12.20.19

Senate Accomplishments In The 116th Congress So Far

Accomplishments Of The 116th Senate Include:

 

  • FISCAL YEAR 2020 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION: Passed the bipartisan annual defense policy bill providing for $750 billion to rebuild readiness and modernize America’s armed forces, including the nuclear triad, counter adversaries like Russia and China and rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea, invest in our all-volunteer force, and reform private military housing. Included in this year’s bill are provisions to bolster election security and the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act which will impose significant sanctions on the Assad regime for their assaults on civilians.

  • FUNDING FOR DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY: Passed bipartisan appropriations bills that invest in critical platforms and capabilities needed to keep our military ahead of potential competitors like Russia and China. Included are a 3.1% pay raise for our troops, further modernization of our nuclear forces, and significant investments in missile defense, cybersecurity, and hypersonic weapons other advanced technologies.

  • RAISING THE AGE TO PURCHASE TOBACCO AND VAPING PRODUCTS TO 21: Passed an appropriations bill that included the bipartisan Tobacco-Free Youth Act to raise the nationwide age for purchasing tobacco and vaping products to 21 years old to help roll back the alarming increases in nicotine use among younger Americans.

  • RESCUING MINER PENSIONS: Passed appropriations legislation that includes the Bipartisan American Miners Act which secures the pensions of 92,000 coal miners and protects health care benefits for 13,000 miners, preventing insolvency of the 1974 miner pension plan.

  • ELECTION SECURITY: Appropriated $425 million in assistance to states for election security improvements. In addition, as part of ongoing work with the administration to secure our elections from foreign interference, passed bills with unanimous support ensuring hacking a voting system is a federal crime and deporting and denying entry to foreign nationals who have violated U.S. election law. Also included 7 separate provisions in the Defense authorization bill to bolster the intelligence community’s response to foreign threats to U.S. elections.

  • BORDER SECURITY: Passed appropriations bills that include $1.375 billion for the border wall system and maintain the president’s critical transfer authorities for border security and immigration enforcement. Also passed a bipartisan $4.6 billion supplemental appropriations bill to provide funding to care for the unprecedented surge of migrants and children arriving at the southern border and for the agencies handling the crisis.

  • REPEALING COSTLY OBAMACARE TAXES: Passed appropriations legislation that repeals three major Obamacare taxes that made health insurance more expensive and hurt job growth: the “Cadillac tax” on employer health plans, the medical device tax and the health insurance tax on Medicare Advantage for seniors and other private coverage. “The move all but guts the funding provisions for the Affordable Care Act…”

  • CARE FOR 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS: Passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill to make permanent the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund, so that the men and women who rushed to respond to the terror attacks and worked tirelessly on rescue and recovery afterwards will have their health care secured and their families looked after.

  • TAX TREATIES: Ratified, with overwhelming bipartisan margins, tax treaties with Spain, Switzerland, Japan, and Luxembourg in order to ensure fair treatment for American job creators and workers, avoid double taxation, and attract more foreign investment to the U.S.

  • SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY IN HONG KONG: Passed the bipartisan Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to deter the Chinese government from interfering with Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and showing American solidarity with the protesters. Included $1.5 million in new funding in appropriations legislation specifically for democracy promotion in Hong Kong, including legal support for democracy activists.

  • DISASTER RELIEF: Passed a bipartisan supplemental appropriations bill to deliver critical aid to states hit by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 as well as ongoing relief for disasters from 2017. Included are funds to assist Americans with recovery from hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and flooding. The bill also includes agriculture disaster relief for farmers and critical nutrition assistance and recovery funding for Puerto Rico. In addition, the bill extends the National Flood Insurance Program.

  • MORE TAX RELIEF FOR FAMILIES, SMALL BUSINESSES, AND JOB CREATORS: Passed appropriations legislation that extends expired or expiring tax provisions including tax breaks for craft brewers and distillers, deductions for mortgage interest, college costs, and large medical bills, credits for biodiesel and other alternative fuels, credits for employers that offer paid family and medical leave, and many other items.

  • RETIREMENT SECURITY: Passed an appropriations bill that includes the bipartisan SECURE Act to help more Americans save for retirement. The bill expands access to 401(k) plans, making it easier for small businesses to join together and offer retirement plans for workers and allows individuals choosing to work later in life to keep saving.

  • IRS REFORM: Passed the bipartisan Taxpayer First Act, the most significant reforms to the IRS in 20 years. The bill ensures taxpayers are treated fairly in disputes, streamlines electronic filing, introduces a new system to address identity theft, and requires more accountability from the IRS.

  • FIGHTING THE ANNOYANCE OF ILLEGAL ROBOCALLS: Passed the bipartisan TRACED Act to give regulators enhanced authority to combat and prosecute illegal robocallers. The bill will protect consumers from billions of unwanted robocalls.

  • PERMANENT FUNDING FOR HBCUs AND SIMPLIFYING THE COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID PROCESS: Passed the bipartisan FUTURE Act that makes permanent $255 million in funding each year for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions and reduces the paperwork required for college students to apply for financial aid by simplifying the FAFSA form.

  • NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ACT: Passed a bipartisan package of more than 100 bills that protect natural landscapes, increase public access for recreation, create new opportunities for economic development, preserve historic sites, and encourage conservation, including a permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It’s “the largest public lands bill approved by Congress in more than a decade.”

  • MODERNIZING THE REGULATION OF OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUGS: Passed a bipartisan bill to streamline and modernize the FDA’s regulatory system for over-the-counter medications, which had not been updated since the 1970s.

 

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: National Security, Judicial Nominations, IRS, Congressional Review Act, Health Care, Regulations, Appropriations, Tobacco 21, Labor, Education, Cybersecurity, America's Military, Homeland Security, First Amendment, Infrastructure, Obamacare, Syria, NDAA, Coal, Small Business, Immigration, Taxes