Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey

Senators call for Commission to advance racial justice by protecting consumers, address discriminatory online practices, biometric surveillance, consumer predation, anti-competitive behavior

Washington (June 22, 2022) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) led his Senate colleagues in a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, urging the Commission to use the full scope of its authority to protect Black, Brown, and Indigenous consumers, communities of color, and immigrant communities from discrimination in the marketplace. In their letter, the Senators commend the FTC for initial steps it has taken to limit the negative impact of biased algorithms on communities of color and note that – with a full complement of five Commissioners – the FTC has the responsibility to use every tool at its disposal to protect consumers from the harms stemming from discriminatory online practices, biometric surveillance, consumer predation, and anti-competitive behavior.

“Consumers in Black communities, other communities of color, and immigrant communities are often harmed first and worst in today’s economy,” wrote the Senators. “We commend you for your attention to the unique threats to these individuals and call on you to do even more to address these issues.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

In addition to Senator Markey, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) signed onto this letter.

In their letter, the Senators call on the FTC to develop a plan to:

1. Build on the Commission’s guidance regarding biased algorithms and use its full enforcement and rulemaking authority to stop damaging practices involving online data and artificial intelligence; 
2. Combat invasive and discriminatory biometric surveillance tools, which pose unique threats to Black, Brown, Indigenous, and immigrant communities due to accuracy issues and over-surveillance of these communities; 
3. Double down on efforts to identify how scams and fraud target marginalized communities, and pursue aggressive enforcement against scammers; and
4. Adopt an approach to competition policy that advances racial justice when evaluating mergers and considering antitrust action or guidance.

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Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement:

“While working in the yard over the weekend, I sustained a serious injury to my right hand, which required immediate surgery. I continue to remain in North Dakota close to medical care as there is a high risk of infection and the possible need for finger amputation. I am alert and in good spirits. Although I am missing this week of votes and hearings, I am monitoring Senate business closely and in constant contact with my colleagues and staff. I plan to return to Washington, after the Independence Day state work period and expect to be doling out a lot of left-handed fist bumps.”

Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, released the following statement in response to President Biden’s forthcoming request to Congress to suspend the gas tax:

“When gas is $5 a gallon, the American people aren’t asking for 18 cents of relief, they want the Trump energy policies back! Suspending the gas tax is nothing more than a knee-jerk political stunt providing minimal relief while blowing a hole in our infrastructure funding. Lest we forget, President Obama called this idea a ‘gimmick.’ Asking Congress to suspend the 18-cent-per-gallon gas tax is a feckless motion to Americans paying $5 at the pump to drive to work and take their long-delayed vacations.

“If the Biden Administration is serious about combating inflation and lowering gas prices, they need to take a complete 180 on their energy policies and pro-regulation agenda.”

Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) served as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee in a hearing for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress. In his opening remarks, Senator Tillis questioned Chairman Powell about the Federal Reserve’s response to combatting inflation that is hurting Americans across the country.

Senator Tillis’ opening remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and welcome Chairman Powell. 

When you testified before this Committee in March, inflation was at a 40-year high, and Federal Reserve regional banks were stonewalling reasonable requests for information about their activities from Banking Republicans. Unfortunately, neither situation has improved.

Let’s begin with inflation. Inflation is even higher now than when we saw you in March, with CPI up 8.6% per year—a new 40-year high.  Getting inflation under control is critical because American families are being squeezed everyday by rising prices and mounting costs. Also critical to any discussion we have on inflation is an understanding of what served to turbo-charge it. 

In March of 2021, the U.S. economy – as measured by a range of economic factors – was well on its way to recovery. Unemployment was 6% – down from its pandemic-worst of nearly 15% – and continuing to make steady monthly improvements towards a tighter labor market. In fact, 18 states already had unemployment rates below 5%, the often-cited threshold used to identify a labor market at very close or full capacity. Likewise, consumer spending had recovered and was actually above pre-pandemic levels by 4.5%. And the personal savings rate had return by 80% to its pre-pandemic rate, indicating Americans were capable and willing to spend.  

Considering these factors – and many others – CBO projected the U.S. would return to pre-COVID economic levels and GDP output by mid-2021, just a couple months away.

At this same time, the Biden Administration was conversely aware of one major area of concern, the disruption of global supply chains. In fact, President Biden issued a February 2021 executive order to review U.S. supply chains, in part acknowledging they were already straining to meet rising consumer demand.

Yet despite these facts – a soon-to-be recovered economy, strong consumer spending, and known limitations on the supply-side due to the documented supply chain issues – the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats still somehow considered it responsible to ram through a partisan $1.9 trillion spending spree. It is little wonder how this catalyzed the inflation we see today. 

And don’t just take my word for it.  Recently, economists at Morgan Stanley blamed record inflation on “excess fiscal stimulus… particularly the last $1.9T package at the end of March 2021…” adding “this is what turbocharged consumption and drove inflation to 40-year highs.” Considering this damning assessment of the last reconciliation package, I can only add that any efforts to revive Democrats’ currently stalled tax and spending legislation would no doubt worsen our economic condition. 

Regarding the Fed specifically – though I am pleased you have begun taking the drastic action necessary to right the U.S. economy – these actions are long-overdue and monetary policy remains too loose.  CPI inflation now stands at 8.6% per year but the Fed funds rate sits at only 1.6%. According to the Fed’s semiannual report, the rate should be over 6% under the Taylor rule.

This disparity indicates not only the lengths the Fed has yet to go to normalize monetary policy, but also the fact that the Fed has largely boxed itself into a menu of purely reactive policy measures. Unless the Fed works quickly to move away from their discretion-based monetary policy approach that has remained consistently well-behind the curve, I am concerned the Fed will lose its credibility to effectively manage the national economic situation. 

Regarding congressional oversight of the Fed, I remain concerned that the Fed and its regional banks continue a pattern of stonewalling reasonable requests for information. The latest example concerns the fairness, transparency, and consistency of Fed decisions to granting highly-valuable Fed master accounts. 

This is a significant public policy issue. Ranking Member Toomey, myself, Senator Lummis, and others have repeatedly requested information about this from the Fed and the Kansas City Fed, yet still have few, if any, answers. 

Just this month, the KC Fed refused to provide any information about its recent decision to revoke the master account of Reserve Trust, a non-bank fintech. This is significant given the controversy that arose in former Governor Raskin’s nomination process when it was revealed that the KC Fed reversed its denial of Reserve Trust’s application for a Fed master account following a call from Ms. Raskin.  Now months after defending its decision to grant Reserve Trust a master account, the KC Fed abruptly revoked the account without explanation. The KC Fed won’t give Banking Republicans information or even a briefing about this curious reversal.

And it is important to point out that Republicans aren’t the only ones who’ve found it difficult to conduct Fed oversight. Several of my Democratic colleagues, including Senators Warren and Menendez, have been vocal when they also found their oversight efforts met with resistance.

To address this unacceptable state of affairs, Congress should increase transparency at the Fed. Two simple steps that Republicans and Democrats can take together are: subject regional Fed banks to FOIA – which they currently are not – and forbid the Fed from using FOIA exemptions to withhold info from any member of Congress, not just committee chairmen.  This second idea is a bipartisan proposal that has already passed the House and something Senator Ossoff has mentioned in regards to various federal agencies in the past.

Likewise, Congress should also explore making the presidents of the regional Fed banks presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. This is another bipartisan idea as Senator Reed previously proposed this requirement for the New York Fed president position and in 2015, Chairman Brown himself raised this idea during a Banking Committee hearing on reforms to the Fed. 

The time has come to revisit these sensible ideas, and others, in order to the make the Fed more transparent and accountable.  I thank the chairman and look forward to Chairman Powell’s testimony. 

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Source: United States Senator for Indiana Todd Young

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Source: United States Senator for Indiana Todd Young

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Source: United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen

June 22, 2022

Additional funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund would prevent ‘great disconnection’ of millions of students from the Internet

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Representative Grace Meng (N.Y.-06) led their colleagues in a letter urging Congressional leadership to support their efforts to secure additional funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), a crucial program created under the American Rescue Plan that has provided more than 12.5 million students access to the Internet over the past year. The Federal Communications Commission recently announced that the most recent round of applications for ECF funds totaled $2.8 billion, nearly double the $1.5 billion that remains available for the program. Without additional funds, the ECF will be unable to meet demand from schools and libraries that provide students with the broadband connection they need to do their schoolwork, communicate with their peers and teachers, and apply to college.

“To avoid this great disconnection and prevent the reversal of ECF’s hard-earned gains in closing the homework gap for so many rural, low-income, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Latino, Asian American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students and their teachers, we urge you to work with us to identify and seize opportunities to provide additional funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “With the new school year just a few months away, we cannot allow millions of students to lose access to high-speed broadband.”

Senators Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Booker (D-N.J.), Casey (D-Pa.), Duckworth (D-Ill.), Durbin (D-Ill.), Feinstein (D-Calif.), Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Heinrich (D-N.M.), Hirono (D-Hawaii), Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lujan (D-N.M.), Merkley (D-Ore.), Padilla (D-Calif.), Rosen (D-Nev.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Shaheen (D-N.H.), Smith (D-M.N.), Warnock (D-Ga.), Warren (D-Mass.), Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Wyden (D-Ore.) joined the letter. 

In addition, Representatives Alma Adams (N.C.-12), Nanette Barragán (Calif.-44), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.-01), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.-16), Anthony Brown (Md.-04), Shontel Brown (Ohio-11), Andre Carson (Ind.-07), Sean Casten (Ill.-06), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (Fla.-20), Judy Chu (Calif.-27), Lou Correa (Calif.-46), Jim Costa (Calif.-16), Sharice Davids (Kan.-03), Debbie Dingell (Mich.-12), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.-13), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.-05), Jahana Hayes (Conn.-05), Brian Higgins (N.Y.-26), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Ron Kind (Wis.-03), Al Lawson (Fla.-05), Barbara Lee (Calif.-13), Teresa Leger Fernández (N.M.-03), Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.-12), Kathy Manning (N.C.-6), Lucy McBath (Ga.-6), Betty McCollum (Minn.-4), Jim McGovern (Mass.-03), Joseph Morelle (N.Y.-25), Gwen Moore (Wis.-04), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.-10), Mark Pocan (Wis.-02), Jamie Raskin (Md.-08), Adam Schiff (Calif.-28), David Scott (Ga.-13), Thomas Suozzi (N.Y.-03), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.-13), David Trone (Md.-06), Marc Veasey (Texas-33), Nydia Velázquez (N.Y.-07), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.-12), Nikema Williams (Ga.-5), Frederica Wilson (Fla.-24), and John Yarmuth (Ky.-03) also joined the letter.

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi: 

We write with deep concern that funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) — which provides students and educators with access to home broadband and Internet-connected devices — will soon be exhausted. Over the past year, the ECF has helped more than 12.5 million students connect to the Internet. In May, however, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it received $2.8 billion in applications for ECF funds in the third application window, nearly double the roughly $1.5 billion remaining in the program. As a result, millions of students could be disconnected from the Internet. We ask you to work with us to prevent this exacerbation of the digital divide by replenishing the ECF funding as soon as possible.

The Emergency Connectivity Fund represents a long-overdue investment in our students and educators who lack access to high-speed broadband — a problem that long predates the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, 16 million K-12 students and up to 400,000 educators did not have adequate Internet connectivity to teach and learn from home. Moreover, research indicates that the homework gap cuts deeply across socioeconomic lines, with 37 percent of rural Americans, 35 percent of students from households with annual incomes below $30,000, 25 percent of African-American households with school-age children, and 23 percent of Hispanic households with school-age children lacking access to high-speed Internet at home. Due to this homework gap, millions of students are unable to complete online homework assignments and research, communicate with their teachers, collaborate with their peers, and apply to college or for jobs and government services. 

When COVID-19 forced most schools in the United States to turn to remote learning, the homework gap became an education gap for students lacking the home broadband and devices necessary to attend online classes. Congress responded to this crisis by passing the Emergency Connectivity Fund as part of the American Rescue Plan, bridging the homework gap for many students and educators. Schools and libraries have received over $4.8 billion through the program, which they have used to subsidize the purchase of more than 10 million devices and 5 million home broadband connections. In total, the ECF has connected more than 12.5 million students to the Internet. To maintain this impressive progress in closing the homework gap, schools and libraries requested another $2.8 billion for next school year. Unfortunately, with only an estimated $1.5 billion remaining, the ECF will be unable to meet that demand.

The ECF has made significant strides toward closing the homework gap. We are deeply concerned that those gains will dissipate when ECF funding runs out. With no additional federal funding, schools and libraries nationwide will face the difficult choice of finding unbudgeted funding to maintain home broadband connections for those students connected with ECF dollars or ceasing payment on those broadband bills and watching student broadband connections blink off — perhaps permanently.

To avoid this great disconnection and prevent the reversal of ECF’s hard-earned gains in closing the homework gap for so many rural, low-income, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Latino, Asian American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students and their teachers, we urge you to work with us to identify and seize opportunities to provide additional funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund. With the new school year just a few months away, we cannot allow millions of students to lose access to high-speed broadband. 

Sincerely,

Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, who served as Virginia’s Governor during the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, released the following statement after the release of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act text—based on a framework to reduce gun violence that was announced on June 12 and applauded by Warner and Kaine:  

“Congress can no longer stand by as the scourge of gun violence tears apart communities. Following tragedy after tragedy, action to make our communities safer couldn’t be more urgent. We support this bipartisan legislation that will improve background checks for buyers under 21, strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence, and make significant investments in community-based mental health services. There is more that can—and must—be done to address gun violence, but we welcome this meaningful progress and look forward to voting for this bill soon.”

A summary of the bill is available here.

The bipartisan proposal includes similar provisions to those proposed by Warner and Kaine’s Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence, such as improving background checks, strengthening safeguards for victims of domestic violence, and incentivizing states to implement their own Extreme Risk Protection Orders to remove firearms from individuals who pose a high risk of harming themselves or others.

Full text of the bill is available here. 

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