Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth

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Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and 38 of his Senate Republican colleagues introduced the Back the Blue Act, which would increase penalties for criminals who target law enforcement officers and provide new tools for officers to protect themselves.

“Law enforcement officers go to work every day not knowing whether they’ll return home safely to their families,” said Senator Tillis. “I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation that will increase the penalties for targeting and attacking our brave men and women in law enforcement and will make criminals think twice before targeting them.”

Background on the Back the Blue Act:

Strengthens Laws to Protect Police Officers

• Creates a new federal crime for killing, attempting to kill, or conspiring to kill a federal judge, federal law enforcement officer, or federally funded public safety officer. The offender would be subject to the death penalty and a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years if death results; the offender would otherwise face a minimum sentence of 10 years.
• Creates a new federal crime for assaulting a federally funded law enforcement officer with escalating penalties, including mandatory minimums, based on the extent of any injury and the use of a dangerous weapon. However, no prosecution can be commenced absent certification by the Attorney General that prosecution is appropriate.
• Creates a new federal crime for interstate flight from justice to avoid prosecution for killing, attempting to kill, or conspiring to kill a federal judge, federal law enforcement officer, or federally funded public safety officer. The offender would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for this offense. 

Creates a Specific Aggravating Factor for Federal Death Penalty Prosecutions

• Clarifies that the murder or attempted murder of a law enforcement officer or first responder is a statutory aggravating factor for purposes of the federal death penalty.

Limits Federal Habeas Relief for Murders of Law Enforcement Officers

• Imposes time limits and substantive limits on federal courts’ review of challenges to state-court convictions for crimes involving the murder of a public safety officer, when the public safety officer was engaged in the performance of official duties or on account of the performance of official duties. These changes are consistent with the fast-track procedures created in 1996, which are applied to federal death penalty cases.

Expands Self-Defense and Second Amendment Rights for Law Enforcement Officers

• Allows law enforcement officers, subject to limited regulation, to carry firearms into federal facilities and other jurisdictions where such possession is otherwise prohibited. 

This legislation is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), and the New York Police Department Sergeants Benevolent Association.

 

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Source: United States Senator for Indiana Todd Young

May 15, 2023

WASHINGTON – As many American families struggle to find a safe, affordable place to call home and homelessness across the nation continues to rise, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced bipartisan legislation to help build nearly two million new affordable homes over the next decade.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would support the financing of more affordable housing by expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit), our country’s most successful affordable housing program.

This bill comes at a time when our nationwide housing crisis continues to worsen. Currently, nearly one-in-four renters, over 10 million families, spend more than half of their household income on rent, cutting into other essential expenses like child care, medication, groceries, and transportation. At the same time, nearly 600,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness on any given day, an increase over pre-COVID levels.

Since its creation, the Housing Credit has built or restored more than 3.5 million affordable housing units, nearly 90 percent of all federally funded affordable housing during that time. Roughly eight million American households have benefitted from the credit, and the economic activity that it generated has supported 5.5 million jobs andspurred more than $617 billion in wages.

“In Indiana and across the nation, affordable housing is needed now more than ever. The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act will leverage private sector investment to increase the stock of affordable housing for families in both urban and rural communities. Our bipartisan bill tackles the housing affordability crisis head on to help Hoosier families and strengthen our communities,” said Senator Young.

“Too many families are paying too much just to keep a roof over their heads. Securing more affordable housing is key to our economic growth and individual families’ success,” said Senator Cantwell. “This legislation would increase the federal resources allocated to each state, cut the red tape that hinders financing for workforce housing, better serve people most in need, and ultimately add more than 64,000 affordable units to Washington’s housing stock over the next decade.”

In Indiana, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would provide an additional 44,500 housing units, leading to an estimated 67,500 more jobs and generating over $7 billion in wages.

In addition to Senators Young and Cantwell, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) led the Senate version of the bill.

“When it comes to solutions for affordable housing there’s no substitute for increasing supply. The centerpiece of this proposal is the largest-ever expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is the most effective program on the books for getting more affordable units built in Oregon and nationwide,” said Senator Wyden.“On the Senate Finance Committee there is bipartisan interest in tackling the affordable housing crisis. With this proposal, Senators Cantwell and Young, along with our House colleagues, have laid out a cornerstone of that effort. I’m going to keep working with my colleagues because I believe there’s an opportunity to bring big housing ideas together and pass a bill in this Congress.”

“As more people choose to call Tennessee home, one of the main issues I hear about is the lack of affordable housing,” said Senator Blackburn. “By modernizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, we can leverage our resources to increase access to affordable housing and ensure that housing supply grows to meet demand. This will not only strengthen communities in rural areas, but it will help spur economic and workforce development across the Volunteer State.”

U.S. Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL-16) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA-01) introduced a companion version of this bill in U.S. House of Representatives.

“Affordable housing is vital for families throughout Illinois and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit continues to be an important tool to drive investment in the affordable rental housing market,” said Representative LaHood. “As I travel throughout communities in the 16th District of Illinois, I constantly hear about the affordable housing crisis, especially in our rural areas. This bipartisan bill will modernize the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and help expand our housing supply, strengthening communities and supporting economic development in Illinois and across the county.”

“As I travel the country, in nearly every community – urban to rural, red to blue – I hear how the lack of affordable housing is stretching family budgets and making it harder for employers to find workers. We know that stable housing increases the likelihood of stable employment and stable families,” said Representative DelBene.“The scale of the affordable housing crisis is immense and it requires bold solutions. Passing our legislation will help jumpstart more affordable housing construction so more Americans can put a roof over their heads and better provide for their families.”

More specifically, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would:

• Increase the number of credits available to states by 50 percent for the next two years and make the temporary 12.5 percent increase secured in 2018 permanent—which has already helped build more than 59,000 additional affordable housing units nationwide.
• Stabilize financing for workforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity bonds needed to secure Housing Credit funding. As a result, projects would have to carry less debt, and more projects would be eligible to receive funding.
• Improve the Housing Credit program to better serve veterans, victims of domestic violence, formerly homeless students, Native American communities, and rural Americans. 

In addition to Representatives LaHood and DelBene, Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02), Don Beyer (D-VA-08), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), and Claudia Tenney (R-NY-24) led the House version of the bill.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 had 43 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate and 207 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives, including the late Jackie Walorski.

A summary of the legislation can be found here. The text of the legislation can be found here.

Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

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Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)

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Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin

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Source: United States Senator for Nebraska Deb Fischer

Joined by Senator Boozman, Ranking Member on the Senate Ag Committee

LINCOLN, NEB. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a series of roundtable discussions with family farmers and ranchers on Friday to discuss priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill. Senator Fischer also visited with stakeholders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) facility about their efforts to further cutting-edge precision ag technologies. Senator Fischer hosted U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.), the Senate Agriculture Committee’s top Republican, in joining the group.

“I was happy to host Senator Boozman here in Nebraska as we visited with our farmers and ranchers, as well as ag researchers, to talk about priorities for this year’s Farm Bill. This critical legislation impacts nearly every aspect of our nation’s ag policies for the next five years, and it’s critical that we get it right. That includes preserving important safety nets like crop insurance, improving access to precision ag technologies, and cutting red tape on disaster relief.

“I want to thank Senator Boozman for traveling the state with me, and I look forward to working with him to ensure the needs of Nebraska producers are met as they work to feed and fuel the world,” said Senator Fischer. 

Press Package:

Click here to view all photos.

Click here to watch the press conference video and here to watch B roll video.

Click here to download the press conference video and click here to download B roll video.

RECAP:

Senator Fischer first spoke with farmers in the Valley, Nebraska, area about programs important to Nebraska producers in this Farm Bill like crop insurance. The group discussed how extreme federal and state regulations, like California’s Prop 12, will harm producers and their ability to feed the world. The roundtable also touched on the critical role trade policy plays in Nebraska’s agricultural economy, and the crushing impact inflation is having on input costs and access to credit.

Senators Fischer and Boozman, along with U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), joined a roundtable with stakeholders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) facility. At the roundtable, researchers talked about their efforts to collaborate with producers and make Nebraska a national leader in precision ag technologies, including the utilization of advanced irrigation techniques to reduce water usage and exciting advancements in sensor-based fertigation management research to boost efficiency and profitability. After the roundtable, the Senators toured ENREEC’s demonstration fields.

Senators Fischer and Boozman visited Mead Cattle Company to tour the company’s feed lots and talk with a group of cattle producers about their operations and key Farm Bill initiatives. On the tour, Senator Fischer emphasized that farmers and ranchers are great stewards of their land and highlighted the need to demonstrate the positive work Nebraska producers are doing every day to feed and fuel the world.

Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday joined NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd to discuss the prospect for bipartisan immigration reform in the wake of Title 42’s expiration, House Republicans’ Default on America Act, and the gun violence prevention movement’s progress over the last year.

On the Biden administration’s actions to prepare for the expiration of Title 42, Murphy said: “The President has not been sitting on his hands like Republicans would allege. The President has been actively engaged in trying to manage this crisis. He has negotiated important agreements with Mexico, so that Mexico takes more of these migrants. He has surged thousands of troops and asylum officials and border patrol to the border to handle this emergency. And he’s put in place a really tough new rule that some frankly say goes beyond his authority to say to migrants, ‘if you don’t apply for asylum before you get to the United States, we’re going to turn you right back around.’”

Murphy highlighted many Republicans’ calculation that chaos at the border is good politics: “Republicans have had multiple opportunities to come to the table and pass immigration reform that would fix the problem at the border. And my belief is that while you have a small group of Republicans who legitimately want to engage, the majority of that party delights at chaos at the border. You saw some of my colleagues on [Thursday], as soon as votes were done, rush down to the border to take smiling photographs with the Border Patrol, essentially celebrating the fact that there was chaos because they believe that there’s political gain to be had. So I think Americans know that it’s Republicans, not Democrats that have been sitting on the outside when it comes to fixing our broken immigration system.”

On the prospect of bipartisan immigration reform, Murphy said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some discussions begin in the Senate, in the wake of the House action last week to try to find some common ground on immigration reform… right now you’ve got to do the pieces that are most urgent. And to me, that’s border security, that’s asylum reform, and then that’s doing something about the Dreamers who are here and need some help.”

On Kevin McCarthy’s recklessness in the debt default negotiations, Murphy said: “What worries me is that Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, even Mitch McConnell have said that if we can’t get an agreement in the next few weeks, default is off the table. The only leader who says we are going to light the American economy on fire if we can’t get an agreement in the next 10 to 14 days is Kevin McCarthy. And that is deeply worrying to me because there’s an opportunity to talk about their really unpopular agenda of cuts, but the time to do that is when we’re negotiating the budget.”

On the anniversary of the Buffalo shooting, Murphy highlighted the gun safety movement’s progress in the last year: “We broke a 30 year logjam last year by passing the first major gun safety initiative. You’re seeing Republican states like Tennessee looking at red flag laws, Texas considering raising the age to buy assault weapons. I think our movement is in a position to win. Does it worry me what some of these district courts are doing? Absolutely. But right now, I think our focus has got to be growing the movement and continuing to capitalize on the progress of last year.”

On President Biden’s leadership on gun violence prevention, Murphy said: “So when we broke that 30 year logjam, 30 years of inaction on guns, there was a month in which we were negotiating that piece of legislation. Joe Biden was intimately involved in that process. I talked to Joe Biden probably every three or four days, he made a bold decision to go to the country and speak directly to them when many of his advisers told him not to. That bill would not have passed with Joe Biden’s personal involvement. So I have seen how effective this President is. And this narrative that Republicans are spinning is just their best argument against him because they can’t argue on the merits. They can’t argue on the policies that he’s passed because he has had one of the most successful policy agendas of any president in their first two years.”

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Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven

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