In the News Fact Sheets
Feingold-Dodd-Menendez "Use It
or Lose It" Bill
July 16, 2008
As Americans face record high energy
and gas prices, there have been many suggestions from all sides
about how to fix our energy problems. Oil companies and others
are suggesting that we can cure our energy woes by opening more
federal lands for drilling. But what many people don’t realize
is that oil companies in this country already hold leases on
66 million acres of federal land that they are not developing.
That is why U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Christopher
Dodd (D-CT) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced the Responsible
Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act, also known as “Use It or Lose
It” legislation, to spur development on the lands that are already
leased.
The
New FISA Bill: A Bad Deal
June 23, 2008
The FISA deal announced on June 19
effectively grants retroactive immunity to companies that allegedly
participated in the President’s illegal wiretapping program,
and it does not provide adequate protections for innocent Americans.
Title I of the new bill, which includes a dramatic expansion
of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, does not include
the most significant safeguards approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee, and it does not include any of the amendments that
Senator Feingold offered on the Senate floor earlier this year,
each of which received 35 or more Democratic votes. These safeguards
would have permitted the government to obtain the intelligence
information it needs while also protecting the privacy of law-abiding
Americans.
Feingold,
Reid Push Administration to Put Fight Against al Qaeda First
February 25, 2008
As our open-ended presence in Iraq
strains on our military to the breaking point, we face increasingly
dangerous situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. Senator
Russ Feingold and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have introduced
legislation to force the administration to focus on those threats
and draw down our troops in Iraq.
Potential
Feingold Amendments to FISA Bill
January 24, 2008
As the Senate resumes consideration
of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s FISA bill, Senator Feingold
will continue to oppose any FISA legislation that does not adequately
protect the privacy of innocent Americans or contains immunity
for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated
in the President’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
He also plans to offer a series of amendments to help fix the
deeply flawed bill.
Dodd-Feingold
Amendment to Strike Retroactive Immunity
December 17, 2007
S.
2248 would require the courts to throw out lawsuits alleging
that telephone companies broke the law by participating in
warrantless surveillance. If the immunity provision became
law, even if it could be proven that telephone companies clearly
and knowingly broke the law, they would not be held accountable,
and Americans’ privacy rights would be nullified.
End
Racial Profiling Act of 2007
December 12, 2007
In his address to a joint session of
Congress on February 27, 2001, President George W. Bush declared
that "racial profiling is wrong and we will end it in America."
The End Racial Profiling Act of 2007 offers a reasonable and
measured response to this destructive practice. The End Racial
Profiling Act would, for the first time, prohibit the use of
racial profiling by federal, state and local law enforcement
agencies and agents.
Presidential
Funding Act
December 5, 2007
U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Susan
Collins (R-ME) and U.S. Representatives David Price (D-NC) and
Christopher Shays (R-CT) have introduced legislation to repair
and strengthen the presidential public financing system. The
Presidential Funding Act of 2007 addresses problems that have
developed in the system, which was put in place following the
Watergate scandal. The presidential public funding system is
intended to protect the integrity of the electoral process by
allowing presidential candidates to run competitive campaigns
without becoming overly dependent on private donors.
Identifying
the Flaws of the FISA Legislation
October 25, 2007
Before adjourning for the August recess,
Congress rushed through legislation increasing the government’s
po wer to conduct warrantless surveillance. Now, Congress must
fix the fundamental flaws of the so-called Protect America Act:
the lack of meaningful court involvement, the lack of privacy
protections for law-abiding Americans, and inadequate congressional
and administrative oversight.
Clean
Water Restoration Act
October 17, 2007
October 18th, 2007 marks the 35th anniversary
of Congress’s enactment of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972.
Earlier this year, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold introduced the
Clean Water Restoration Act, a bill to restore the original
protections of our nation’s rivers, streams and wetlands provided
by the CWA. The bill is cosponsored by 19 senators and bipartisan
companion legislation has been introduced by Rep. James Oberstar
(D-MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee.
Teachers
at the Table Act
September 18, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will be
introducing the Teachers at the Table Act of 2007, a bill that
would create a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to advise
Congress and the Department of Education on the impact of No
Child Left Behind on students, their families, and the classroom
learning environment. This legislation is the Senate companion
to the Teachers at the Table Act introduced by Representatives
Carolyn McCarthy and Lee Terry in the House and is fully paid
for through offsets.
Improving
Student Testing Act
September 17, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will be
introducing the Improving Student Testing Act of 2007, a bill
that will make changes to the No Child Left Behind Act to improve
the quality of education assessments used in our schools and
support innovative state and local school reform efforts. The
legislation is fully paid for through offsets.
The
Honest Leadership and Open Government Act
July 31, 2007
The Honest Leadership and Open Government
Act, which the House and Senate will vote on this week, is landmark
lobbying and ethics reform legislation. It includes many provisions
that were contained in or are based on Sen. Feingold’s original
bill, which was introduced in July 2005 (S. 1398), and/or the
bill introduced by Senators Feingold and Obama in January 2007
(S. 230).
Call
to Censure the President and Administration Officials
July 24, 2007
On Sunday, July 22, Senator Feingold
announced that he will introduce two censure resolutions condemning
the President, Vice President and possibly other administration
officials for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq and for
their repeated assaults on the rule of law. Below are some of
the ways that these resolutions can both hold the President
and his administration accountable, and allow Congress to focus
on the many other pressing issues facing the country.
The
Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007
July 12, 2007
When Congress enacted the Federal Arbitration
Act (“FAA”), its goal was to allow an alternative forum for
parties on equal footing to resolve their disputes. Yet a series
of court decisions moved the law away from its original intent
and opened the door for arbitration to be used to deprive ordinary
citizens in employment, consumer, and franchise disputes of
their constitutional right to use the civil justice system.
Core
of McCain-Feingold Untouched by Supreme Court Decision
June 27, 2007
While the Wisconsin Right to Life
decision is disappointing, McCain-Feingold is alive and well.
The primary purpose and achievement of McCain-Feingold was to
ban unlimited “soft money” contributions. The Supreme Court’s
decision in WRTL left this central provision of McCain-Feingold
intact. The ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 2003
McConnell decision; it is being enforced, and remains
in effect.
Feingold-Reid
Bill to End the Open-Ended Military Mission in Iraq
June 25, 2007
The Feingold-Reid legislation requires
the safe redeployment of U.S. troops by March 31, 2008. The
Senate is expected to vote on Feingold-Reid during the upcoming
debate over the Department of Defense authorization bill.
Feingold-Graham
State-Based Health Care Reform Act
April 25, 2007
The bill is designed to provide
more uninsured Americans with health care coverage. The legislation
seeks to accomplish this goal by establishing a pilot grant
program to enable states or localities to propose and administer
health insurance expansion projects. These state-based reforms
will provide the country with the evidence and experience
necessary to address nationwide health care reform.
Feingold and Ryan Team up to Target Wasteful Spending
April 23, 2007
Senator Russ Feingold and Congressman
Paul Ryan introduced new legislation to create a line-item veto
to target wasteful earmarks, improve congressional accountability,
and deter lawmakers from inserting "Bridges to Nowhere"
or other frivolous spending into future bills.
Efforts
to Support Working Wisconsinites
February 16, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold supports
a wide range of efforts to improve conditions for working families
in Wisconsin. Earlier this year, he voted to increase the federal
minimum wage and has backed a number of initiatives to support
Wisconsin’s workers. Community-Based
Health Care Retraining Bill
February 15, 2007
Senator Russ Feingold has introduced
the Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act to help displaced
workers retrain for jobs in the health care sector. The Community-Based
Health Care Retraining Act would amend the Workforce Investment
Act to help communities create programs that would retrain displaced
workers and prepare them for high-demand health care jobs if
a community has both significant manufacturing or service sector
job losses and shortages in the health care professions.
Buy American Improvement Act
February 14, 2007
Under current law, the federal government
is supposed to support American manufacturers and American workers
by buying goods made in the U.S., but the law contains loopholes
that allow agencies to buy foreign goods in some circumstances.
The Buy American Improvement would strengthen American manufacturing
by making it harder to waive the Buy American requirement.
Resolution
to Establish Minimum Trade Standards
February 13, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has introduced
a resolution that establishes some minimum standards for the
trade agreements into which our nation enters. The legislation
addresses the major problems with our nation’s failed
trade policies and sets forth principles for future trade agreements.
It is a break with the so-called NAFTA model, and instead advocates
the kinds of sound trade policies that will spur economic growth
and sustainable development. Iraq
Redeployment Act of 2007
January 30, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today introduced
the Iraq Redeployment Act of 2007. Feingold’s bill uses
Congress’s power of the purse to force the President to
safely redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq by prohibiting funds for
continued operations six months after enactment. Feingold’s
legislation allows for specific operations to continue in Iraq
beyond six months, including counter-terrorism efforts, protection
of U.S. personnel and infrastructure, and training of Iraqi
security forces. The six-month timeframe provides the President
with adequate time to safely redeploy the troops from Iraq.
On
the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act
November 16, 2006
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has introduced
the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act, a bill
that would provide housing assistance to Americans facing the
current severe shortage of affordable housing. The legislation
builds on effective federal programs and targets resources to
the nation’s most vulnerable families. It is fully paid
for through offsets, making funding available right away and
allowing the programs to take effect immediately. On
Leading the Effort to Create and Extend the Office of the
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)
November - December 2006
For over three years, U.S. Senator
Russ Feingold has led the effort to create and extend the Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR.) The SIGIR
serves as a watchdog over the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars
allocated for Iraq reconstruction. The SIGIR's office has been
effective in its role, uncovering a wide range of problems relating
to the waste, fraud and abuse of U.S. taxpayer funds in Iraq.
Senator
Specter's NSA Wiretapping Bill Still a Failure
September 25, 2006
A new version of the Senator Specter’s
S.2453, the National Security Surveillance Act, was introduced
in the Senate on Friday, September 22. But the changes to the
bill do nothing to address its core problems, and in some ways
make it worse. Here are some of the ways that the new version
of Senator Specter’s bill still fails: U.S.
Senator Russ Feingold’s Record on Jobs and Trade
Throughout his Senate career, U.S.
Senator Russ Feingold has been a strong advocate for Wisconsin’s
working families. His comprehensive efforts to prevent the outsourcing
of American jobs by opposing flawed trade agreements, encouraging
the purchasing of American-made goods, and helping displaced
workers retrain in growing fields to compete in a new job market
include the following. Gulf
Coast Housing Accessibility Act of 2006
August 24, 2006
Senator Feingold has announced that
he will introduce, the Gulf Coast Housing Accessibility Act,
a bill that seeks to provide immediate and long-term housing
assistance to the victims of last year’s hurricanes that
devastated the Gulf Coast, as well as future disaster victims.
Presidential
Funding Act of 2006
July 27, 2006
Senator Feingold and Representatives
Shays and Meehan have introduced bills in the House and Senate
to reform the presidential public funding system. This bill
would take effect for the 2008 election. State-Based
Health Care Reform Act
July 24, 2006
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will introduce
the State-Based Health Care Reform Act in order to end the political
stalemate in Congress that has been preventing meaningful health
coverage from being enacted. Wiretapping
Agreement: Not as Advertised
July 17, 2006
A review of Senator Specter’s
legislation shows why the President would agree to this “compromise”
– because it gives him even more power than he has asserted
under his illegal NSA wiretapping program, based on public descriptions
of that program. What’s more, as Senator Specter has emphasized,
the President will only agree to judicial review of the NSA
program if these broad new authorities – and every aspect
of the bill – remain unchanged. 527
Reform Act
Senators McCain, Feingold and Lott have
introduced the 527 Reform Act to close the 527 loophole. The
527 Reform Act is designed to clarify and reaffirm that such
527 groups are required to comply with federal campaign finance
laws.
Censure
March 12, 2006
Senator Feingold’s resolution
of censure condemns the President for breaking the law by authorizing
an illegal wiretapping program, and for misleading Congress
and the American people about the existence and legality of
that program.
Patriot
Act
February 10, 2006
The White House has agreed to only a
few minor changes to the Patriot Act conference report –
the same report that could not get through the Senate back in
December. These changes do not address the major problems with
the Patriot Act that a bipartisan coalition has been trying
to fix for the past several years. Senator Feingold strongly
opposes this deal, and any reauthorization of the Patriot Act
that does not protect the rights and freedoms of law-abiding
Americans with no connection to terrorism.
Warrantless
Domestic Wiretaps
January 11, 2006 Senator Feingold
and members of Congress from both parties have expressed deep
concern about the President authorizing the National Security
Agency (NSA) to wiretap American citizens on American soil without
a warrant. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
makes it a crime to wiretap Americans in the United States without
a warrant or a court order. |