Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Senator for Vermont Patrick Leahy

10.20.22

(THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022) — Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-53) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), along with 13 of their colleagues, urged the leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to include their amendment requiring human rights vetting of security cooperation programs in the final FY 2023 NDAA conference agreement. In a letter to Chairman Reed, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Inhofe, and Ranking Member Rogers, the Members advocated for the House-passed provisions of their Upholding Human Rights Abroad Act that close critical loopholes in Leahy Laws and guarantee human rights vetting of U.S. security assistance, including Section 127e and 1202 programs, in order to prevent U.S. taxpayer funds from aiding human rights abusers.

“This provision would strengthen the U.S. commitment to human rights by increasing vetting measures to ensure that recipients of U.S. support have not committed human rights violations or violations of international humanitarian law,” wrote the Members. “Consistent with the Department of Defense Leahy Law, this provision allows for the use of a national security waiver. We are confident that the provision provides adequate flexibility to continue to address U.S. national security priorities and that, given information obtained by the State Department, there are adequate resources available to undertake this additional vetting. To the extent that additional resources are required, we are committed to ensuring that the Department has what it needs to carry out this important function. This provision would help prevent civilian harm, ensure partner compliance with human rights, and improve intended long-term outcomes toward good governance, rule of law, peace, and human rights promotion.”

The letter led by Rep. Sara Jacobs and Senator Van Hollen was signed by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Reps. Jason Crow (CO-06), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Albio Sires (NJ-08), Dina Titus (NV-01), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Colin Allred (TX-32), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), and Dean Phillips (MN-03).

Full text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Chairman Reed, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Inhofe, and Ranking Member Rogers:

As the House and Senate conferees negotiate the final FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we strongly urge you to retain the House-passed provisions of our Upholding Human Rights Abroad Act that require human rights vetting for Department of Defense security cooperation programs under 10 U.S. Code § 127e and §1202 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2018 in the final conference agreement.

While the Leahy Laws prohibit the provision of security assistance to units or individuals that have been found to have committed gross violations of human rights, not all forms of U.S. assistance are subject to this critical human rights vetting requirement. For example, recipients receiving security cooperation support under § 127e and §1202 are not required to undergo human rights vetting. This provision would apply human rights vetting to these authorities, ensuring that U.S. assistance to foreign forces is carried out in a manner consistent with our values.

§ 127e permits the Secretary of Defense to expend up to $100 million to provide support to “foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals” who facilitate or support authorized U.S. special operations forces to combat terrorism. According to open-source reporting, this authority has been used to conduct operations in Somalia, Libya, Kenya, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – all of which have had serious concerns raised in the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for years.

§1202 permits the Secretary of Defense to expend up to $10 million per year to provide support for partners who facilitate or support authorized irregular warfare operations by U.S. special operations forces. While there is very little opensource reporting on where this program is used, Secretary Esper has said it is focused on “non-terrorist threats, including malign state actors.”

This provision would strengthen the U.S. commitment to human rights by increasing vetting measures to ensure that recipients of U.S. support have not committed human rights violations or violations of international humanitarian law. Consistent with the Department of Defense Leahy Law, this provision allows for the use of a national security waiver. We are confident that the provision provides adequate flexibility to continue to address U.S. national security priorities and that, given information obtained by the State Department, there are adequate resources available to undertake this additional vetting. To the extent that additional resources are required, we are committed to ensuring that the Department has what it needs to carry out this important function.

This provision would help prevent civilian harm, ensure partner compliance with human rights, and improve intended long-term outcomes toward good governance, rule of law, peace, and human rights promotion.

Thank you for your leadership and commitment to matters of human rights, and we urge you to include this important provision in the final FY 2023 NDAA conference agreement.

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Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

10.20.22

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senate Finance Committee Republicans to send a letter to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting an update on outstanding issues that GAO has previously advised the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to remedy. The Senators note the IRS lacks attention to oversight, transparency and accountability, raising the need for increased oversight by Congress and others. With roughly $80 billion in unbridled new funding, the IRS has no excuse for not addressing existing problems at the agency, including lack of taxpayer privacy protections in light of IRS data leaks.

The letter requests information on what high-risk IRS issues previously identified by GAO remain outstanding and details of the “significant deficiencies in internal controls” identified in GAO’s recent audit. The Senators request additional details of the “unresolved information system security control deficiencies” identified in GAO’s audit and ask for confirmation that prior to the $80 billion granted the IRS by the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which Lankford strongly opposed, that IRS already received more than $3 billion of supplemental funding and asks for a list of outstanding GAO recommendations to the IRS for agency improvements and adherence to the law.

The Senators wrote in their letter, “Among the many unfortunate characteristics of what P.L. 117-169 labels ‘enhancement’ of IRS resources is absence of any substantive enhancement to how the supersized funding will be managed and overseen. This works against accountability, transparency and protections against abuse, and improved internal funding controls. Concerns over lack of additional oversight resources proportionate to the vast increase in IRS funding derived from partisan legislation are especially warranted given recent IRS abuses of taxpayers, including violations of civil rights, inappropriate and systematic targeting of non-profit applicants and groups based on political beliefs and inappropriate IRS mixing of politics with religious beliefs.”

Earlier this month, Lankford and Finance Republicans sent a letter to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Russell George requesting information on how TIGTA will provide American taxpayers with needed visibility into what the IRS will do with its massive new multi-year funding stream, particularly as just a sliver of this funding is set aside for oversight and taxpayer services, as opposed to tens of billions earmarked for enforcement.

You can read the full letter HERE or below:

Dear Comptroller Dodaro,

With the enactment of recent legislation, the need for increased oversight of and transparency with respect to certain public spending is acute. Public Law No. 117-169 labeled by some as the “Inflation Reduction Act,” was signed into law on August 16 of this year. P.L. 117-169 contains a largely unbridled $79,621,533,803 appropriation to supersize the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Supersizing is an appropriate descriptor given that, according to the IRS’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Congressional Budget Justification, the IRS’s total annualized budgetary resources for FY 2022 was $13,973,097,000. Accordingly, the 10?year, nearly $80 billion “supplement” to normal annual appropriations from P.L. 117-169 represents 5.7 times the amount of budgetary resources the IRS had to work with in FY 2022. 

If the near-$80 billion is spent out evenly over time, for FY 2023 the IRS will be receiving a supersized 57 percent boost relative to FY 2022. Such an outsized boost to agency funding, derived from legislation developed and passed in partisan fashion, in our view represents a high risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and improper politicized utilization of taxpayer resources.

The near-$80 billion infusion of funds is distributed in Sec. 10301 of P.L 117-169 as follows:

Purpose	Appropriation	Percent of Total Amount Appropriated
Taxpayer Services	$3,181,500,000	4.00%
Enforcement	$45,637,400,000	57.32%
Operations Support	$25,326,400,000	31.81%
Business System Modernization	$4,750,700,000	5.97%
Task Force to Design an IRS-Run “Free” Direct eFile Tax Return System	$15,000,000	0.02%
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)	$403,000,000	0.51%
Office of Tax Policy	$104,533,803	0.13%
United States Tax Court	$153,000,000	0.19%
Treasury Departmental Offices	$50,0000,000	0.06%
TOTAL	$79,621,533,803	100%

The bulk—more than 57 percent—of added IRS funding is assigned to tax enforcement. Taxpayer services, according to the partisan funding boost, gets shorted, representing a mere four percent of the overall near-$80 billion of added appropriations.

Among the many unfortunate characteristics of what P.L. 117-169 labels as “enhancement” of IRS resources is the absence of any substantive enhancement to how the supersized funding will be managed and overseen. This works against accountability, transparency, protections against abuse, and improved internal funding controls. While we expect that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) will continue to perform its oversight, the partisan legislation devoted only 0.51 percent of its supersized funding to TIGTA, while TIGTA will, under P.L. 117-169, be required to oversee enforcement activities that received 57.32 percent of the supersized funding, as well as activities within the vague “operations support” area, which also includes enforcement programs and which obtained 31.81 percent of the added appropriations. 

Concerns over lack of additional oversight resources proportionate to the vast increase in IRS funding derived from partisan legislation are especially warranted given recent IRS abuses of taxpayers, including violations of civil rights, inappropriate and systematic targeting of non?profit applicants and groups based on political beliefs and inappropriate IRS mixing of politics with religious beliefs.

Under a fund-now, plan-later approach to funding the IRS that has been pursued in P.L. 117-169, the Secretary of the Treasury has requested that the IRS Commissioner and the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury arrive at some sort of a plan for how the added $80 billion of IRS resources will be used. Such planning solely within the executive branch does not dampen concerns over major ongoing IRS issues, including the agency’s targeting and inability to protect confidential, private, and legally protected personal taxpayer information.

Congress and the American people rely on inspectors general, fully functional oversight boards, and, importantly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), to help provide accountability, transparency, and bipartisan inclusion in agencies use of hard-earned taxpayer resources. That will especially be the case with monitoring and overseeing the outsized partisan infusion of nearly $80 billion devoted to IRS activities, focused on enforcement, provided in P.L 117-169.

We ask that GAO provide initial guidance to Congress on its plans to help provide all of the American people eyes into what will transpire with the massive new IRS funding.  Specifically, please respond by November 4, 2022, to our following initial inquiries:

1. What high-risk items associated with the IRS and identified by GAO remain outstanding and not yet fully resolved? The IRS no longer has the excuse, at least until Sec. 10301 of P.L 117-169 is either modified or repealed, that it lacks funds.
2. What, in detail, are the “significant deficiencies in internal controls” identified in GAO’s Financial Audit of IRS’s FY 2021 and FY 2020 Financial Statements (the Audit) that led GAO auditors to find lack of IRS compliance with requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996?
3. As noted in the Audit,

“we determined that unresolved information system security control deficiencies from prior audits, along with new information control deficiencies, collectively represent a significant deficiency over financial reporting…these business process application and general control deficiencies increase the risk of unauthorized access to, modifications of, or disclosure of sensitive financial and taxpayer data and disruption of critical operations and are therefore important enough to merit the attention of those charged with governance of IRS.” 

Please provide details regarding that finding, which caused GAO auditors to also write:

“…unresolved and newly identified control deficiencies continue to exist.  For example, deficiencies exist in the business process application and general controls concerning (1) improper configuration of security settings, (2) inadequate implementation of access controls, and (3) inadequate enforcement of encryption mechanisms to protect systems and data.”

4. Please confirm that the IRS received, prior to P.L. 117-169, more than $3 billion of supplementary funding during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 for FY 2020 and FY 2021, in part purportedly for COVID-19 related activities and in part including $1.862 billion from the partisan American Rescue Plan Act.

5. Given billions of supplemental appropriations to the IRS prior to the supersizing of IRS funding in P.L. 117-169, the IRS is positioned to clean up outstanding unresolved failures and shortcomings, many of which have been reflected in recommendations by GAO, TIGTA, Congress, and others.  GAO identifies 168 total Open Recommendations on its website.  Some are labeled as priority, and some “high risk.”  Please provide a list, by GAO prioritization, of outstanding recommendations to the IRS from GAO for agency improvement and adherence to the law.  In addition, please identify the status of the 25 priority recommendations made by GAO to the IRS found in GAO’s June 2021 report titled “IRS Priority Recommendations.”

We appreciate the fact-based, nonpartisan work by the GAO directed at improving federal government activities, working toward efficient and unbiased utilization of hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and monitoring agencies adherence, or not, to laws governing their activities.

With supersized IRS funding having been set in place by P.L. 117-169, it is essential that oversight of the IRS be increased commensurate with the outsized boost in resources provided to the IRS.  We request that you respond to our inquiries provided in items 1-5 above by November 4, 2022, and expect that further IRS oversight requests will be forthcoming.

Sincerely,

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Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) awarded more than $1.4 million in grants to the state of North Carolina to advance and support office recruitment and retention, crisis intervention, de-escalation training, and provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies. 

“Law enforcement officers risk their lives every single day to keep our communities safe, and they deserve training and resources that help them handle the most difficult situations,” said Senator Tillis. “This funding will provide necessary resources and training that will improve safety for law enforcement officers and I applaud the DOJ for their investment in North Carolina’s brave men and women.”

Specifically, North Carolina will receive: 

2022 Community Policing Development (CPD) Program Awards:

1. City of Greenville, Microgrants/ Officer Recruitment and Retention: $175,000
2. City of Kinston, Law Enforcement Agency De-Escalation Grants: $150,000
3. City of New Bern, Implementing Crisis Intervention Teams: $350,000
4. North Carolina Department of Justice Enhancing Existing Law Enforcement Accreditation Entities: $299,051
5. Town of Wilkesboro, Law Enforcement Agency De-Escalation Grants: $77,112

Total: $1,051,163

2022 Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Program Awards: 

1. City of Asheville, Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Implementation Projects: $175,000
2. City of Charlotte, Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Implementation Projects: $175,000

 Total: $350,000

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

October 20, 2022

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced that Grant County will receive nearly $198,000 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds for riparian fencing to control unauthorized livestock grazing.

“These funds will go a long way to help Grant County landowners maintain effective and appropriate grazing practices that enable their family businesses to continue growing and creating jobs in rural communities,” Wyden said. “Fencing is crucial to combat invasive species, prevent overgrazing, and preserve our state’s public landscapes for generations to come. And I’m glad the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law I fought to pass has produced this investment in Grant County.”

“Healthy riparian habitats are valuable not only for wildlife but also water quality and quantity,” said Merkley. “These Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds headed to Grant County will help repair and improve fencing around miles of public land, which will help protect Oregon’s ecosystems while supporting continued livestock grazing for the benefit of local communities and rural economies.” 

The North Fork John Day Riparian Fence Maintenance project will repair or rebuild about 18 miles of riparian fencing to control unauthorized livestock grazing. This project is a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the North Fork John Day Watershed Council (NFJDWC).

These funds are a part of a $10 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 17 project sites to address legacy pollution and conserve ecosystems.

 “At the Department of the Interior, we are using every tool at our disposal to support multiple programs to clean up these legacy environmental hazards, advance environmental justice, support good paying jobs, and safeguard our lands for future generations,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

“The North Fork John Day Riparian Fence Maintenance project will repair or rebuild approximately 18 miles of riparian fencing along the wild and scenic North Fork John Day River,” said Kristen Walz, Executive Director of the North Fork John Day Watershed Council. “Our organization supports broad interests and diverse land use and ownership; well-maintained fences are integral to a multi-use landscape. This project aims to improve grazing management, to promote native plant and wildlife species, and encourage collaboration between the people who live, work, and recreate in the North Fork John Day River. The NFJDWC is excited to be working with the Bureau of Land Management  (BLM) and local contractors to protect this high priority watershed.” 

 

Source: United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen

October 20, 2022

Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Anthony G. Brown, Jamie B. Raskin, and David Trone (all D-Md.) sent a letter to Johns Hopkins Medicine CEO Ted DeWeese and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield President & CEO Brian Pieninck urging the two parties to reach a contract resolution before the upcoming health insurance enrollment deadline to ensure hundreds of thousands of Marylanders do not risk losing access to their current care.

“We write to express our concern regarding the status of the contract negotiations between Johns Hopkins Medicine (Hopkins) and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) that threaten many of our constituents’ access to high-quality, affordable health care in Maryland. We are aware that if an agreement is not reached by December 5, 2022, many Marylanders will need to find new providers or change to a new health insurance plan in order to continue accessing the care they need. Thus, we strongly urge Hopkins and CareFirst to work collaboratively to reach a contract resolution ahead of the December deadline,” the lawmakers wrote.

“We urge both Hopkins and CareFirst to work collaboratively and earnestly to reach a fair contract resolution ahead of the December 5, 2022 deadline that puts patients first, keeps avenues to top tier care open to all that rely on them, and limits the impact on cost of care to patients,” they concluded.

Full text of the letter can be viewed here and below.

Dear Mr. DeWeese and Mr. Pieninck:

We write to express our concern regarding the status of the contract negotiations between Johns Hopkins Medicine (Hopkins) and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) that threaten many of our constituents’ access to high-quality, affordable health care in Maryland. We are aware that if an agreement is not reached by December 5, 2022, many Marylanders will need to find new providers or change to a new health insurance plan in order to continue accessing the care they need. Thus, we strongly urge Hopkins and CareFirst to work collaboratively to reach a contract resolution ahead of the December deadline.

As you know, this negotiation process is occurring during open enrollment season, a critical decision-making time for patients and families as they consider which health plans will work best for them and their loved ones in the coming year. While CareFirst members were advised that this will not immediately impact anyone’s access to healthcare services offered through Hopkins, ongoing negotiation terms for the provider rates continue to increase uncertainty around coverage of primary care and specialty services, surgery centers, hospital in-network status, and the impact on the cost of care for patients. If CareFirst and Hopkins do not come to an agreement, nearly 40,000 providers employed by Hopkins will be out-of-network, including providers at the Johns Hopkins flagship hospital, Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, and Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. We continue to hear from many of our constituents with concerns that a breakdown in negotiations between Hopkins and CareFirst would greatly impede their access to primary and specialty care moving forward.

We believe Hopkins and CareFirst are committed to reaching a resolution that best serves patients across our communities in Maryland and surrounding areas that also rely on this collaborative care system between Hopkins and CareFirst. We applaud the ongoing, good-faith negotiations and remain hopeful that both organizations will find a solution before the December deadline. This resolution is vital for the health of our constituents in Maryland, and patients that rely on specialty care across the Mid-Atlantic region.

We urge both Hopkins and CareFirst to work collaboratively and earnestly to reach a fair contract resolution ahead of the December 5, 2022 deadline that puts patients first, keeps avenues to top tier care open to all that rely on them, and limits the impact on cost of care to patients.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Source: United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen

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Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Denver — Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined Bill Long, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board president, Patrick Fischer, Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Area Manager, Jim Broderick, Executive Director of Southeastern Water Conservancy District, Seth Clayton, Executive Director of Pueblo Water, and Rick Jones, General Manager of May Valley Water, in Pueblo to celebrate the announcement of $60 million in new funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to support the completion of the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) to provide Coloradans with a secure and safe supply of water.

On Monday, Bennet and Hickenlooper welcomed an announcement from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) that the AVC will receive $60 million in funds from the BIL for the AVC to expedite its construction timeline. In July, the senators and U.S. Colorado Representative Ken Buck urged the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and BOR to allocate funds from the infrastructure law for the AVC. The Weeminuche Construction Authority, an enterprise of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, has been awarded the contract for this phase of construction of the AVC.

“Sixty years ago, President Kennedy came to Pueblo and promised to build the Arkansas Valley Conduit to deliver clean drinking water to families in Southeastern Colorado. Since I’ve been in the Senate, I’ve fought to ensure the federal government keeps its word to Colorado and finishes this vital infrastructure project,” said Bennet. “One of the first bills I passed helped to jumpstart and fund construction on the Arkansas Valley Conduit, and with this announcement, we’ve delivered more than $140 million to speed up construction and deliver on this decades-old promise.”

“The Ark Valley Conduit is finally getting built! Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this project will help provide clean drinking water for Southern Colorado,” said Hickenlooper. 

“We have been working hard to move this project from planning to construction. This announcement follows the first construction contract award, and is a clear indication that the District and Reclamation will continue to partner in this long-time effort to bring clean drinking water to the Lower Arkansas Valley. Our Senators were key to securing the new $60 million in funding for the Conduit from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Thanks to our delegation’s long-standing bipartisan support for this project and the support from the State of Colorado, the conduit is on Reclamation’s front line for construction,” said Bill Long, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board president.

“Now more than ever, people in the Arkansas River Valley understand the immense value of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project and the Arkansas Valley Conduit,” said Jeff Rieker, Eastern Colorado Area Manager. “We look forward to the day when these residents can open the faucet and know that their drinking water is safe and healthy.” 

“As a regional leader in water issues in southern Colorado, Pueblo Water is proud and honored to be a part of this historic moment and help push the Arkansas Valley Conduit forward, and we were glad to join Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper today to celebrate this new funding for the Conduit. It was 60 years ago that President Kennedy signed the legislation that created the Frying-Pan- Arkansas project. This is a project that all Southeastern Coloradans rely on, and the AVC is the final piece,” said Seth Clayton, Executive Director of Pueblo Water.

“Just a few months before President Kennedy visited Pueblo in 1962 to authorize construction of the Ark Valley Conduit, family farm members from across the May Valley and the Wiley area came together and organized to bring water to the region, and since then, May Valley Water has served our communities. We’re grateful this new funding will speed up the construction of the Conduit to provide May Valley Water members and consumers with safe and reliable drinking water,” said Rick Jones, General Manager of May Valley Water.

“This is one of the most critical projects that the Colorado Water Conservation Board has been part of,” said Becky Mitchell, Colorado Water Conservation Board Director. “It is essential that every Coloradan – including rural and lower-income communities and our state’s Tribal Nations – have ample access to clean drinking water. It is a basic human right. I commend Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and the Bureau of Reclamation for recognizing this need and taking action.”

The AVC is a planned 130-mile water-delivery system from the Pueblo Reservoir to communities throughout the Arkansas River Valley in Southeast Colorado. This funding will expedite the construction timeline for the Conduit and allow for federal drinking water standards to be met more quickly by local water providers. The Conduit is the final phase of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which Congress authorized in 1962.

Bennet and Hickenlooper have consistently advocated for increased funding for the AVC. In May, the senators sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee to include funding for the AVC in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 spending bill. In March, Bennet and Hickenlooper helped secure $12 million for the Conduit from the FY22 omnibus bill. Bennet and Hickenlooper will continue pushing Washington to ensure Colorado has the resources needed to complete this vital project for the region.

Prior to this announcement, Bennet helped secure more than $80 million for the AVC. In 2009, Congress passed legislation written by Bennet and former U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to authorize a federal cost share for the construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit. 

In 2013, Bennet and his colleagues sent a letter to the BOR to quickly approve the Conduit’s Environmental Impact Study (EIS) in order to expedite the project’s pre-construction process. In 2014, following Bennet and Udall’s efforts to urge the BOR to quickly approve the Conduit’s EIS, the Record of Decision was signed in February. He joined the groundbreaking for the project in October 2020.

Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Tim Scott

Thursday | October 20, 2022

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and five of their Senate Republican colleagues in penning a letter to PayPal seeking answers over PayPal’s recent announcement of a policy intended to financially punish its own customers for expressing views which PayPal arbitrarily classifies as “misinformation.” Though PayPal ultimately rescinded the policy before it could go into effect, the senators “remain concerned about the processes and values in place at PayPal that allowed a policy such as this to move forward in the first place.”

The senators wrote, “As widely reported, PayPal issued an update to the terms and conditions of its AUP, which is scheduled to take effect on November 3, 2022. This update included language that would have allowed PayPal to fine any one of its 429 million users up to $2,500 per offense for spreading ‘misinformation.’ Disturbingly, the drafting of the policy gave PayPal ‘sole discretion’ regarding what constitutes ‘misinformation.’ In effect, PayPal sought the ability to define, then punish its users’ public thoughts.”

The senators continued, “Additionally, PayPal attempted to downplay the dramatic shift in policy this provision envisioned by arguing that its user agreement ‘has long-stated that PayPal can take funds of up to $2,500 or local equivalent from an account for each violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.’ Yet a review of PayPal’s current Prohibited Activities list shows the vast majority of violations arise from breaches of public law or transactions for specific disfavored items or business practices. The addition of a vague prohibition on spreading ‘misinformation’ not only would have concerningly expanded the scope of punishable actions, but also would have decreased clarity and increased subjectivity within the Prohibited Activities list. PayPal users deserve clear rules of the road for using the platform, not punishments for open-ended, subjective offenses.”

“Greater encroachment by large technology and financial companies into public speech will only exacerbate Americans’ increasing mistrust of such institutions. Moreover, countless major news events over the past several years have taught us that public information continually evolves, often causing individuals, groups, and organizations to reassess what once appeared to be settled fact. Given this reality, policies that empower companies to punish individuals’ beliefs by acting as arbiters of fact in our ever-changing news and public debate environment represent poor business decisions. Instead, large technology and financial institutions should focus on serving the needs of their customers without bias,” the senators concluded.

Senators Scott and Tillis were joined by U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

Read the full letter here.

Background

Sen. Scott has been leading the fight against discrimination in financial services. Last week, he sent a letter to PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman expressing his concerns regarding reported updates to the company’s Acceptable Use Policy. The letter cautioned the firm against attempting to usurp the democratic process by using its market power as a financial institution to pick political winners and losers.

Read Senator Scott’s letter here.

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