Bi-Partisan Badger: Sen. Baldwin Introduces Bills To Create Tech Jobs

Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin has introduced 40 bills since the start of January. The proposals they contain would lower costs for Wisconsinites, keep nurses safe in their workplaces, promote domestic manufacturing, assist military veterans, and restore reproductive rights.

Baldwin said in April that she would run for a third Senate term in 2024. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is still reportedly looking for a viable challenger after prominent Wisconsin Republicans passed on the race.

Last year, Republicans across the country ran for Congress promising to focus on public safety and the economy. They won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, but have mostly ignored those issues. Most of their time has been spent on pushing for impeachment of President Joe Biden, a divisive social agenda, and another federal government shutdown.

Baldwin has spent her time devising legislation to keep her constituents safer and more prosperous. Many of her bills enjoy bipartisan support.

In an effort to make sure prescription drug prices are affordable, Baldwin introduced the Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act in March. The bill would force pharmaceutical companies to publicly report and justify all significant price increases for their medications.

“Transparency is the key to lowering prescription drug prices,” Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun, the co-sponsor of the act, said. “The FAIR Drug Pricing Act will help push Big Pharma into the right direction by requiring that drug companies notify the HHS Secretary and submit a transparency and justification report before they increase the cost of certain drugs by more than 10 percent over one year or 25 percent over three years.”

Baldwin’s Invent Here, Make Here Act of 2023 would support American manufacturing by requiring that technologies that are developed with taxpayer funding be made in the United States.

“Taxpayer-funded innovations should benefit American workers and industry, not our foreign adversaries. For far too long, we’ve allowed American breakthroughs to be offshored to nations like China and Russia – this legislation will bring those abuses to an end,” bill co-sponsor Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance said in a June statement. “It’s common sense: products developed with American taxpayer dollars should be manufactured by American workers on American soil.”

Baldwin authored the Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act, co-sponsored by Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, which would expand outreach to help veterans access their earned benefits.

“Senator Baldwin and I are introducing legislation that will reinforce the VA’s mission to expand its reach and ensure veterans who live in rural, frontier states—like Alaska—do not get left behind,” Sullivan said in a statement in January. The bill was moved to the full Senate by the Veterans’ Affairs Committee on July 10.

Baldwin’s Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act would address increased violence against nurses in the workplace by requiring social service and health care employers to create and implement protections.

“Our health care and social service workers deserve to work in a safe environment free from violence,” she said in April. “It is unacceptable that our health care workers are subjected to senseless acts of violence in their workplace, and we must do more to protect them.”

Baldwin’s bills to provide 2024 funding for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, to require disclosure of the country of origin for all products sold on the internet, to ensure availability of treatments for patients with rare diseases, and to build a monument celebrating women’s suffrage on the National Mall have been approved by committees and await action in the full Senate.

She has introduced bills to restore the right to choose an abortion and access reproductive health care in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade. Her Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023 would reestablish the protections guaranteed by Roe for nearly 50 years, and her Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023 would help support those who need to travel out of state to access care.

“Every American deserves the freedom to make their own health care decisions without interference from politicians, and Wisconsinites overwhelmingly agree,” Baldwin said in March. “The Women’s Health Protection Act is a necessary step to restore Americans’ constitutional right to choose what’s best for their families and allow doctors to do the job they are trained to do – all free from medically unnecessary restrictions.”

“Every single day, Tammy Baldwin gets up and fights for working Wisconsinites,” Arik Wolk, a spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, told the American Independent Foundation. “From protecting jobs and manufacturing in Wisconsin, to taking on Big Pharma to lower health care costs, and working to restore reproductive freedom in Wisconsin and nationwide, there’s no one who can match her record of putting Wisconsin first.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.