US Senate

The US ranks forty-sixth when it comes to pregnancy-related deaths and is the only industrialized country in the world with an increasing maternal mortality rate. Maternal mortality is a particularly striking issue in rural America.

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced new legislation to crack down on monopolies that violate antitrust law. The Monopolization Deterrence Act would give the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission the authority to seek civil penalties for monopolization offenses under the antitrust laws, a power they currently do not have. The bill was introduced with Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and co-sponsored by Sens Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). Specifically, the Monopolization Deterrence Act would:

Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), members of the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced the TOWER Infrastructure Deployment Act (TOWER Act) to increase broadband deployment and close the workforce shortage in the telecommunications industry. The TOWER Act requires the Federal Communications Commission to improve and streamline workforce development programs to prepare for next-generation communications infrastructure.

Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John Hoeven (R-ND) led a bipartisan coalition of senators urging the delay of the Federal Communications Commission’s order to reform the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. In a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the senators outlined their concerns with the FCC’s proposed RHC Program order by highlighting unaddressed obstacles that could effectively limit rural Americans’ access to high-quality health care by preventing health care providers from participating in the program.