Reps in the News: Baldwin Pushes for High Speed Internet

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Sen. Baldwin and and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced bipartisan legislation to encourage investment in high-speed internet and protect and expand access to broadband in our rural communities. The Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports (ACCESS) Rural America Act would provide regulatory relief to rural telecommunications service providers by allowing them to submit streamlined financial reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These small companies – many of which are the sole service providers in their region – could be put out of business by looming regulatory costs. Specifically, this bipartisan legislation would increase the number of investors that triggers SEC public reporting requirements for rural telecommunications companies. This will save these small companies from costly SEC reporting requirements that were never intended for them.

“Reliable high-speed broadband is critical to strengthening small businesses and neighborhoods throughout Wisconsin’s rural communities. Unfortunately, rural telecom companies are getting hit with disclosure costs that were never intended for them, creating new challenges to delivering broadband access throughout Wisconsin,” Baldwin said. “Our bipartisan legislation provides the regulatory relief that rural service providers need to build-out high-speed broadband in small communities and continue our efforts to bring broadband access for all – no matter where you live in Wisconsin.”

Source:  Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Sen. Johnson has requested a briefing from the White House on Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email account to conduct government business. Johnson, chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, sent the letter to Acting White House Counsel Emmet Flood Tuesday.

Johnson requested a timeline of Trump’s transition from private life into her role at the White House, when the personal email account in question was created, when her government email account was created, and what type of training she received with regard to preserving official records. The letter also requests a list of how many emails, personal and official, were sent to and from Trump’s personal account and her government account. Johnson requested Flood provide the information by Dec. 7, if not sooner.

Trump sent emails about White House business to government employees as well as her personal assistants.

Source:  wkow.com

President Donald Trump

President Trump is railing against General Motors’ decision to close plants and ax about 14,000 jobs, something his trade war helped trigger in the first place. When listing reasons behind the job cuts on Monday, GM tiptoed around trade policy and blamed a host of other factors. But the company has been much more direct in its criticism of Trump’s trade war in the past.

Earlier this year, GM lowered its profit forecasts for 2018, citing higher steel and aluminum prices caused by new U.S. tariffs. And in June, GM warned that trade tariffs could lead to job losses and lower wages, telling the Commerce Department that higher steel tariffs would affect competitiveness. The automaker, which employs about 110,000 workers, on Monday said it planned to halt production at a plant in Ohio, a state that voted for Trump in 2016.

“GM is eliminating its lower margin passenger vehicles to concentrate on higher-margin products, and the rising cost of steel probably made made those lower margin vehicles even less attractive than they already were,” said Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Trump lashed out at GM CEO Mary Barra. “I was very tough,” he said, per CNN. “I spoke with her when I heard they were closing, and I said, you know, this country has done a lot for General Motors. The United States saved General Motors, and for her to take that company out of Ohio is not good.”

GM on Monday said its Lordstown Assembly plant in Warren, Ohio, would be “unallocated” by the end of 2019, as would its Oshawa Assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Detroit, and its propulsion-component plants in Maryland and Michigan. It also said it would cease operations at two unnamed assembly plants outside the U.S.

Source:  businessinsider.com