2019: Delivering Results for Wisconsin

In 2019, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin continued her work reaching across party lines to get things done for Wisconsinites. 

Senator Baldwin’s ENROLL Act, which has now passed the House of Representatives, would restore funding for the Navigator program that helps millions of people find comprehensive health care plans that meet their needs at prices they can afford. Senator Baldwin has also introduced the Advancing Youth Enrollment Act, which would help nearly 5 million uninsured young adults be eligible to receive additional financial support to help reduce their monthly health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

Senator Baldwin has worked to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions by leading the effort to limit the proliferation of “junk plans” – short-term insurance plans that can exclude coverage for essential benefits and provide no protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. She introduced her No Junk Plans Act, which would overturn the Trump Administration’s expansion of junk insurance plans that don’t have to provide health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and worked to ensure that Wisconsinites are aware of the limits of these plans during open enrollment.

Senator Baldwin reintroduced her bipartisan FAIR Drug Pricing Act to require drug companies to publicly justify price increases and bring basic transparency to the market for prescription drugs. Senator Baldwin’s bill passed the House of Representatives, and she has now called on the Senate to take immediate action to ensure that we take on the rising costs of medicine people depend on and bring relief to American families.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured federal opioid response grant funding and flexibility for Wisconsin to be able to use that funding to help patients suffering from meth and cocaine dependency, in addition to opioid use disorder. And, she helped introduce the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, which would provide $100 billion over ten years to fight this crisis.

Wisconsin is on the frontlines of the outbreak of severe lung disease connected to vaping. Senator Baldwin made sure that the CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center to support our state and address this outbreak, and she called on the Senate HELP Committee hold an oversight hearing. Following her request, the HELP Committee held such a hearing in November on the outbreak and the rise in youth use of vaping products.

Senator Baldwin introduced the bipartisan Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act with Senators Crapo, Brown, and Cornyn to prohibit Chinese state-owned enterprises from winning federal government contracts to provide buses and railcars to U.S. transit systems. Chinese state-owned enterprises put American workers out of business. The legislation was included in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and has been signed into law.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Strengthening Buy America for Small Shipyards Act was signed into law as part 2020 NDAA. The bill closes a loophole in the Maritime Administration’s rules that allow federal small shipyard grants to be used to purchase foreign-made equipment. The bill supports Wisconsin businesses, manufacturers and workers.

Senator Baldwin introduced the Made in America Act, which identifies federal programs that fund infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and ensures that materials used in these federal programs, including steel, iron and aluminum, are domestically produced. When certifying that materials used in construction are ‘Made in America,’ the bill requires the Department of Commerce to ensure that American jobs are supported.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured $164.8 million in research and development funding for critical industries in Wisconsin—including investments into longer lasting battery technology, converting military vehicles to electric hybrids, and improving the survivability of troop-carrying vehicles for the U.S. military. The majority of these funds will go to small and medium sized enterprises in Wisconsin. 

Asa member of theAppropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured funding to restore cuts made by the Trump Administration to jobs with Oshkosh Defense in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The final spending bill included the necessary funding to allow for the productions lines of multiple Oshkosh wheeled vehicles to stay open.

This year, Senator Baldwin worked to ensure her FARMERS FIRST Act was fully funded at $10 million, an increase of $8 million over last year. Baldwin’s reform provides federal funding to state departments of agriculture, state extension services, non-profits and tribes to establish helplines and websites, provide suicide prevention training for farm advocates, create support groups and reestablish the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.

During the debate on the 2018 Farm Bill, Senator Baldwin successfully fought to include her bipartisan Dairy Business Innovation Act. In 2019, she secured $20 million for the new program, which is focused on supporting innovation in dairy products so that dairy processors and farmers can reach new markets and increase income in Wisconsin. In August, USDA selected Wisconsin to host the new Dairy Business Innovation Alliance, one of only three sites nationwide. With the federal funds Senator Baldwin fought for, Wisconsin dairy farmers, cheese makers, and other dairy entrepreneurs will be able to develop new dairy products, update marketing strategies, and take steps to build an economically resilient future for Wisconsin’s dairy farmers and our rural economy.

Senator Baldwin has advocated for a level playing field for organic farmers. Senator Baldwin secured $2 million in increased funding for the National Organic Program to implement reforms she secured in the 2018 Farm Bill that address fraud in imported organic products. She also successfully pressed to include language that will ensure that all organic dairies are held to the same standards.

When retaliatory tariffs hit Wisconsin farmers, Senator Baldwin called on Agriculture Secretary Perdue to address the losses farmers faced through no fault of their own. USDA made Market Facilitation Payments to compensate for some of the losses. Unfortunately, some of the aid went to foreign firms, including one owned by Brazilian billionaires. Senator Baldwin called out this unfairness and pressed USDA to focus the trade aid where it was intended to go—to rural communities hit hard by the trade wars.

Back in 2017, Senator Baldwin raised the alarm when Canada imposed a trade barrier using their Class 7 pricing system, which resulted in millions of dollars in lost markets for Wisconsin dairy farmers and processors.  She met with U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert Lighthizer and with Secretary of Agriculture Perdue and pressed them to secure a solution. After more than a year of negotiations, the final USMCA deal resulted in an end to Class 7 and substantial new dairy access into Canada. 

Senator Baldwin worked closely with cheese makers and dairy exporters to address the retaliatory tariffs put on products they sent to Mexico, and they were lifted in June. By the end of the year, the final USMCA agreement had secured more progress Senator Baldwin advocated for on behalf of her Wisconsin constituents. The deal preserved important access for our world class cheese makers to be able to sell their cheeses to Mexico buyers using their common names, like mozzarella, cheddar, and Swiss. These were key steps to fight back against unfair geographical indications policy and ensure that our top notch Wisconsin cheese can compete fairly in foreign marketplaces.

Senator Baldwin continued to stand up for fairness for dairy farmers by combatting the misuse of dairy names on non-dairy food products that use dairy’s good name without doing the hard work dairy farmers do each day to deliver healthy, high quality milk to consumers. She reintroduced her bipartisan DAIRY PRIDE Act and questioned FDA Commissioner Gottlieb at a Senate hearing. She also questioned the nominee slated to replace Gottlieb when the Senate was reviewing his credentials.

Senator Baldwin secured $320 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for Fiscal Year 2020, an increase of $20 million over last year. Since its inception, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has tripled the successful cleanup and delisting of Areas of Concern, reduced phosphorus runoff and the threat of harmful algal blooms, controlled and stopped the advancement of invasive species, and restored wildlife habitat over thousands of miles of rivers and waterways.

Senator Tammy Baldwin has been sounding the alarm for years on the threat Asian carp pose to our Great Lakes, our quality of life in Wisconsin and our freshwater economy. In 2019, she continued to urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with the Brandon Road Study that would address this enormous threat to our Great Lakes. In May, the Army Corps approved this plan that will help prevent the spread of Asian carp into our waters. This is a major step forward, and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin then secured funding for this project. 

Senator Baldwin secured $4 million toward the establishment of a new Great Lakes Ice Breaker program office within the Coast Guard. Vessel delays caused by the 2018-2019 ice season resulted in the loss of jobs that are dependent upon the U.S. fleet's ability to deliver cargo throughout the Great Lakes region. Businesses that depend upon the region's maritime industry lost over $1 billion in revenues because of delays caused by inadequate icebreaking.

Senator Baldwin fought the Trump Administration’s plan to close the Blackwell Job Corps Center in Forest County. The Administration reversed course and the Center stayed open. Senator Baldwin expressed strong opposition to DOL Secretary Acosta and USDA Secretary Perdue in letters and phone calls, highlighting the personal stories of affected students and community members. Additionally, Baldwin teamed up with a bipartisan group of Senators, led by Senator Tester, to introduce the Job Corps Protection Act that blocks the Administration from using federal government funds in 2019 or 2020 to close any Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers in the United States.

Senator Baldwin introduced the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which would create a standard requiring health care and social service employers to implement workplace violence prevention plan and protect employees from violent incidents. The House of Representatives passed the bill in November. 

Senator Baldwin introduced the PARTNERS Act, legislation to invest in public-private partnerships, boost apprenticeship programs for workers and help close the skills gap in Wisconsin. The bill establishes a grant program to support the creation and expansion of industry and sector partnerships to help small and medium sized businesses develop work-based learning programs and provide mentoring and support services for workers. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured an additional $15 million funding for Apprenticeship Grants from the Department of Labor and language encouraging DOL to support funding sector partnerships as a means of expanding registered apprenticeships in in-demand industries.

Senator Baldwin led a group of Senators in writing to Ambassador Lighthizer to demand improvements to the Labor Chapter of the USMCA, which were accepted in the final deal. These changes included truly enforceable labor standards that benefit American workers.

Senator Baldwin joined Senator Brown in again introducing the Butch Lewis Act, which has been passed by the House of Representatives. The bill would put failing pension plans on stable ground, solving the pension crisis that threatens more than 1.3 million workers and retirees nationwide – including 25,000 in Wisconsin – and putting small business around the country on the hook for a pension liability they cannot afford. Senator Baldwin continues to call on Mitch McConnell to bring the bill up for a vote in the Senate. Senator Baldwin reintroduced her Pension Stability Act to generate new revenue for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which covers over 10 million workers and retirees in the multiemployer program and is projected to run out of money by 2025.

To accompany the reintroduction of her Reward Work Act, Senator Baldwin led a hearing to hear from workers and experts about the effect of buybacks on the economy and workers.

Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan amendment, which will require the Securities and Exchange Commission to study the effects of stock buybacks for the first time, was included in the Fiscal Year 2020 Appropriations bill.

Senator Baldwin’s HAVEN Act was signed into law. The bipartisan bill amends current bankruptcy law to protect veterans experiencing financial hardship. Prior to the passage of the HAVEN Act, disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense were included when calculating a debtor’s disposable income when in bankruptcy.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured $56 million for implementation of the Jason Simcakoski Memorial and Promise Act, or “Jason’s Law.” This landmark legislation, which was signed into law in 2016, continues to hold the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs accountable by strengthening oversight of the VA's opioid prescribing practices and providing safer care for our veterans. 

The bipartisan Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act was included in the annual defense bill and signed into law, repealing an earlier law that penalizes Gold Star families by preventing them from receiving the full survivor benefits they have earned and paid for. The problem was made worse by the 2017 tax law. Senator Baldwin joined Senator Jones in introducing the legislation to fix the problem.

Senator Baldwin reintroduced her bipartisan American Aviator Act in October. The bill authorizes grant funding to support flight training for veterans to become commercial airline pilots. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin secured $5 million for the grants in Fiscal Year 2020 funding legislation signed into law in December.

Senator Baldwin introduced the bipartisan National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which would designate a three-digit code – 988 – to make accessing the current, ten-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line quicker and easier for individuals in crisis. This measure was unanimously approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in December.  

Senator Baldwin sent a letter in March to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau that led to an investigation uncovering the mishandling of numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault within the Wisconsin National Guard. The WING has reviewed and began revising its sexual assault response policies and procedures.

Senator Baldwin secured $22 million in funding for the Department of Defense to research Gulf War Illness, the first time the Gulf War Illness Research Program was specifically listed to receive funding under DOD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Senator Baldwin supports permanent tax relief to help craft breweries create jobs and grow our Made in Wisconsin economy. Her bipartisan Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act was introduced in February and would permanently cut taxes and modernize regulations for brewers, as well as cider makers, wine makers and distillers. The temporary tax cut for craft brewers was extended for an additional year as part of Fiscal Year 2020 funding legislation.

The start-up deduction for new businesses would be increased under Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Support Our Startups Act, which she reintroduced in November.

After hearing from local communities recovering from severe storms and floods, Senator Baldwin introduced the bipartisan Rebuilding Stronger Infrastructure Act in June to help states rebuild more resilient roads, highways and bridges. The bill was included in the Senate’s highway reauthorization bill, which was approved by the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin included directions in the Fiscal Year 2020 funding legislation for the Department of Transportation to partner with states, tribes and local entities to improve the resiliency of transportation assets, as well as provide the tools, technical assistance and training needed for this work.

Senator Baldwin’s Connecting Opportunities through Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transportation Efficiencies (COMMUTE) Act was also included in the Senate’s highway reauthorization bill. The bipartisan reform would provide data to states and local governments to measure accessibility to local businesses and important destinations, as well as inform investments in transportation systems. 

Senator Baldwin joined her colleagues in establishing a committee that is examining how climate change is threatening our country’s economic and national security interests. The committee is also investigating how addressing this challenge provides significant opportunities for Americans across our economy. As part of this effort, Senator Baldwin led a hearing where she invited local Wisconsin officials and national experts to share their recommendations on actions we can take now to help Wisconsin communities better withstand future disasters and rebuild after severe weather.

Senator Baldwin has been leading efforts to address PFAS contamination in Wisconsin. She traveled to Marinette, Wisconsin to hold a roundtable with community members affected by PFAS contamination and wrote to the EPA and CDC demanding the agencies devote more resources to develop PFAS testing technology and to investigate how PFAS exposure harms human health. She also supported the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act that would have regulated two common PFAS chemicals in drinking water.

Senator Baldwin helped to introduce the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve the accuracy of the Federal Communication Commission’s broadband maps used to target federal supports for broadband expansion to communities that need them the most. The Senate unanimously passed this legislation in December. 

Senator Baldwin led the effort to reject President Trump’s proposed elimination of CDBG. Fiscal Year 2020 funding legislation included an increase for CDBG, which funds local community development initiatives that support jobs, housing, infrastructure, and public services for millions of Americans.

Senator Baldwin introduced the bipartisan Early Detection to Stop Infant Abuse and Prevent Fatalities Act, legislation that would develop new and expanded trainings and best practices to support medical and child welfare professionals in identifying and responding to signs of potential abuse in infants. This measure was incorporated into a measure reauthorizing the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which was approved by the Senate HELP Committee in December. 

Senator Baldwin traveled with a bipartisan group of Senators to Vietnam, where she met with local organizations and individuals working in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos who risk their lives to remove landmines and unexploded ordinance left over from the war in Vietnam. After witnessing this heroic work, Senator Baldwin returned to the Senate to secure $31 million in funding for demining efforts in Angola, Cambodia, Kosovo, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

The FUTURE Act permanently extends funding for tribal colleges and universities in Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin supported the legislation, which is now law. 

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin helped ensure Fiscal Year 2020 legislation rejected deep cuts in the President’s budget proposal. Increased funding was included for Indian Health Service and programs funded through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education.

Senator Baldwin was joined by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) in introducing a bill to designate a post office in Sun Prairie as the Fire Captain Cory Barr Post Office Building. The legislation honors Fire Captain Cory James Barr, a first responder who was killed in 2018 by an explosion while responding to a natural gas leak in Sun Prairie. The bill was signed into law in October.

Senator Baldwin was joined by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) in introducing a bill to designate a post office in New Richmond as the Captain Robert C. Harmon and Private John R. Peirson Post Office. The legislation honors Captain Robert C. Harmon and Private John R. Peirson, who were both killed during World War II. The Senate unanimously passed this legislation in November.

Forty-eight years after unceremoniously receiving a Purple Heart in the mail, a Vietnam War veteran living in Baldwin, Wisconsin, finally had his brave service properly recognized. In August 2019, Baldwin honored the military service of Maloy “Ole” Monicken by formally presenting him with the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medals. Senator Baldwin joined Mr. Monicken’s family and friends for this presentation, as well as Army Reserve Soldiers from the 88th Readiness Division in Ft. McCoy, National Guard Soldiers from 1st Battalion of the 128th Infantry in Eau Claire, local elected officials, veterans, and community leaders.