08.01.19

Senate Accomplishments In The 116th Congress

Accomplishments Of The 116th Senate Include:

 

  • TRANSFORMING THE COURTS: Confirmed 13 of President Trump’s circuit court nominees and 46 of his district court nominees for a total of 43 and 99 since 2017, respectively.

  • BUDGET AGREEMENT: Passed a bipartisan deal setting government funding levels for the next two years that secures funding increases to support our troops, rebuild and modernize our military, and support the VA Mission Act to provide timely access and care for our nation’s veterans. Importantly, the agreement also prohibits Democrats from attaching ‘poison pill’ riders that would undermine our top priorities, including protection of the long-standing Hyde amendment and our work with the Trump administration to secure the border. The two year agreement also eliminates uncertainty around raising the debt ceiling.

  • EMERGENCY BORDER APPROPRIATIONS: Passed a bipartisan $4.6 billion 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.

  • 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. This year’s bill ensures American warfighters will outclass any adversary in any theater.

  • 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.

  • ELECTION SECURITY: 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. Included provisions in Defense authorization bill that would expedite security clearances for state elections officials, mandate the federal government develop a whole-of-government strategy to counter the threat of Russian cyber-attacks, require the Director of National Intelligence to establish an Intelligence Community Election Threats Executive, provide reports to Congress when active measures are detected, and require the intelligence community to report to Congress on threats facing federal elections 180 days before each election.

  • 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.

  • STRENGTHENING AMERICA’S ALLIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Passed a bipartisan package of legislation that deepens our security relationship with Israel, bolsters cooperation with our allies in Jordan, imposes more sanctions on the Assad regime in Syria, and allows local governments to reject the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic BDS movement.

  • 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.

  • 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.”

  • 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: The Senate passed a bipartisan bill to give regulators enhanced authority to combat and prosecute illegal robocallers. The bill will protect consumers from billions of unwanted robocalls.

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: Infrastructure, Israel, Judicial Nominations, IRS, Law Enforcement, Immigration, Taxes, North Korea, Russia, War on Terror, America's Military, Syria, China, Iran, Appropriations, Veterans, Defending Life, Health Care, Campaigns & Elections, National Security, NDAA, Budget, Homeland Security