2021: Delivering Results for Wisconsin

In 2021, Senator Baldwin continued her work across party lines to get things done for Wisconsinites. 

Key provisions of Senator Baldwin’s Made in America Act were included in the final passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making permanent the American iron and steel requirement for water infrastructure funded by the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The legislation expanded Buy America to many common construction materials beyond just iron, steel, and manufactured products. It also required that all of the manufacturing processes used in making the material be completed in the United States in order to qualify as “American made.” In addition, the bipartisan infrastructure law includes a reform extends Buy America requirements to infrastructure programs that were not previously covered, so that all future federal infrastructure funding will be subject to Buy America. Senator Baldwin worked to tailor the Buy America rules so that they work for Wisconsin manufacturers, roadbuilders and foundries.

Senator Baldwin also called on President Biden to use his executive authority to support Buy America reforms, establish an office focused on Buy America, and direct all federal agencies to maximize the amount of American-made materials and products purchased by the federal government. In response, the President issued an executive order to strengthen Buy America requirements, including by establishing a Made in America Office charged with ensuring the federal government contracts with and supports American manufacturers and closing loopholes that allow foreign companies to contract with the federal government.

Senator Baldwin worked to successfully secure special financial assistance for multiemployer pensions in the American Rescue Plan. This will ensure workers and retirees – including 22,500 in Wisconsin – can keep the pensions they earned over a lifetime of work. The law secures the retirement benefits of workers and retirees in imperiled multiemployer pension plans, including the Central States Pension Plan, for 30 years, with no cuts to the earned benefits of participants and beneficiaries. It will also stabilize the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s multiemployer pension program for at least 20 years and provide necessary relief for single employer pension plans, which are under strain from the market turmoil caused by the pandemic emergency.

Senator Baldwin worked with the Biden Administration to secure $10 billion in Defense Production Act funding for critical materials and supplies to combat COVID-19 and future pandemics. She introduced legislation providing for this funding, and specifically called for a portion of the funding to be dedicated to securing sources of raw materials such as the medical grade melt blow material used in N95 masks approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This material is manufactured in Wisconsin and is critical to ensuring that frontline medical workers and all individuals have access to quality personal protective equipment. Baldwin followed up with the Biden Administration in multiple letters and committee hearings, calling for this funding to go towards raw materials, including melt blown. The Administration committed to spending $1.08 billion on securing the PPE supply chain, including investments in the procurement of machinery and manufacturing capacity for man-made fibers production lines that support medical supplies to drive down U.S. costs per product, procurement of tens of millions of Level 2 disposable gowns to enable the build-out of domestic automated production lines, and the procurement of hundreds of metric tons of melt blown raw materials as a reserve capacity for PPE manufacturing.

Senator Baldwin also called on the President to prioritize American-made masks as part of his effort to ensure American have more protective masks to protect against the Omicron variant. She also worked to ensure our communities and frontline workers have high-quality medical devices, including PPE, and addressed counterfeit devices with the introduction of the Medical Device Integrity Act, which gives FDA the authority to request records and require that device manufacturers comply with these requests.

With Senator Baldwin’s support, the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program was signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus Appropriations legislation and improved by the American Rescue Plan. The program provided over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, administered by Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Assistance. Senator Baldwin understood the dire straits venue operators were facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recognized that the SBA was not dispersing funds quickly enough. Through her advocacy, including sending a letter in June of 2021 to the SBA, she helped move the available funds to Wisconsin’s venues. Ultimately, Wisconsin venues were awarded over $228 million in grant funds.

The American Rescue Plan provided the most relief to working families ever through an expanded Child Tax Credit, which Senator Baldwin worked to include in the legislation. The Child Tax Credit improvements led to a historic reduction in poverty, cutting childhood poverty by more than 40 percent in 2021 and lifting more than 4 million children out of poverty through monthly payments to more than 65 million children.

Specifically, the Child Tax Credit was made fully refundable, ensuring that the tax cut was available to children in families with the lowest incomes. Additionally, the credit amount was increased, especially for children under six, and more children qualified for the credit, which was sent out to Wisconsin families as a monthly payment. Senator Baldwin has long called for improvements to the Child Tax Credit, including by introducing her Stronger Way Act, which would strengthen the economic security of working families and help lift millions of children out of poverty. She will continue working to make these improvements permanent.

Senator Baldwin works to ensure that all Americans have access to the resources they need to obtain comprehensive, affordable health coverage. In 2021, she urged President Biden to open a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) online marketplace, and the President later issued an executive order to do so. Senator Baldwin also called on the President to restore funding for the Navigator Program, as well as the ACA’s outreach and enrollment efforts. Navigators are trained to help individuals and families, especially in underserved communities, shop for and enroll in affordable health insurance plans that meet their needs. President Biden announced additional funding for navigators and outreach and enrollment in response. Thanks to the actions of Senator Baldwin, a record 14.5 million Americans, including over 212,000 Wisconsinites, obtained individual marketplace coverage for 2022.

Senator Baldwin also supported passage of the American Rescue Plan, which provided historic investments in health care to make coverage more affordable for Wisconsinites and their families. In 2022, premiums for the average marketplace plan decreased by $50 per person per month, and four out of five enrollees were able to find a plan for $10 or less per month after premium tax credits.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Rebuilding Stronger Infrastructure Act was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These new measures will help states rebuild stronger and more resilient roads, highways and bridges as they recover from extreme weather and natural disaster damage brought by severe storms, floods or hurricanes. The new law will ensure that resilience improvements are eligible for federal funding and requires the Federal Highway Administration to provide states with the guidance and tools needed to rebuild infrastructure that is more resilient to the next severe weather event.

Senator Baldwin secured federal funding for a program she created—the Dairy Business Innovation Initiative—that was then awarded to Wisconsin dairy businesses in 2021.

The Army Corps of Engineers, urged by a bipartisan group of Senators led by Senator Baldwin, has finally initiated work to develop a much-needed and first-of-its-kind comprehensive plan to improve coastline resilience and provide tools for federal agencies, state and local governments to support informed decision-making along the Great Lakes shorelines. Lake level fluctuations, erosion, flooding, stormwater runoff and aging infrastructure are a significant threat to the coastline and communities along it. Record water levels place an enormous stress on homeowners and businesses, local governments and regional economies, as well as infrastructure along the shoreline, including navigation channels and breakwaters.

Moreover, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included significant investments in key Great Lakes priorities, including $1 billion in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and $2 billion for coastal resiliency.

Senator Baldwin worked to successfully secure special financial assistance for multiemployer pensions in the American Rescue Plan. This will ensure workers and retirees – including 22,500 in Wisconsin – can keep the pensions they earned over a lifetime of work. The law secures the retirement benefits of workers and retirees in imperiled multiemployer pension plans, including the Central States Pension Plan, for 30 years, with no cuts to the earned benefits of participants and beneficiaries. It will also stabilize the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s multiemployer pension program for at least 20 years and provide necessary relief for single employer pension plans, which are under strain from the market turmoil caused by the pandemic emergency.

The American Rescue Plan provided the most relief to working families ever through an expanded Child Tax Credit, which Senator Baldwin worked to include in the legislation. The Child Tax Credit improvements led to a historic reduction in poverty, cutting childhood poverty by more than 40 percent in 2021 and lifting more than 4 million children out of poverty through monthly payments to more than 65 million children.

Specifically, the Child Tax Credit was made fully refundable, ensuring that the tax cut was available to children in families with the lowest incomes. Additionally, the credit amount was increased, especially for children under six, and more children qualified for the credit, which was sent out to Wisconsin families as a monthly payment. Senator Baldwin has long called for improvements to the Child Tax Credit, including by introducing her Stronger Way Act, which would strengthen the economic security of working families and help lift millions of children out of poverty. She will continue working to make these improvements permanent.

The American Rescue Plan strengthened the EITC for 2021 by making the credit available to more low-paid workers who do not have dependent children at home. Senator Baldwin has long supported improving the tax cut for these so called “childless adults,” and the American Rescue Plan strengthened the EITC for these individuals at a critical time by raising the maximum credit for workers without children from roughly $540 to $1,500 and allowing more individuals to be eligible for the EITC. This improvement for 2021 provided additional income support to over 17 million people. These reforms are similar to improvements included in Senator Baldwin’s Stronger Way Act.

Senator Baldwin led the effort to push for an enforceable workplace safety standard to protect workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She championed the COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act, secured increased funding in the American Rescue Plan to give OSHA the tools it needs to keep workers safe, and called on the Trump and Biden Administrations to take immediate action to implement an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers during the pandemic. In June 2021, President Biden’s OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers in health care settings. The standard required employers to conduct hazard assessment and have a written plan to mitigate virus spread, and requires health care employers to provide some employees with N95 respirators or other personal protective equipment. In addition, covered employers must ensure 6 feet of distance between workers where possible. The standard also requires covered employees to provide workers with paid time off to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects.

With Senator Baldwin’s support, the American Rescue Plan delivered $350 billion for state, local and tribal governments to respond to the COVID-19 emergency and bring back jobs. Nearly $5 billion in state and local fiscal support to Wisconsin state and local governments helped Wisconsin families, businesses and communities respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the funds that Senator Baldwin secured for Wisconsin, Governor Evers and local elected officials have made investments in Personal Protective Equipment, testing and sanitizing supplies, workforce development, food security, as well as Wisconsin’s small businesses and farms, live entertainment venues and tourism.

Senator Baldwin worked to make the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) permanent and more than double the agency’s annual funding as part of bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law.

Specifically, Senator Baldwin co-led an amendment that will expand the geographic reach of the MBDA by authorizing the creation of regional offices, rural business centers, and increasing the number and scope of existing programs. It will increase the MBDA’s grant-making capacity to partner with community and national nonprofits engaged in private and public sector development and research, as well as award assistance through the agency’s MBDA Business Center Program to eligible entities to operate centers that support minority businesses in accessing capital, contracts, grants and creating jobs. The agency may also establish MBDA Rural Business Centers and cultivate the next generation of minority entrepreneurs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority serving institutions (MSIs).

With Senator Baldwin’s support, the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program was signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus Appropriations legislation and improved by the American Rescue Plan. The program provided over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, administered by Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Assistance. Senator Baldwin understood the dire straits venue operators were facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recognized that the SBA was not dispersing funds quickly enough. Through her advocacy, including sending a letter in June of 2021 to the SBA, she helped move the available funds to Wisconsin’s venues. Ultimately, Wisconsin venues were awarded over $228 million in grant funds.

Senator Baldwin secured $480 million in annual funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that funds local centers that provide technical assistance to manufacturers in states like Wisconsin. She secured the funding in the Senate-passed United States Innovation and Competition Act and her provision establishes an awards program to fund MEP Centers, or groups of MEP Centers, that provide worker training, protect against cyberattacks, support advanced technology development, and build supply chain resilience.

Key provisions of Senator Baldwin’s Made in America Act were included in the final passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making permanent the American iron and steel requirement for water infrastructure funded by the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The legislation expanded Buy America to many common construction materials beyond just iron, steel, and manufactured products. It also required that all of the manufacturing processes used in making the material be completed in the United States in order to qualify as “American made.” In addition, the bipartisan infrastructure law includes a reform extends Buy America requirements to infrastructure programs that were not previously covered, so that all future federal infrastructure funding will be subject to Buy America. Senator Baldwin worked to tailor the Buy America rules so that they work for Wisconsin manufacturers, roadbuilders and foundries.

Senator Baldwin also called on President Biden to use his executive authority to support Buy America reforms, establish an office focused on Buy America, and direct all federal agencies to maximize the amount of American-made materials and products purchased by the federal government. In response, the President issued an executive order to strengthen Buy America requirements, including by establishing a Made in America Office charged with ensuring the federal government contracts with and supports American manufacturers and closing loopholes that allow foreign companies to contract with the federal government.

Senator Baldwin worked to secure investments that will make a difference in the fight against climate change and position Wisconsin’s manufacturers for long-term economic resilience. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included a wide range of provisions to support manufacturing efficiency, reduce emissions, and deploy new technologies. Specifically, the new infrastructure law includes $65 billion investment in the research, development, and deployment of clean energy technologies as well as new transmission infrastructure that will connect new renewable and clean energy power sources while promoting grid resilience to mitigate the impact of power outages resulting from more frequent and severe extreme weather.

In 2021, Stoughton Trailers was among a coalition of five U.S. chassis manufacturers to win an anti-dumping countervailing duties case, which opened the door to bring production back home. Senator Baldwin wrote to the Commerce Department on behalf of the manufacturers and their workers. Moreover, Senator Baldwin introduced the Supply Chain Resiliency Act with Stoughton’s support to alleviate current supply chain bottlenecks and prevent future disruptions by investing in American companies.

Paid Family and Medical Leave was included in the Build Back Better Act, which has been passed by the House of Representatives. Senator Baldwin has long been an advocate for establishing paid family and medical leave and helped introduce the FAMILY Act in February of 2021. The pandemic has made it clear, we need a national paid leave policy. Americans should never have to choose between a paycheck and caring for their families. Paid leave will help put hardworking Wisconsinites first. It will give families the flexibility to care for themselves or a sick family member and reduce the stress around having to take unplanned time off by providing financial security.

The Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Baldwin, was included in the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which passed the Senate in 2021. Baldwin’s legislation ensures that all goods sold online list their country of origin, protecting Americans’ right to know where the products they buy are made, and help promote goods made in America. Unlike products sold in person, products sold online are not currently required to disclose country of origin. The COOL Online Act will increase transparency online by updating our labeling laws for the e-commerce era so online shoppers have the same access to country of origin and seller location information that in-person shoppers do.

In November of 2021, Senator Baldwin questioned Oshkosh Defense about their decision to manufacture next-generation U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles in South Carolina, instead of in Wisconsin. In February, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a Next Generation Delivery Vehicle contract by the U.S. Postal Service, and in June the Wisconsin manufacturer announced that it would build the new delivery vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina and expected to hire over 1,000 employees.

In a letter to Oshkosh Corporation and Oshkosh Defense, Senators Baldwin and Peters, Chair of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee with Jurisdiction over the Postal Service, wrote:

“Oshkosh Defense has a long and proud history of manufacturing military vehicles in Wisconsin with skilled union labor. However, we are concerned about your recent decision to manufacture the trucks in a newly acquired facility, with new hires, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We urge you to further scrutinize the final production location based on the strength of Oshkosh’s existing workforce. Oshkosh has a longstanding and skilled workforce in Wisconsin, with robust experience in manufacturing trucks for government service. As such, we are writing to better understand the process that led to the award of the contract and the decision to produce the NGDV at a new facility in South Carolina.”

Senator Baldwin worked with the Biden Administration to secure $10 billion in Defense Production Act funding for critical materials and supplies to combat COVID-19 and future pandemics. She introduced legislation providing for this funding, and specifically called for a portion of the funding to be dedicated to securing sources of raw materials such as the medical grade melt blow material used in N95 masks approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This material is manufactured in Wisconsin and is critical to ensuring that frontline medical workers and all individuals have access to quality personal protective equipment. Baldwin followed up with the Biden Administration in multiple letters and committee hearings, calling for this funding to go towards raw materials, including melt blown. The Administration committed to spending $1.08 billion on securing the PPE supply chain, including investments in the procurement of machinery and manufacturing capacity for man-made fibers production lines that support medical supplies to drive down U.S. costs per product, procurement of tens of millions of Level 2 disposable gowns to enable the build-out of domestic automated production lines, and the procurement of hundreds of metric tons of melt blown raw materials as a reserve capacity for PPE manufacturing.

Senator Baldwin also called on the President to prioritize American-made masks as part of his effort to ensure American have more protective masks to protect against the Omicron variant. She also worked to ensure our communities and frontline workers have high-quality medical devices, including PPE, and addressed counterfeit devices with the introduction of the Medical Device Integrity Act, which gives FDA the authority to request records and require that device manufacturers comply with these requests.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Baldwin has worked to secure funding and supplies for Wisconsin, including for testing and contact tracing. The American Rescue Plan included $47.8 billion for testing, contact tracing, surveillance, and mitigation activities. Wisconsin received over $264 million for public health activities from the American Rescue Plan.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations and HELP Committees, Senator Baldwin helped secure $20 billion to improve COVID-19 vaccine administration and distribution. Wisconsin has received over $59 million for COVID-19 vaccine preparedness from the American Rescue Plan.

Senator Baldwin works to ensure that all Americans have access to the resources they need to obtain comprehensive, affordable health coverage. In 2021, she urged President Biden to open a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) online marketplace, and the President later issued an executive order to do so. Senator Baldwin also called on the President to restore funding for the Navigator Program, as well as the ACA’s outreach and enrollment efforts. Navigators are trained to help individuals and families, especially in underserved communities, shop for and enroll in affordable health insurance plans that meet their needs. President Biden announced additional funding for navigators and outreach and enrollment in response.

Throughout 2021, Senator Baldwin worked to protect patients with preexisting conditions and ensure that more affordable and comprehensive health care was made available to Wisconsinites. She introduced the Medicaid Saves Lives Act to help the 91,000 low-income Wisconsinites who have been locked out of comprehensive coverage through BadgerCare because of the state legislature’s failure to fully expand Medicaid. A version of this critical legislation was passed by the House of Representatives as part of the Build Back Better Act. And, she helped pass the American Rescue Plan Act, which lowered or eliminated health insurance premiums for millions of Americans who buy insurance through the marketplaces through increased tax credits, reducing premiums by potentially thousands of dollars each year.

Senator Baldwin introduced her bipartisan Medicaid Reentry Act, which would restart health coverage for incarcerated individuals leaving jails and prisons 30 days prior to their release. Currently, individuals reentering society are 129 times more likely than the general population to die of a drug overdose during the first two weeks after release. Medicaid coverage is automatically terminated or suspended upon incarceration, so this legislation addresses a serious coverage and coordination gap, particularly for addiction treatment. Senator Baldwin’s bill would allow for a warm handoff to community care and a reduced risk of overdose deaths post-release, and ensure a smooth transition back to Medicaid for those who are already eligible for this coverage. The Medicaid Reentry Act was included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act, and Senator Baldwin is working to ensure this bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law.

Senator Baldwin introduced the Tracking COVID-19 Variants Act and led Congressional efforts to increase genetic surveillance and genomic sequencing of the coronavirus. The American Rescue Plan included Senator Baldwin’s legislation and provided $1.75 billion for CDC to conduct, expand, and improve activities to sequence genomes, identify mutations, and survey the circulation and transmission of viruses. As a result of Senator Baldwin’s efforts, the CDC has increased sequencing from approximately 0.3 percent of cases to one out of every seven PCR tests that were positive for COVID-19.

Senator Baldwin urged President Biden to publicly support a temporary patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines that would allow countries to manufacture treatments locally, expediting the global vaccination effort, saving countless lives and crushing the pandemic. United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai later responded to Senator Baldwin’s request and announced that the Biden Administration would support waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

Senator Baldwin helped advance efforts to give states the option to extend Medicaid coverage for up to one year postpartum, which was included as part of the American Rescue Plan. Wisconsin later extended Medicaid coverage from 60 to 90 days postpartum. Through her support of the Build Back Better Act, which would require states to extend Medicaid coverage for a full-year postpartum, she continues to build on this progress. Senator Baldwin also helped introduce the Perinatal Workforce Act with Congresswoman Gwen Moore, which would improve access to maternity care and grow and diversify the perinatal health workforce.

Senator Baldwin’s Women’s Health Protection Act passed the House of Representatives. With 48 cosponsors in the Senate, the legislation would guarantee equal access to abortion everywhere—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship. She also fought to ensure that politics did not interfere with the Food and Drug Administration’s scientific review of the safety and effectiveness of medication abortion options, and to ensure that patients had access to these tools during the pandemic.

Amid historic rates of substance use disorder and overdose during the COVID-19 public health crisis, Senator Baldwin has led numerous efforts to ensure comprehensive federal resources are available to address this issue. Early this year, she pushed for President Biden to include significant federal funding increases to address the opioid crisis in his annual budget. In response, the Biden Administration requested an increase of nearly $4 billion to address the addiction epidemic. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law earlier this year, included $3 billion in funding for states to address opioid and substance use disorder and mental health. In addition, the American Rescue Plan included flexibility for states to use their grant funding for meth and other stimulants, consistent with the Senator’s longstanding efforts. Senator Baldwin also sent a letter to the Health and Human Services Department’s Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use calling for additional resources specifically for overdose prevention and harm reduction, which resulted in the announcement of a new $30 million grant program for this purpose.

Senator Baldwin, as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds federal nutrition programs, successfully pushed for an increase in resources for vital nutrition programs such as SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), WIC, and free school meals in the American Rescue Plan. This legislation included a temporary increase in the maximum SNAP benefit to help families most in need, $880 million to increase healthy food options for mothers and children under the WIC, and over $5 billion for the Pandemic EBT program, which allows students who qualify for free and reduce cost school meals to continue receiving meal assistance during the pandemic. The SNAP increase alone resulted in an additional $20 million in assistance going to Wisconsin families each month.

As part of her effort to rebuild trust between law enforcement and their communities, Senator Baldwin supported House passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in March 2021, which she had previously cosponsored in the Senate in 2020. The Justice in Policing Act would improve police training and practices, holding law enforcement accountable for bad behavior and help address systemic racism and bias to help save lives. This legislation prohibits federal, state and local law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling; bans the use of chokeholds, mandates the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras; and establishes a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problematic officers who are fired or leave one agency from moving to another jurisdiction without any accountability. In addition, the bill incentivizes states to adopt laws mandating independent investigation and prosecution of officer-involved deaths, and eliminates “qualified immunity” protections that prevent law enforcement from being held responsible for their actions when they violate an individual’s constitutional rights.

As state legislatures throughout the country ramped up their efforts to restrict voter access to the ballot box, Senator Baldwin responded by helping introduce the For the People Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. These two comprehensive pieces of legislation restore the promise of democracy by making it easier for all eligible citizens to vote, reduces the influence of dark money in our elections, and pushes back on the weakening of our electoral system by state lawmakers. In responding to increased polarization from politicians picking their own voters, both bills include the elimination of partisan gerrymandering in favor of fair maps for all. In addition, Senator Baldwin joined in reintroducing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) to restore keys provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were weakened by Supreme Court rulings in 2013 and 2021. The VRAA reestablishes requirements for states with a history of voter discrimination to obtain preclearance from the Department of Justice before amending their voting laws, and revises the standards for citizens to challenge unfair changes in state voting laws in court.

Despite Senator Baldwin and her colleagues attempting to bring these bills up for a vote on the Senate floor, they were met with procedural obstruction. That is why Senator Baldwin voted to make reforms to Senate filibuster rules to allow the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the Johns R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act with the support of a simple majority.

Senator Baldwin also helped introduce the Democracy Restoration Act, which would restore voting rights in federal elections for convicted felons who have reentered society following their release from a correctional institution. A similar provision is included in both the For the People Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, comprehensive reform packages to improve voting rights for all and both passed by the House of Representatives.

In response to the continued rise of hatred, extremism and hate crimes in our country—especially toward Asian Americans in 2021—Senator Baldwin helped introduce and pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law as P.L.117-20. This law requires the Department of Justice to facilitate review of any hate crimes and reports of hate crimes related to COVID-19, and requires both DOJ and HHS to issue guidance on the best practices for reducing discriminatory language in how the COVID-19 pandemic is described.

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act also includes provisions from the Jabara-Heyer National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act, which Senator Baldwin also cosponsored. These provisions establish incentives for state and local law enforcement to report hate crimes, initiate grant programs for state-run hate crime hotlines and permit judges to sentence individuals convicted of a hate crime to community service or educational programming.

Senator Baldwin supported the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, historic legislation that became law and will make the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century. The law addresses economic disparities in our economy and the consequences of decades of disinvestment in America’s infrastructure that have fallen most heavily on communities of color. Through critical investments, the legislation increases access to good-paying jobs, affordable high-speed internet, reliable public transit, clean drinking water and other resources to ensure communities of color get a fair shot at the American dream.

The economic fallout from the pandemic was especially severe for workers in low-wage sectors of the economy, such as restaurants and hospitality, in which people of color and women are overrepresented. Black and Latin o people were already more economically vulnerable due to structural racism and the history of discrimination in employment, housing, education, and other areas. Senator Baldwin supported the American Rescue Plan Act, which accelerated the economic recovery throughout 2021 and made it more resilient to challenges: one analysis found that the law resulted in 4 million more jobs and nearly doubled GDP growth – and that without it, the United States would have come close to a double-digit recession in spring 2021. Its results have also been historically equitable, with major progress against child poverty, food insecurity, and unemployment for low-income communities and communities of color while making health care more affordable and accessible. The American Rescue Plan:

Senator Baldwin introduced the Medicaid Saves Lives Act to help the 91,000 low-income Wisconsinites who have been locked out of comprehensive coverage through BadgerCare because of the state legislature’s failure to fully expand Medicaid. A version of this critical legislation was passed by the House of Representatives as part of the Build Back Better Act.

Senator Baldwin helped advance efforts to give states the option to extend Medicaid coverage for up to one year postpartum, which was included as part of the American Rescue Plan. Wisconsin later extended Medicaid coverage from 60 to 90 days postpartum. Through her support of the Build Back Better Act, which would require states to extend Medicaid coverage for a full-year postpartum, she continues to build on this progress. Senator Baldwin also helped introduce the Perinatal Workforce Act with Congresswoman Gwen Moore, which would improve access to maternity care and grow and diversify the perinatal health workforce.

Senator Baldwin worked to make the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) permanent and more than double the agency’s annual funding as part of bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law.

Specifically, Senator Baldwin co-led an amendment that will expand the geographic reach of the MBDA by authorizing the creation of regional offices, rural business centers, and increasing the number and scope of existing programs. It will increase the MBDA’s grant-making capacity to partner with community and national nonprofits engaged in private and public sector development and research, as well as award assistance through the agency’s MBDA Business Center Program to eligible entities to operate centers that support minority businesses in accessing capital, contracts, grants and creating jobs. The agency may also establish MBDA Rural Business Centers and cultivate the next generation of minority entrepreneurs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority serving institutions (MSIs).

Senator Baldwin helped introduce the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, a bold, inclusive, and humane framework that will improve our nation’s immigration system. The U.S. Citizenship Act prioritizes keeping families together and provides hardworking Wisconsinites—including DACA recipients, TPS holders, and some farmworkers—with a clearer pathway toward citizenship. The legislation also makes reforms to the employment-based immigration system by removing per-country caps; provides conditional funding to addresses the root causes of migration from Central America; bolsters our immigration court system to restore fairness in the review process; and makes investments in border communities with smart technology to stop bad actors and illicit drugs from entering the country.

Senator Baldwin also supported President Biden’s immediate actions upon assuming office to reverse many of the damaging immigration policies from the previous administration, including executive orders to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; terminate the national emergency used to justify construction of a southern border wall; and revoke the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Rebuilding Stronger Infrastructure Act was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These new measures will help states rebuild stronger and more resilient roads, highways and bridges as they recover from extreme weather and natural disaster damage brought by severe storms, floods or hurricanes. The new law will ensure that resilience improvements are eligible for federal funding and requires the Federal Highway Administration to provide states with the guidance and tools needed to rebuild infrastructure that is more resilient to the next severe weather event.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Connecting Opportunities through Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transportation Efficiencies (COMMUTE) Act was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The measure will help improve transportation access and break down barriers for workers and families getting to jobs, local businesses and health care services. Under the new law, the Department of Transportation will provide data to states and local governments that will enable them to measure accessibility to local businesses and important destinations, and inform investments in transportation systems.

Legislation to support women in the trucking industry was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act, introduced by Senator Baldwin and Senator Moran (R-KS), would establish a “Women of Trucking Advisory Board” tasked with identifying barriers to entry and retention for women in the trucking industry. Currently, women make up 47 percent of the labor force, but only 24 percent of America’s trucking workforce and 7 percent of truck drivers.

The United States freight rail industry is part of our nation’s critical infrastructure and Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan SAFE TRAINS Act will help ensure that freight railcars are manufactured and built in the United States, not by state-owned enterprises, in order to protect national and economic security. Senator Baldwin proposed the bill as an amendment to bipartisan infrastructure legislation, and it has now been signed into law.

Senator Baldwin joined Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in recognizing the 35th anniversary of the Air Carrier Access Act. As the lead sponsor of legislation that will update the law and close service gaps that still exist for individuals with disabilities, she applauded DOT’s new commitments this year related to aircraft onboard wheelchairs and rulemaking on accessible lavatories on single aisle aircraft.

Working with Ranking Member DeFazio of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Senator Baldwin requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study Precision Scheduled Railroading’s effect on reliability for rail shippers and workers. GAO initiated the study in May. The PSR model has been adopted widely across Class I railroads, which has led to major service concerns for shippers, including manufacturers and agricultural stakeholders.

Senator Baldwin successfully secured an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law in December 2021, to increase funding to for the Army’s heavy wheeled vehicles, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, produced in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin secured increased funds for the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, as well as for the Army’s medium tactical wheeled vehicles, both of which are manufactured in Oshkosh. These increases will help to provide sufficient funding to enable Oshkosh to meet minimum sustaining rates, thereby supporting the Tactical Wheeled Vehicles industrial base, which is made of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses across the Mid-West and thousands of jobs in Wisconsin.

Building on a successful award of the Navy’s Constellation class Frigate to Fincantieri Marinette Marine last year, Senator Baldwin secured an additional $1.1 billion in funding for an additional Frigate to be built in Marinette, Wisconsin, as well as $69.1 million in additional advanced procurement funding for critical systems and components for the Frigate.

Following reports made by whistleblowers within the Wisconsin National Guard (WING) about how the Guard was handling claims of sexual assault, Senator Baldwin and Governor Evers requested that the National Guard Bureau’s Office of Complex Investigations (OCI) investigate the WING. OCI found that the Guard was not complying with federal standards on how to handle sexual assault cases and the Adjutant General at the time eventually resigned over the matter. In the fall of 2020, our office was made aware that due to an existing DOD IG legal opinion on the definition of “Service Member”, DOD Inspector General (DOD IG) could not investigate claims of reprisal made by some of those very same National Guard whistleblowers whose claims led to real change within the Guard. Depending on the duty status of Guard members, we found that the DoD Inspector General may not investigate claims of reprisal made by certain members of the National Guard.

In response, Senator Baldwin wrote to the DOD IG regarding this issue. In April 2021, in response to Senator Baldwin’s letter and advocacy, the DOD updated its policies and guidance on whistleblower protections. The department has now expanded protections against reprisal for whistleblowers for additional members of the National Guard, specifically for those operating under Title 32 federal status, the duty status that many Guard members have been activated under in response to civil unrest and in support of the COVID 19 pandemic response.

The Senate approved Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Advancing International and Foreign Language Education Act as part of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. This bill reauthorizes and improves Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which provides resources for universities across the country to develop quality and innovative international programs of strategic interest related to the Middle East, East and Central Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and other world areas. This bill advances national security, invigorates global competition and expands access to underserved students.

The House-passed Build Back Better Act included Senator Baldwin’s America’s College Promise Act, which would create a new federal-state partnership to provide two years of tuition-free access to community or technical college programs that lead to a degree or industry-recognized credential.

Senator Baldwin has been a longstanding advocate for ensuring veterans have access to the benefits and services they earned. Out of the estimated 19 million veterans in the United States, only a small fraction utilize the care and benefits they’ve earned from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). CVSOs are often the first to inform veterans of their eligibility in these programs and services, particularly in rural areas. In order to expand community-based outreach to veterans, Senator Baldwin reintroduced the Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act. The CVSO Act would authorize federal funds to expand and support CVSOs or similar local entities. The Department of Veterans Affairs will award competitive grants to states in order to improve outreach to veterans and enhance the ability of states to develop and submit claims on behalf of veterans, and to increase the number of county or tribal veteran’s service officers serving in the state by hiring new officers. By increasing the number of CVSOs, states will be better able to leverage their local and federal resources to serve our veterans. While the CVSO Act is currently still in committee, both Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees held hearings on the bill.

Senator Baldwin helped introduce and successfully pass with Senator Sullivan (R-AK) and Senator Tillis (R-NC) a bipartisan resolution to designate June 27, 2021, as National Post-Traumatic Stress Awareness Day and June 2021 as National Post-Traumatic Awareness Month. This resolution is an important step in supporting education and fostering cultural change around post-traumatic stress.

Building on Senator Baldwin’s leadership calling for action to improve food supply chain resiliency, by December 2020, Congress passed provisions to assist specialty crop producers and small-scale produce farmers. These provisions included assistance to small and medium-sized meat processors to reduce the fragility of the meat processing system, give farmers more options when selling their animals, and reduce our reliance on the fragile just-in-time nature of the largest meat packing operators. In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan included $4 billion for food supply chain resiliency. This funding has been allocated in a number of ways that are useful in Wisconsin. A top highlight includes several new tools that USDA has rolled out this year to support the establishment and success of small and medium-scale meat processors.

Senator Baldwin secured federal funding for a program she created—the Dairy Business Innovation Initiative—that was then awarded to Wisconsin dairy businesses in 2021.

Following Senator Baldwin’s efforts to secure aid for loggers in the Fiscal Year 2020 Omnibus, she worked with USDA to implement the funding as quickly as possible. She pressed Secretary Vilsack on this and the aid was one of the very first rounds of aid administered by USDA. Wisconsin loggers received two rounds of aid, and the program was seen as being very important to many logging businesses’ survival. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provided up to $200 million for this program. Senator Baldwin successfully pushed for the entire $200 million to be allocated to logging/hauling businesses.

Following years of supporting local stakeholders in their vision of establishing a National Marine Sanctuary along Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coast to reflect Wisconsin’s maritime heritage, Senator Baldwin joined NOAA leadership to celebrate the official designation of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

For several years now, Senator Baldwin has worked to increase icebreaking capacity on the Great Lakes while supporting shipbuilding industries in Wisconsin. In 2021, she secured $350 million for a new Great Lakes Icebreaker in the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House. Tammy also introduced the bipartisan Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act with Senators Young and Peters, which would update the Coast Guard’s Great Lakes icebreaking mission and increase capacity of the Great Lakes fleet by authorizing funding for a new Great Lakes Icebreaker. An amended version of the Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act successfully passed out of committee and is pending action in the full Senate.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $23 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure, and a separate allotment of $15 billion for lead pipe replacement and $10 billion to protect drinking water from dangerous contaminants like PFAS. That funding can also be used to help clean up drinking water sources, and not just filter the chemicals out—again, investing in the long term for our communities and building a resilient future. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, based on the traditional state revolving fund formula, Wisconsin will expect to receive $841 million over five years to improve water infrastructure across the state.

The Army Corps of Engineers, urged by a bipartisan group of Senators led by Senator Baldwin, has finally initiated work to develop a much-needed and first-of-its-kind comprehensive plan to improve coastline resilience and provide tools for federal agencies, state and local governments to support informed decision-making along the Great Lakes shorelines. Lake level fluctuations, erosion, flooding, stormwater runoff and aging infrastructure are a significant threat to the coastline and communities along it. Record water levels place an enormous stress on homeowners and businesses, local governments and regional economies, as well as infrastructure along the shoreline, including navigation channels and breakwaters.

Moreover, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included significant investments in key Great Lakes priorities, including $1 billion in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and $2 billion for coastal resiliency.

Building on her work on the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis and the Senate Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, she attended the COP26 International Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, signaling the seriousness of US leadership on these issues. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed during that conference, and the combination of that action and their presence was widely considered a critical moment of propelling negotiations and the seriousness of commitments made at the conference.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes a total of $64.45 billion for broadband. More than 13.9% of Wisconsin residents live in areas where, by one definition, there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds, and 69% of Wisconsin residents live in areas where there is only one such provider. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Wisconsin will receive a minimum allocation of $100 million to help provide broadband coverage across the state, including providing access at least 318,000 Wisconsin residents who currently lack it. And, under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 1,246,000 or 22% of people in Wisconsin will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Benefit, which will help low-income families afford internet access.

In addition, the Senate approved Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Internet Exchange (IX) Act as part of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. This bill provides grants to establish more internet exchange facilities – places where networks come together – in places where they don’t exist, including rural America, in order to improve the online experience for consumers in those areas.

The House passed Senator Baldwin’s Equality Act, which expands federal civil rights law to provide protections for LGBTQ people in publican accommodations, employment, housing, credit, jury service and programs receiving federal financial assistance. In March, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first-ever hearing on this important legislation.

After passing bipartisan legislation to create a national “988” suicide prevention hotline, Senator Baldwin helped secure $282 million in American Rescue Plan and Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations to help transition access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from its current 10-digit number to a three-digit dialing code 988.

President Biden signed the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act into law, ensuring that the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) will have the resources to support state compensation and assistance programs for victims of crime. The centerpiece of this legislation, a provision that redirects monetary penalties from federal deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements into the CVF, was first introduced by Senator Baldwin in the 116th Congress as part of her Edith Shorougian Senior Victims of Fraud Compensation Act. She was also a lead cosponsor of the VOCA Fix Act.

Advancing a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin President Biden nominated William Pocan, who currently serves as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, to fill a federal district court vacancy in Green Bay. Pocan was one of the individuals recommended to Senators Baldwin and Johnson by their bipartisan Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission, and the Senators jointly sent his name to President Biden for his consideration.

Senator Baldwin announced at the beginning of the 117th Congress that she had been named Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. In this role, she works with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support farmers, ranchers, and producers, build a stronger and more secure agriculture economy, and get the job done on rural economic development for local communities.

Following the Milwaukee Bucks Victory in the NBA finals, Senators Baldwin and Johnson led a resolution celebrating the NBA Champions. “Whereas the fans in the Deer District showed up, game after game, to cheer on the Bucks in large numbers outside Fiserv Forum: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate—congratulates the Milwaukee Bucks, and the loyal fans of the Bucks, on winning the 2021 National Basketball Association championship; recognizes the historic achievement of the entire Bucks organization, including the players, coaches, and staff, for a victorious season,” the Senate resolution read, in part.

On November 2, 2021, Senator Baldwin released a statement in opposition to Ron Bloom being nominated to another term on the United State Postal Service Board of Governors. Bloom was the Chairman of the Board of Governors as a one-year holdover on the board since December 2020. Baldwin is a longtime critic of Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service, and supports replacing Bloom on the USPS Board of Governors. On November 19, 2021, the Biden Administration announced that they did not plan to nominate Bloom for another term on Postal Board of Governors.