Spectator NZ

Source: United States Senator for New York Kirsten Gillibrand

Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Issued A Statement On FTC Privacy Rules:

“For a decade, I have said that consumers need more transparency and choice about how their data is used. For this reason, I welcome a federal privacy law that would set those parameters and provide certainty for consumers and businesses. But I am concerned that the FTC has decided to move ahead with a far-reaching digital surveillance inquiry and rulemaking crusade without waiting for the results of active discussions in Congress. Without guardrails set by Congress, this is doomed to become another cautionary tale of how the left uses the regulatory state to tear down and rebuild the economy according to their own vision.”

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin

August 11, 2022

“This guidance from the U.S. Treasury on the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act should debunk the false information spreading about what’s truly in this legislation. West Virginia families making less than $400,000 and small businesses will not be targeted because they are already paying their taxes. And I encourage any West Virginians who feel targeted or harassed by the IRS to please call my office at 304-342-5855,” said Senator Manchin.

Dear Commissioner:

The Inflation Reduction Act includes much-needed funding for the IRS to improve taxpayer service, modernize outdated technological infrastructure, and increase equity in the tax system by enforcing the tax laws against those high-earners, large corporations, and complex partnerships who today do not pay what they owe.

These crucial investments have been a focus of the Biden Administration since the President’s first day in office, and I was heartened to see the legislation pass the Senate this weekend.

Notwithstanding the changes that arose because of Republican challenges during the Byrd process, I write today to confirm the commitment that has been a guiding precept of the planning that you and your team are undertaking: that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000 annually.

Specifically, I direct that any additional resources—including any new personnel or auditors that are hired—shall not be used to increase the share of households below the $400,000 threshold or any small businesses that are audited relative to historical levels. This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, households earning $400,000 per year or less or any small businesses will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.

Instead, enforcement resources will focus on high-end noncompliance. There, sustained, multi- year funding is so critical to the agency’s ability to make the investments needed to pursue a robust attack on the tax gap by targeting crucial challenges, like large corporations, high-net- worth individuals and complex pass-throughs, where today the IRS has resources to initiate just 7,500 audits annually out of more than 4 million returns received.

This is challenging work that requires a team of sophisticated revenue agents in place to spend thousands of hours poring over complicated returns, and it is also work that has huge revenue potential: indeed, an additional hour auditing someone making more than $5 million annually generates an estimated $4,500 of additional taxes collected. This is essential work that I know the IRS is eager to undertake.

For regular taxpayers, as you emphasized last week, the result of this resource infusion will be a lower likelihood of audit by an agency that has the data and technological infrastructure in place to target enforcement resources where they belong—on the high end of the income distribution, where the top 1% alone is estimated to not be paying $160 billion in owed taxes each year. That’s important as a matter of revenue-raising, but it’s also essential as a matter of fairness.

Crucially, these resources will support a much-needed upgrade of technology that is decades out- of-date, and an investment in taxpayer service so that the IRS is finally able to communicate with taxpayers in an efficient, timely manner. I look forward to working with you on creating new digital tools to allow taxpayers to get information from the IRS instantaneously and on improving taxpayer service, so the agency is well-equipped to answer calls when they come in.

This historic investment in our tax system will accomplish two critical objectives. It will raise substantial revenue to address the deficit; and it will create a fairer system, where those at the top who do not today comply with their tax obligations find it far less easy to do so, and where all taxpayers receive the service from the IRS that they deserve, and that your dedicated workforce is eager to deliver. The importance of the work ahead cannot be overstated.

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

Increased funding comes from bipartisan infrastructure law

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $6,817,200 to the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program. 

The CWSRF provides low-interest financing for the development of water systems for communities, schools, parks and other projects. These projects improve and protect water quality and public health for communities throughout the state.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act specifically increased funding for North Dakota’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs to accelerate water infrastructure improvements. The bill authorized $200 million for clean water infrastructure projects and programs in North Dakota through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

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

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, issued the following statement on North Dakota Department of Transportation Director Bill Panos:

“We were blessed to have lured Director Bill Panos from the mountains of Wyoming to the prairies of North Dakota. I appreciated partnering with him to develop North Dakota’s infrastructure, especially with the drafting and implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making sure rural voices were being heard in Washington. He adeptly handled challenging transportation needs stemming from a growing population and he helped make the state competitive for grants we previously were left out of. I wish him and his family the best in this next phase.”

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

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Sens.  Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine highlighted some of the ways in which the Inflation Reduction Act will benefit Virginians. 

“Virginians have a lot to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act. This historic legislation will help lower Virginians’ prescription drug and energy costs, help them access health care, and tackle climate change, which has had a devastating toll on communities all across the Commonwealth,” said the senators. “We were proud to vote for this bill and urge the House of Representatives to pass it and get it to President Biden’s desk ASAP.”

Lower Prescription Drug Costs:

• The bill allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors and people with disabilities—a provision Warner and Kaine have long fought to pass to lower prescription drug costs.
• The bill establishes a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for seniors covered under Medicare Part D. In 2020, more than 36,000 Virginians with Medicare Part D spent more than $2,000 out-of-pocket on their prescription drugs.
• The bill expands the Low-Income Subsidy program, a program that currently helps cover prescription drug costs for over 11,000 low-income Virginians with Medicare.
• The bill provides free coverage for vaccines under Medicare Part D and improves access to vaccines under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In 2020, nearly 85,000 Virginians received a vaccine covered under Medicare Part D.

Affordable Health Care:

• During the pandemic, Congress enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help lower health care premiums for millions of Americans. The Inflation Reduction Act would extend these enhanced subsidies for three years through 2025 to help make Virginians’ health insurance more affordable. Over 300,000 Virginians have ACA coverage in 2022.
• The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimated that Virginians with ACA insurance would have seen a $71 increase in their premiums for the next coverage year if these subsidies weren’t extended.

Black Lung Benefits:

• The bill permanently extends the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund excise tax at a higher rate, providing more certainty for miners, miner retirees, and their families who rely on the fund to access benefits. In Virginia, thousands of miners and their families have received benefits through the trust fund since it was established, including approximately 2,600 Virginians last year alone.

Clean Energy and Climate Provisions:

• The bill will reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.
• The bill incentivizes investment in and production of renewable energy technologies like solar power and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.  The legislation expands the 48C investment tax credit for clean energy manufacturers, with $4 billion reserved for use exclusively in coal communities. All clean energy tax credits include a bonus for meeting domestic manufacturing requirements related to steel, iron, or other manufactured components. The bill also expands tax credits for residential clean energy and home efficiency improvements.
• According to a recent analysis, the clean energy provisions are expected to create nearly 1 million jobs per year.
• The bill includes tax credits for clean medium and heavy duty trucks, such as those produced at the Volvo Trucks New River Valley Plant.
• The bill includes a $7,500 consumer credit for the purchase of new electric vehicles and incentivizes that vehicles are produced in North America.
• The bill includes $9.7 billion for financial assistance to rural electric cooperatives to improve resilience and affordability.
• The bill includes $2 billion for the USDA Rural Energy for America Program to provide competitive grants and loan guarantees to farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or energy efficiency improvements.
• The bill includes $20 billion to help farmers and ranchers adopt agriculture conservation practices that improve landscape resilience.

Tax Fairness:

• The legislation takes steps to make sure that the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans pay their fair share in taxes, without increasing taxes on small businesses or families making less than $400,000 a year.
• The bill also provides funding to modernize Internal Revenue Service (IRS) systems and improve customer service when paying taxes. This will help ensure the IRS has the resources it needs to process tax returns quickly, get rebates to taxpayers faster, and address challenges Americans have when filing taxes.

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Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

OSHKOSH – On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray demanding a complete explanation for the raid on former President Donald Trump’s residence and calling on whistleblowers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI to hold their agencies accountable.

In July 2022, Sen. Johnson sent a letter Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Way, Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Avril Haines and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding whistleblower claims that suggest FBI officials participated in a scheme to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.

This pattern of corruption and lack of transparency by our federal agencies without stated justification “raise serious questions regarding the integrity of the FBI and your agencies ability to do its job without political bias,” wrote Sen. Johnson.

Speaking directly to agency whistleblowers, Sen. Johnson added, “If you have witnessed wronging at your agency, please come forward and share your concerns with my office. You have a right to talk to Congress.”

Read more about the letter in the Daily Caller.

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

August 10, 2022 

The Honorable Merrick Garland

Attorney General

Department of Justice

The Honorable Christopher Wray

Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation 

Dear Attorney General Garland and Director Wray:

              The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago is deeply concerning.  It occurred almost two weeks after I sent a letter to both of you highlighting recent whistleblower allegations which raise serious questions regarding the integrity of the FBI and your agencies’ ability to do its job without political bias.^[1]

              The FBI’s unprecedented actions against former President Trump, without any stated justification, only add to the mounting evidence of corruption within our federal law enforcement agencies and is yet another example of a multi-tiered system of justice and federal agencies being weaponized against the left’s political opponents. 

              I understand other members of Congress have requested that you provide a full explanation for the raid at the former president’s residence.  I request that information immediately.  However, given your history of lack of transparency and obstruction of my investigations, I am not confident that your explanation for the raid will be forthright, honest, or ease anyone’s concerns.

              Instead, I want to reiterate my message to the brave men and women who work at the FBI and the Department of Justice who are frustrated and concerned with the direction your agencies are taking:

              If you have witnessed wronging at your agency, please come forward and share your concerns with my office.  You have a right to talk to Congress.

              By exposing the truth, Congress can hold accountable those who continue to abuse our system of justice. 

Sincerely,

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Source: United States Senator for Delaware – Tom Carper

Delaware & Pennsylvania Congressional members ask for responses from USPS by next week 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, along with Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.) were joined by Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Daniel Meuser (R-Pa.), and Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) in sending a letter to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Delaware and Pennsylvania District Manager Gary Vaccarella asking for an action plan on how they intend to implement solutions to ongoing postal service delays and disruptions. After continued delays for the past year and previous attempts to ask USPS how they plan to address these issues, the Congressional members are now seeking responses to their questions no later than August 16, 2022.

“Last year, the USPS provided a briefing to staff outlining its plans to address staffing shortages to alleviate broader disruptions in service in the Delaware/Pennsylvania 2 Postal District. A year later, the USPS still faces critical workforce shortages, which continue to affect mail delivery service for households in Delaware and Pennsylvania,” the members wrote.

They continued: “In recent months, our offices have received a sharp increase in constituent calls regarding disruptions to regular mail delivery, in some cases from households who have not received mail service for multiple days or even weeks at a time. Our staffs continue to engage the district management leadership about these growing complaints and continued delays but have yet to receive a proactive plan to address these deficiencies in the near-term.”

The full text of the letter can be found below, or by clicking HERE.

Dear Mr. Vaccarella:

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed immense pressure on many industries and government services, including the United States Postal Service (USPS). Timely mail delivery service has suffered at a time when Americans are relying on the USPS more than ever. As you know, earlier this year, Congress passed the historic Postal Service Reform Act, which will help put the USPS on a sustainable financial foundation moving forward. That said, there remains much work to be done to ensure that the USPS can continue efficiently serving the American people, and we remain committed to working with our colleagues in Washington to look for additional avenues to assist the USPS in accomplishing its mission.

Last year, the USPS provided a briefing to staff outlining its plans to address staffing shortages to alleviate broader disruptions in service in the Delaware/Pennsylvania 2 Postal District. A year later, the USPS still faces critical workforce shortages, which continue to affect mail delivery service for households in Delaware and Pennsylvania. In recent months, our offices have received a sharp increase in constituent calls regarding disruptions to regular mail delivery, in some cases from households who have not received mail service for multiple days or even weeks at a time. Our staffs continue to engage the district management leadership about these growing complaints and continued delays but have yet to receive a proactive plan to address these deficiencies in the near-term.

The response from the USPS district leadership has largely been an acknowledgement of a depleted workforce. The regional leadership team presented the USPS’s plan to recruit and hire additional mail carriers to resolve the shortage of workers, while acknowledging that there is a very high rate of rejection for new applicants. This delay in onboarding new staff, coupled with unanticipated call-outs for sick leave and anticipated vacation leave, has left our postal region short-staffed.

In response to concerns from households that have gone multiple days without mail delivery, the USPS regional leadership team has maintained that these households simply must not have any mail to be delivered, asserting that it is the USPS’s policy that routes that do not receive service on one day will be prioritized for service the following day. However, in separate conversations with our staffs, letter carriers have stated that it is not uncommon for mail to go undelivered for multiple days due to workforce shortages and the demanding schedules and routes that letter carriers are currently working.

We understand that addressing the workforce shortage will require a long-term plan to both recruit new employees and retain current workers. However, we continue to hear daily from Delawareans and Pennsylvanians about service delays and interruptions, and the USPS’s long-term plans to address the workforce shortage do not address the immediate concerns these constituents are raising about delayed or absent mail delivery.

We respectfully request that you respond to these questions no later than August 16, 2022:

• Other than efforts to expand the USPS workforce, what immediate solutions has the USPS implemented or considered to address disruptions of daily mail service in the Delaware/Pennsylvania 2 Postal District? Has the USPS considered shifting resources to areas that have experienced repeated disruptions?
• As proactive monitoring can help tackle disruptions in service before they occur or intensify, how does USPS analyze data to identify areas that are experiencing disruptions of service?

Given the complaints we receive from constituents about service disruptions, we are requesting a monthly meeting involving our staffs, the regional USPS Service District Manager, and appropriate USPS staff to review hiring and recruitment efforts, performance data, other pertinent items related to service delays, and the ways in which the USPS is working to make improvements. We look forward to working with you as we make strides to improve delivery service for Delawareans and Pennsylvanians.

Thank you for your continued leadership as we work to move the USPS forward. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

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