondurans by redesignating El Salvador and Honduras for Temporary Protected Status.

“Nevada is home to thousands of TPS recipients who came to the U.S. for a better future after fleeing violence and natural disasters,” said Senator Rosen. “In Nevada, these hardworking TPS recipients contribute to our economy, workforce, and communities. This legislation I helped introduce will help give them the peace of mind they deserve so they can continue to contribute to our state.”

Last year, Senator Rosen joined Senate Democrats’ call for immediate, bipartisan action to pass permanent protections for DACA recipients. Senator Rosen has also repeatedly called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.

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Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) co-authored an op-ed in the Daily Beast with Ian Marcus Corbin, a philosopher at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Fellow at the think tank Capita, to call for a spiritual renaissance in American politics. Murphy and Corbin point to the failures of neoliberalism – rampant consumerism, economic inequality, loss of community – as the origins for many Americans’ feelings of emptiness. They argue the left must revisit our most revered progressive leaders to build a vision grounded in spirituality that speaks to broad coalitions of Americans who have been left behind for too long.

“Those of us on the left can choose to take comfort in a sense of relative innocence, as the demagoguery and divisiveness on the right rise to a fever pitch. But scratch the surface and you will find that nearly everyone, of whatever party, feels an emptiness—a soullessness—to our shared political life,” wrote Murphy and Corbin.

Murphy and Corbin argue that spirituality can be the answer to Americans’ desire for our politics to be organized around the question of what actually makes a society good: “Most versions of spirituality, of whatever tradition, tell us that what really matters is goodness, compassion, harmony with nature, self-discipline, mindfulness, holiness, the virtues, etc.—rather than just money and power. Importantly, these spiritual values are not zero-sum objects of competition. They are common goods—the compassion of my neighbor will tend to make me more compassionate, too. A spiritual vision can show us that we are not enemies, but indispensable coworkers in this life.

“Not coincidentally, some of the most revered progressive leaders of the last century—the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, and Robert F. Kennedy— all embraced a mode of politics that was deeply rooted in explicit spirituality: the pursuit of something more than individual material reward,” they added.

Murphy and Corbin concluded: “But with few exceptions, the Americans who connected with Trump’s message, even temporarily, are right about a lot of what is wrong. They are hungry for a way out of the frantic competition for a piece of the ever-shrinking pie, and for a world in which our politics promise something more than, as Obama often put it, a “fair shake” at a slice of that pie. Those voters are ripe for recruitment to a new coalition, if the left can be generous and far-sighted enough to invite them in. This invitation is within our power, if only we will engage in the kind of brave, humble, heart-deep spiritual questioning that has animated so many of our tradition’s greatest achievements.”

Read the full op-ed here.

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Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement on Ambassador C. Boyden Gray:

“Elaine and I were saddened to learn of the passing this weekend of a friend and distinguished public servant, C. Boyden Gray.

“Over a legal career that spanned half a century, Boyden Gray developed a well-deserved reputation for mastery of complex regulatory issues and relish for worthwhile fights. His service to consecutive Republican presidents was marked by unquestionable loyalty, tireless work ethic, and devotion to timeless conservative principles.

“Entwined in Boyden Gray’s legacy as the consummate executive branch counselor is his work to cultivate generations of bright jurists committed to the Constitution and the rule of law. Our nation’s federal courts are stronger for his unflagging support of outstanding judicial nominees like Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Today, our deepest condolences are with Boyden Gray’s daughter, Eliza, their family, and the many friends who mourn his loss.”

Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after the seven Colorado River Basin states agreed to the submission of a Lower Basin proposal for analysis under the Bureau of Reclamation’s draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS):

“As the Colorado River Basin states continue to negotiate, it is my hope that any agreement includes durable, verifiable, and enforceable commitments to conserve water. We were fortunate to experience heavy snowfall this winter but we are not out of the woods from the megadrought in the American West. I welcome the analysis of a third alternative as part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement but I urge the Department of Interior to prioritize long-term water conservation opportunities.”

The proposal from California, Arizona, and Nevada commits to measures to conserve at least 3 million-acre-feet (maf) of system water through the end of 2026, when the current operating guidelines are set to expire.