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Message from Congressman Scott Fitzgerald
Good afternoon!
I hope everyone had a great weekend, and I hope those of you who celebrated Rosh Hashanah had a nice holiday.
Last week was busy on Capitol Hill—I had a full schedule between committee hearings, introducing two new pieces of legislation, hosting a telephone town hall, and meeting with groups traveling from SE Wisconsin to discuss important issues impacting the district.
The highlight of the week was certainly the telephone town hall. For those who tuned in, thank you! If you missed the call and would like to be invited to a future town hall, just give my office a ring at (202) 225-5101 and we can add you to the list!
Keep reading below to take a deeper dive into some of the work that was done last week.
Have a great week!
- Scott
Where I Stand on Impeachment Inquiry
Last week, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden to further investigate his involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings. My full support is behind the Speaker for this decision.
For months, House Republicans have uncovered a trove of information through congressional investigations that point to a pattern of corruption and abuse of power from President Biden.
I’ve received some phone calls already from folks in the district with questions about what an impeachment inquiry really means. So I’d like to clarify this point for anyone wondering the same question.
An impeachment inquiry gives our committees of jurisdiction—namely the House Judiciary Committee where I am a member—additional leverage when requesting documents or information from the executive branch.
If a committee wants to issue a subpoena for documents, it must have a legislative purpose. Launching an impeachment inquiry gives us a wide-ranging legislative purpose by which to request documents, testimony, and more.
The Biden Administration has been stonewalling House committees by failing to adequately respond to our committee subpoenas thus far.
The House Ways and Means Committee, for example, has been seeking information on the Biden family’s tax documents and efforts to obstruct IRS whistleblowers.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating over 20 shell companies tied to the Biden family, as well as information from the Department of State regarding then Vice President Biden’s sudden shift in policy on Ukraine.
And Chairman Jordan is investigating why, despite the DOJ’s commitment to impartial justice in the Hunter Biden investigation, AG Garland hired current DOJ attorney Jack Smith instead of appointing an independent special counsel.
These are all questions that require more information from the executive branch that they have thus far been unwilling to provide.
The impeachment inquiry gives the House more power to push back on the Biden Administration’s executive privilege claims and get committees the information they need to put together the facts.
As always, we will follow the facts and let truth prevail.
Introduced Two Bills in a Legislative Push to Counter CCP Aggression
Last week I was proud to be joined by my House colleagues in introducing two pieces of legislation to push back on aggression from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
My cosponsors on these bills include: House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Chairman of the Select Committee on China, Mike Gallagher (WI-08), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, Darrell Issa (CA-48), and Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03).
The first bill, the Countering Chinese Espionage Reporting Act, is intended to bolster the U.S. response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) economic theft of U.S. intellectual property.
The Chinese Communist Party’s theft of United States intellectual property is estimated to cost our economy between $225 billion to $600 billion annually.
President Biden has shown poor judgement on this looming threat by scrapping the China Initiative, which was an initiative started by Republicans to address some of the most critical security threats posed by the Chinese regime.
The bill directs the Attorney General to prepare an annual report on the Department of Justice activities related to countering Chinese national security threats, including trade secret theft, theft of United States intellectual property and research, and threats from non-traditional collectors, such as researchers in laboratories, at universities, and at defense industrial base facilities.
The second bill, the Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act, would prohibit the issuance of a U.S. patent to any person or entity who is identified to be a threat to U.S. national security pursuant to the U.S. Entity List, the Non-SDN CMIC List, the 1260H List, or the FCC’s Section 2 List. Any patent previously issued to companies on these lists would be unenforceable. This bill would also require disclosure of ties to a state-sponsored entity during application for patent, including any state-affiliated research funds or talent recruitment programs associated with the applicant.
Companies that are deemed a threat to national security are subject to capital restrictions, export controls, and a variety of other tools to prohibit the entity from operating in the United States. However, sanctioned companies—many of which are funded wholly or in part by the Chinese Communist Party—are still able to license and assert U.S. patents despite their ban. The Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act ensures companies cannot sidestep their sanctions using revenue generated through U.S. patents, while simultaneously requiring additional disclosures in application for patent to prevent the CCP from stealing our intellectual property.
Met with District Stakeholders
It was a busy week on Capitol Hill and my office put that time to use meeting with stakeholders from Wisconsin’s Fifth District to discuss important issues impacting SE Wisconsin. I had a chance to meet with teams from GE Healthcare, Calvary Baptist Church, the CBA, Potawatomi, and more!
It was also great to catch up with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone!
VA offers special health care enrollment for Veterans
The Department of Veteran Affairs released the following news in regard to an important deadline for veterans benefits:
Until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 30, 2023, Veterans who deployed to a combat zone, never enrolled in VA health care, and left active duty between Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2013, are eligible to enroll directly in VA health care. This special enrollment period gives Veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones an opportunity to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits.
VA encourages all eligible Wisconsin Veterans to visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411 to learn more and sign up for VA health care before the deadline. Veterans who are enrolled in VA health care are proven to have better health outcomes than non-enrolled Veterans, and VA hospitals have dramatically outperformed non-VA hospitals in overall quality ratings and patient satisfaction ratings.
For more information about how the PACT Act is helping Veterans and their survivors, visit VA’s PACT Act Dashboard. To apply for care or benefits today, visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411.
Green & Gold Congressional Aide Program
ICYMI, my office is seeking a veteran for a position in WI-05’s Oconomowoc district office. If you or a person you know are interested, I encourage you to apply!
The person chosen for the special position will work with military and veteran constituents to handle veterans-related casework and act as a facilitator between constituents and federal, state, and local agencies.
The Green & Gold Congressional Aide Program was established by the House of Representatives to provide employment opportunities for veterans within member offices.
The program is limited to veterans who meet all of the following requirements:
- Honorably discharged
- Released from active duty within the last six years
- Terminal pay grades at or below E-5, O-3, or W-2
- Veterans promoted to the pay grades of E-6, O-4, and W-3 within 6-months of separation from active duty are eligible, granted they meet ALL other eligibility requirements.
- Veterans who are in receipt of a 20-year or Temporary Early Retirement Authorization (TERA) retirement are not eligible for the program.
Click here to learn more about the job posting.
Congressional App Competition
I am are pleased to announce that my office will be participating in the Congressional App Challenge (CAC), a competition designed to encourage student participation in computer science and coding.
The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle school and high school students who reside in or attend a school in Wisconsin’s Fifth District. Students may compete as individuals or in teams of up to four, as long as two of the teammates are eligible to participate (reside in the 5th Congressional district).
A panel of judges from Wisconsin’s Fifth District will select the winning entry, and the winning app will be eligible to be featured on a display in the United States Capitol building, on the ‘House.gov’ website, and on the Congressional App Challenge website.
Students can register and find more information on the Congressional App Challenge website at: https://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/ and visit the “Students” section.
Submissions are due November 1, 2023 at 5:00 pm CT.
That’s a wrap for this week’s eNewsletter! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on my work for the 5th District of Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
Scott Fitzgerald
Member of Congress
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