Dear John,

I hope you and your families had a safe and enjoyable July 4th holiday. When I got back to Washington this week, I was looking forward to getting back to work for the American people to address the issues impacting their everyday lives.  
  
Unfortunately, this week the House was voting on bills like the Refrigerator Freedom Act, and another bill cracking down on... dishwashers. These bills would both weaken energy conservation standards and make it easier for big corporations to raise their carbon emissions. 

There are so many important issues facing Minnesotans right now. From high prices at the grocery store, the fentanyl crisis ravaging our communities and the high price of prescription drugs – there is an urgent need for bipartisan cooperation and compromise from both sides of the aisle. We won’t solve those tough problems with messaging bills about home appliances, it’ll take hard work from Republicans and Democrats alike. 
  
That’s why I’m working to make Congress work better. That means focusing more on bipartisanship instead of scoring political points, and reforming the institution of Congress itself to help Americans restore faith in our government and its leaders. 
  
On that note – there was a major update on one of my key priorities this week: banning Members of Congress from owning and trading stocks. 
  
The Senate just announced that they reached a new bipartisan agreement to markup a bill to ban stock trading by Members of Congress. My HUMBLE Act includes one of the most expansive stock trading ban proposals in Congress, and I will continue to work toward a plan to end stock trading by Members. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more about the Senate proposal. 

Here’s what else I was up to this week: 

Expanding Resources for Minnesota Farmers 
This week I met with the Minnesota Farm Bureau in my DC office. We discussed how I can best support Minnesota farmers to ensure they are supported with the resources they need to feed and fuel our nation.

Pushing EPA to Increase Biofuel Production 
This week I led a bipartisan group to call upon the EPA to increase production of renewable fuels. This would directly benefit Minnesotans by lowering costs at the gas pump and would help grow our rural economies.

Biofuel production in Minnesota is crucial to lowering costs for consumers, and I will continue to advocate and push the EPA to increase their production of renewable fuel.

Behind the Scenes with Rep. Craig 

On Wednesday, I played in the Congressional Women’s Basketball Game! It was a close game with our team of Members and Congressional staff losing by only a few points.  
  
We played to raise money for the Kay Vow Cancer Fund which is a non-profit dedicated to fighting all cancers affecting women. There are so many in our community battling cancer and we’ve lost too many friends and family members along the way. I’ll never stop fighting to stop cancer. 
 
As an aside, our team coach was former Women’s Gophers coach and current University of Maryland Coach Brenda Frese! I always love to find Minnesota connections. 

I hope you enjoy your weekend! 

Until next time,
 

Angie Craig

Member of Congress