2023: Delivering Results for Wisconsin

Senator Baldwin worked to ensure that the Biden Administration boost the use of American-made goods in infrastructure projects, adhering to the standards she successfully fought to include in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ensure taxpayer dollars are supporting American businesses, workers, and economic growth. Senator Baldwin has long fought for strong Buy America measures in federal legislation, successfully including key provisions of her Made in America Act in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions with Democratic and Republican support. The bill requires basic transparency for skyrocketing drug prices. Specifically, it would require pharmaceutical companies to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and submit a transparency and justification report 30 days before they increase the price of drugs that cost at least $100 by more than ten percent over one year or 25 percent over three years.

The Baldwin-backed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allows Medicare to negotiate the price of dozens of drugs with manufacturers for the first time ever, which will cut out-of-pocket costs for seniors, save American taxpayers billions of dollars, and reduce the deficit. In August, the Biden Administration announced the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation under the IRA. In 2022 alone, approximately 9 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries spent over $3.4 billion out-of-pocket on the 10 drugs selected for negotiation. Before the release of the list, Senator Baldwin called on the Biden administration to include several of these same high-priced and widely used drugs that will have the greatest impact for Wisconsinites.

At the beginning of the year, a $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for insulin for seniors on Medicare went into effect because of Inflation Reduction Act, major legislation backed by Senator Baldin. Had the insulin caps been in place in 2020, nearly 32,000 people in Wisconsin would have saved roughly $630 per year in lower out-of-pocket costs.

Senator Baldwin has led the charge to limit junk insurance plans that can deny people with pre-existing conditions coverage. Since President Trump first allowed for junk plans to be expanded in 2018, Senator Baldwin has pushed to limit the use of these junk plans, and urged President Biden to take action since he took office. In July, the Biden Administration finally began to roll back a 2018 Trump Administration effort designed to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that made junk plans more widely available to consumers. Since then, these plans have continued to expand, however, they are not required to adhere to important standards, including prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, coverage for the 10 essential health benefit categories, and annual out-of-pocket maximums. Once finalized, the Biden Administration’s rule will restore a 90-day limit on the use of STLDI plans, instead of the current four years maximum, so junk plans can only be used on a temporary basis as intended.

In the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act legislation, Senator Baldwin successfully helped include the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, bipartisan legislation to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis by targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain, from the chemical suppliers in China to the cartels that traffic the drugs from Mexico.

Senator Baldwin announced in October that Wisconsin has been designated by the Biden Administration as a Regional Technology Hub (Tech Hub), an initiative created by the Baldwin-supported CHIPS and Science Act. Additionally, Wisconsin is receiving a $350,000 planning grant to execute its Biohealth Tech Hub strategy. Working with stakeholders across the state, Senator Baldwin has advocated to bring a Tech Hub to Wisconsin, supporting Wisconsin’s application to invest in the Badger State’s growing personalized medicine and biohealth technology industry.

Wisconsin was one of 31 Tech Hubs designated by the U.S. Economic Development Association in the first round of the Regional Innovation and Technology Hub program. Senator Baldwin worked on the CHIPS and Science Act as a member of the Commerce Committee and the Appropriations Committee that provided $500 million to fund the program.

The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, a consortium led by Bioforward Wisconsin, will work to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine. Leveraging its cluster of healthcare assets and track record of commercializing medical research, the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub will facilitate manufacturing coordination and data sharing, expand lab space and computing capacity, advance genomic technology, and accelerate domestic biotech manufacturing.

Senator Baldwin’s Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in November. Baldwin’s bipartisan legislation would expand and support Tribal Veterans Service Officers and County Veterans Service Officers (CVSO), the community-based employees who work directly with veterans to inform them of eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs and services, file pension and compensation claims, and help them enroll in job, housing, disability, and education benefits. CVSOs play an outsized role in helping veterans in rural, native, and other hard to reach communities connect with VA services.

While CVSOs work tirelessly to connect veterans with their federal benefits, they currently receive zero funding from the federal government. Specifically, the legislation would create a grant program to improve outreach to veterans and increase the number of county and tribal veterans service officers. By increasing the number of CVSOs, states will also be better able to leverage their local and federal resources to serve our veterans.

Senator Baldwin’s County of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation with bipartisan support. This legislation would ensure that all goods sold online list their country-of-origin in order to protect Americans’ right to know where the products they buy are made and promote American-made goods for online shoppers

Senator Baldwin worked to ensure that the Biden Administration boost the use of American-made goods in infrastructure projects, adhering to the standards she successfully fought to include in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ensure taxpayer dollars are supporting American businesses, workers, and economic growth. Senator Baldwin has long fought for strong Buy America measures in federal legislation, successfully including key provisions of her Made in America Act in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

As a result of her efforts, Nokia announced they are creating 200 new jobs at a facility in Kenosha County to manufacture broadband equipment.

Senator Baldwin announced that her bipartisan legislation to support Made in America freight railcars is going into effect, safeguarding our national security against state-owned companies in countries like China. Senator Baldwin introduced Stopping America’s Foreign Enemies Through Rail and Infrastructure National Security Act (SAFE TRAINS Act) with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and successfully added it as an amendment to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The SAFE TRAINS Act of 2021 prohibits railroad freight cars from operating on the U.S. freight railroad interchange system if the cars are manufactured in or use sensitive technologies from a country of concern or an affiliated state-owned enterprise. Countries of concern include nonmarket economies, those that inadequately protect intellectual property rights, and violators of certain foreign trade practices and agreements.

This year, the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) took the first steps to implement Senator Baldwin’s legislation, proposing a rule to place restrictions on newly built freight cars placed into service in the United States.

Senator Baldwin continued working to expand domestic content requirements in Navy shipbuilding programs this year. Baldwin’s American Made Navy Act passed the Senate as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Baldwin’s bill increases domestic content for all Navy shipbuilding programs. The bill ensures that by 2033, any new Navy ship purchased uses 100% domestically produced materials, like propulsion systems, shipboard components, couplings, shafts, support bearings, and more.

This year, the Biden Administration announced an initiative mirroring Senator Baldwin’s Invent Here, Make Here Act to ensure taxpayer-funded technologies are manufactured in the United States. While current law requires federally-funded inventions to be manufactured in the United States, the requirement is often waived, allowing cutting-edge, taxpayer-funded technologies to be licensed to foreign companies and manufactured in countries like China. The Invent Here, Make Here Act would expand newly enhanced waiver requirements, championed by Senator Baldwin last year and passed into law, to all federal agencies commercializing federal research.

President Biden’s Executive Order prioritizes America’s policy of invent it here, make it here to the benefit of American workers, communities, and global supply chain resilience.

In a noteworthy example of the flawed process, an investigative report in August 2022 found that a breakthrough battery technology invented in a federal lab had been licensed to a Chinese company and was being manufactured in China. In the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Senators Baldwin and Rob Portman (R-OH) included a provision to strengthen the waiver process for inventions resulting from federal research at the Department of Homeland Security. These new rules add an additional layer of review for all waivers and prohibit waivers for companies that will manufacture in hostile countries.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions with Democratic and Republican support. The bill requires basic transparency for skyrocketing drug prices. Specifically, it would require pharmaceutical companies to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and submit a transparency and justification report 30 days before they increase the price of drugs that cost at least $100 by more than ten percent over one year or 25 percent over three years.

The Baldwin-backed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allows Medicare to negotiate the price of dozens of drugs with manufacturers for the first time ever, which will cut out-of-pocket costs for seniors, save American taxpayers billions of dollars, and reduce the deficit. In August, the Biden Administration announced the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation under the IRA. In 2022 alone, approximately 9 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries spent over $3.4 billion out-of-pocket on the 10 drugs selected for negotiation. Before the release of the list, Senator Baldwin called on the Biden administration to include several of these same high-priced and widely used drugs that will have the greatest impact for Wisconsinites.

At the beginning of the year, a $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for insulin for seniors on Medicare went into effect because of Inflation Reduction Act, major legislation backed by Senator Baldin. Had the insulin caps been in place in 2020, nearly 32,000 people in Wisconsin would have saved roughly $630 per year in lower out-of-pocket costs.

In May, Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Retaining Access and Restoring Exclusivity (RARE) Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions with Democratic and Republican support. The bill will help preserve access to treatments for rare disease patients, especially children, by incentivizing drug manufacturers to research and develop these treatments.

Senator Baldwin has spent her career fighting to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. This year, Senator Baldwin led 48 Senators in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act, federal legislation to guarantee access to abortion, everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans.

The bill’s introduction followed the Supreme Court’s misguided decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which repealed Roe v. Wade. This decision has stripped access to abortion care for millions of Americans and denied individuals the freedom to make their own health care decisions. The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access and creates federal protections against medically unnecessary restrictions that undermine Americans’ access to health care and intrude upon personal decision-making.

In response to the Supreme Court announcing it will hear a challenge to medication abortion, Senator Baldwin joined her colleagues in introducing a Senate resolution in support of access to the widely used, safe medication abortion drug mifepristone. The resolution affirms that mifepristone is safe and effective, while acknowledging the significant harm that would be posed to both health care providers and patients across the nation if access to mifepristone is blocked.

Senator Baldwin fought to pass legislation that would put into law Americans’ right to contraception and also improve access to contraceptive products, including over-the-counter birth control.

Senator Baldwin has led the charge to limit junk insurance plans that can deny people with pre-existing conditions coverage. Since President Trump first allowed for junk plans to be expanded in 2018, Senator Baldwin has pushed to limit the use of these junk plans, and urged President Biden to take action since he took office. In July, the Biden Administration finally began to roll back a 2018 Trump Administration effort designed to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that made junk plans more widely available to consumers. Since then, these plans have continued to expand, however, they are not required to adhere to important standards, including prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, coverage for the 10 essential health benefit categories, and annual out-of-pocket maximums. Once finalized, the Biden Administration’s rule will restore a 90-day limit on the use of STLDI plans, instead of the current four years maximum, so junk plans can only be used on a temporary basis as intended.

As the opioid and substance use disorder crisis continues to plague American families, Senator Baldwin has led numerous efforts to ensure comprehensive federal resources are available to address this issue. She helped pass major legislation out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee to address the opioid and fentanyl crisis by investing in prevention, treatment recovery, and law enforcement efforts. The bipartisan Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Reauthorization (SUPPORT) Act of 2023 included key provisions Senator Baldwin authored—including her bipartisan Safe Response Act, which will ensure that first responders, including law enforcement and other essential community members, have access to training to use life-saving reversal drugs, like naloxone.

In the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act legislation, Senator Baldwin successfully helped include the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, bipartisan legislation to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis by targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain, from the chemical suppliers in China to the cartels that traffic the drugs from Mexico.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee in December. The legislation reauthorizes a lifesaving program that provides breast and cervical cancer screenings and diagnostic services for women who are low-income, uninsured, or underinsured and who do not qualify for Medicaid. The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which since 1991 has served more than 6.1 million women, detecting nearly 77,000 breast cancers and over 24,000 premalignant breast lesions.

Senator Baldwin announced in October that Wisconsin has been designated by the Biden Administration as a Regional Technology Hub (Tech Hub), an initiative created by the Baldwin-supported CHIPS and Science Act. Additionally, Wisconsin is receiving a $350,000 planning grant to execute its Biohealth Tech Hub strategy. Working with stakeholders across the state, Senator Baldwin has advocated to bring a Tech Hub to Wisconsin, supporting Wisconsin’s application to invest in the Badger State’s growing personalized medicine and biohealth technology industry.

Wisconsin was one of 31 Tech Hubs designated by the U.S. Economic Development Association in the first round of the Regional Innovation and Technology Hub program. Senator Baldwin worked on the CHIPS and Science Act as a member of the Commerce Committee and the Appropriations Committee that provided $500 million to fund the program.

The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, a consortium led by Bioforward Wisconsin, will work to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine. Leveraging its cluster of healthcare assets and track record of commercializing medical research, the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub will facilitate manufacturing coordination and data sharing, expand lab space and computing capacity, advance genomic technology, and accelerate domestic biotech manufacturing.

After years of advocating, Senator Baldwin applauded the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) finalized rule that cracks down on predatory activist hedge funds and better protects Main Street economies. The new rule boosts oversight and brings more transparency to the private equity and hedge fund industry by cutting in half the amount of time that investors and hedge funds have to divulge large stakes in publicly traded companies. The change mirrors key provisions of Senator Baldwin’s Brokaw Act, legislation named after a small Wisconsin village that went bankrupt after an out-of-state activist hedge fund bought up the Wausau Paper Company and shuttered the community’s main employer, the Brokaw mill.

Senator Baldwin’s Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in November. Baldwin’s bipartisan legislation would expand and support Tribal Veterans Service Officers and County Veterans Service Officers (CVSO), the community-based employees who work directly with veterans to inform them of eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs and services, file pension and compensation claims, and help them enroll in job, housing, disability, and education benefits. CVSOs play an outsized role in helping veterans in rural, native, and other hard to reach communities connect with VA services.

While CVSOs work tirelessly to connect veterans with their federal benefits, they currently receive zero funding from the federal government. Specifically, the legislation would create a grant program to improve outreach to veterans and increase the number of county and tribal veterans service officers. By increasing the number of CVSOs, states will also be better able to leverage their local and federal resources to serve our veterans.

After working for years with veterans whose neurological conditions were misdiagnosed by a doctor at the Tomah VA Medical Center and subsequently denied compensation and benefits, Senator Baldwin successfully pushed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide these impacted veterans their earned benefits. Earlier this year, Senator Baldwin announced that she successfully got the VA to identify and reexamine veterans who could have been misdiagnosed by Dr. Mary Jo Lanska. The VA is using these exams to readjudicate the original claims filed by these Veterans, meaning that they will not have to file a new claim and they could be eligible for years of benefits backdated to their original effective date. Additionally, for Veterans who have passed away since the original exam, the VA will contact their survivors to initiate the readjudication process and provide benefits accordingly.

Since the June announcement, the VA reviewed 941 Veterans’ exams performed by Dr. Lanska and found that 649 Veterans may have been negatively impacted by Dr. Lanska’s exams, making them eligible for a new exam and benefits.

For years, Senator Baldwin has been calling on the Surface Transportation Board to move forward with rules to address unreliable rail service and the high costs of rail shipping for American businesses. This year, the Board finally proposed a rule that will increase transparency and competition in the freight rail industry. The lack of reliable rail service disrupts operations for our farmers, loggers, energy producers, and manufacturers, causing higher prices and leading to increased costs passed on to consumers.

The proposed rule would also set several objective and measurable standards when evaluating service levels. The proposed rule would require Class I carriers, the six largest carriers, to submit publicly accessible data and to adopt a new requirement that shippers can request service data from rail carriers to better understand inadequacies that negatively impact American businesses and consumers.

Senator Baldwin led a bipartisan effort calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to complete a transition plan for airports looking to move away from firefighting foams containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an emerging contaminant that has been found in drinking water across the country, often in proximity to airports. In response, FAA released its plan, and the first fluorine-free foam was approved by the Department of Defense and FAA in September.

Senator Baldwin successfully urged the Army Corps of Engineers to provide dredging funds for Cornucopia Harbor for the first time since 2008. Cornucopia Harbor, located on the northern end of the Bayfield Peninsula on Lake Superior, is a crucial economic driver for the local area. The harbor consists of two marinas, and it supports over $6 million in business revenue, over 70 jobs, the largest U.S.-based fishery on the Great Lakes, and a vessel from the Red Cliff Tribe Fisheries.

This year, Senator Baldwin secured funding in the Senate appropriations bill that supports military construction projects across Wisconsin, including a National Guard small arms range in Milwaukee, underground pipelines at General Mitchell International Airport, and an Army National Guard Readiness Center in Viroqua.

Moreover, Senator Baldwin secured $18 million in additional funding for mental health care for members of the National Guard in the Senate appropriations bill. Part of this funding will be used to hire additional providers specifically for National Guard members. She also successfully advocated for continued funding in the Senate appropriations bill of the Veterans Crisis Line.

Senator Baldwin secured additional funding for workforce development for the Frigate shipbuilding program at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. These funds will both support our national security and aid in the creation of well-paying, highly technical jobs in Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin also successfully secured additional funding for the Army’s tactical vehicles produced in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to enable the company to meet its minimum sustaining rates, thereby supporting the Tactical Wheeled Vehicles industrial base, which is made of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses across Midwest and thousands of jobs in Wisconsin.

Senator Baldwin reintroduced her Legacies of War Recognition and Unexploded Ordnance Removal Act, a bill that authorizes humanitarian aid to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia with respect to the clearance of unexploded ordnance. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she secured additional funding for conventional weapons destruction programs, including funds dedicated to Southeast Asia.

Senator Baldwin continued to advocate for programs that protect LGBTQI+ rights globally, including funding remained in the Senate appropriations bill for these offices and programs.

Senator Baldwin led her colleagues in sending a letter to the President advocating for more humanitarian aid to Gaza; this letter was followed by the Israeli government’s announcement of the opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing. She also advocated for greater U.S. contributions to international aid and for increased U.S. advocacy in reducing harm to civilians in Gaza.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (FEED) Act of 2023 advanced out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Innovative FEED Act is legislation that will allow farmers, ranchers, and producers to access new innovative feed products that will help them compete on the global stage and reduce byproducts. This legislation is supported by more than 150 agribusiness stakeholders.

Senator Baldwin supported an amendment included in the Senate-passed National Defense Reauthorization that would prevent foreign adversaries – China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran – from acquiring American farmland or agribusiness. The bill enables the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review all significant agriculture-related foreign investments using expert data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it will empower CFIUS to prohibit future purchases of farmland by our foreign adversaries.

Senator Baldwin lead a bipartisan letter in and secured language in the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations bill directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to administer assistance to the organic dairy industry to help recover from high feed costs due to trade issues, the war in Ukraine, and COVID. USDA began to make the funding available this summer, and Senator Baldwin continues to call on the agency to make all available funding available to assist organic farmers.

Senator Baldwin called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure strong organic standards of housing for livestock and poultry, and USDA finalized their organic rules in October. Baldwin has led on this issue for years, including by introducing legislation that fights back against imports of fraudulent organic products that undercut American farmers.

For more than a decade, Senator Baldwin has been fighting for the National Parks Service to upgrade the designation of the Ice Age Trail and North Country Trail. Senator Baldwin has long led in introducing the bipartisan National Scenic Trails Parity Act, bipartisan legislation to grant unit status to three National Scenic Trails that are part of the National Park System (NPS), including the Ice Age and North Country National Scenic Trails, to improve management, establish administrative clarity, and grant access to additional federal resources.

This year, Senator Baldwin and the National Parks Service announced the upgraded designation, providing the trails with improved management and access to additional funding to maintain and preserve these critical resources for Wisconsin.

In June, Senator Baldwin secured $1.05 billion in federal funding to help Wisconsin close its digital divide. The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, authorized by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will build high-speed, affordable broadband access to unserved and underserved locations across the state. Wisconsin received this funding after Senator Baldwin successfully “badgered the FCC” to improve its broadband map in advance of the $1 billion allocation to more accurately reflect Internet access across the state.

Data for American Jobs Act Passes HELP Committee

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Data for American Jobs Act advanced through the HELP Committee as part of its Advancing Research in Education Act. The bill support career and technical education (CTE) and expand pathways to good-paying jobs. By including CTE as a specific research topic for the National Center for Education Research’s development centers and priorities in the Institute for Education Sciences’ data collection and statistics efforts, promoting voluntary guidelines to standardize data and ensure interoperability, and reforming the State Longitudinal Data System grant program to better incorporate workforce data and labor market outcomes, the legislation ensures that federal education data and research incorporates CTE to help improve states’ career readiness programs, meet the needs of the economy, and expand the skilled workforce. The bill builds on Senator Baldwin’s leadership as a co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus.

In 2023, Senator Baldwin voted to confirm 69 judges to lifetime appointments, bringing the total under President Biden to 166. These appointees bring historic demographic diversity to the bench, including more people of color confirmed to federal circuit courts than under any other President and more Black women confirmed to federal circuit courts than all prior Presidents combined. Confirmations include the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge, the first Black woman to serve on the Eleventh Circuit, the first Latino judge to serve on the D.C. Circuit, the first Asian-American judge to serve on the Third Circuit, the first Native American woman confirmed to the federal bench in Oklahoma, the first Native Hawaiian woman to serve on the federal bench, first openly LGBTQ federal district court judge in Virginia, and the first openly LGBTQ federal district court judge in Puerto Rico.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan bill to ensure women are reflected on our National Mall passed the House of Representatives unanimously in 2023. In 2020, Senator Baldwin voted to create the Women’s Suffrage National Monument on federal lands in Washington, D.C., but the legislation did not authorize the establishment of the monument on the National Mall. With this bipartisan bill, Senator Baldwin is fighting to ensure that women’s history – and Wisconsin’s history as the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment – receives its rightful place on our National Mall.