February 3, 2023

Dear John:

We've had a busy week in D.C.!

You may have seen that the White House announced their plan to end emergency declarations related to COVID-19 on May 11th. But why wait until May? This week, the Republican Majority voted to repeal COVID protocols that have been in place far too long - effective immediately:

The Pandemic is Over Act terminates the COVID public health emergency. The country knows the public health emergency is over. Congress needs to recognize the same reality.

The Freedom for Health Care Workers Act repeals the COVID vaccine requirement for health care staff. Health care workers have been at the forefront of the COVID response, and then rather than being rewarded, some were punished and lost their jobs for deciding against the vaccine. All this at a time when, in Minnesota, we have already been facing a workforce shortage in the field. This rule must be reversed.

The Stopping Home Office Work's Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act requires federal workers to go back to pre-COVID telework policies. Western Minnesotans expect that when they show up to work, so too should the public servants they work with. We need to get public sector employees back in the office so they can effectively serve the people.

Resolution Condemning Socialism

Socialism does not align with the principals this country was founded on and experiments with socialism across the world have had disastrously tragic results. Some of the greatest crimes in history have been committed by Socialists like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Nicholas Maduro.

This week, the House passed a resolution to denounce socialism in all its forms and oppose the implementation of socialist policies in America.

Asking MN Secretary of State to Investigate Non-Citizen Voting

In testimony offered at a January 10th hearing by the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, a non-citizen exclaimed, “We are voting. Our people are voting.” It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections. Instead of launching any investigation of this unlawful activity, the Minnesota Secretary of State's office said they "no indication that noncitizen voting is a problem in Minnesota or nationally.”

Voter integrity and voter confidence are key to the future of our elections. The Secretary of State should be doing everything he can to make sure our elections are lawful, rather than ignoring - or worse yet, encouraging - non-citizens voting in American elections. Minnesotans deserve to know what steps the Secretary will be taking to reassure the public that our elections are secure.

This week, I joined my fellow Republicans from the Minnesota delegation and Rep. Bryan Steil, the Chairman of the Committee on House Administration in sending a letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon asking how his office plans to investigate claims that non-citizens are voting in Minnesota's elections.

USMCA Dispute Settlement Panel

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the U.S. will move to establish a second dispute settlement panel under the U.S. - Mexico - Canada Agreement (USMCA) aiming to address Canada's ongoing failure to meet its obligations regarding their dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation measures.

This is the second time Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian trade agency, has released USMCA implementation proposals that fail to provide Minnesota dairy producers with the market access negotiated under the agreement. I have urged the USTR to reject these proposals and I am glad to see the USTR continuing to press for the full measure of access to the Canadian dairy market that was agreed to under USMCA.

Ag Bowl

I got to round out my week back in Minnesota at the Ag Bowl Scholarship Invitational where I got to speak to over 1,000 FFA members. It was so encouraging to see so many young people with such an interest in the future of farming and the agricultural way of life. These students are the future of ag and we need them now more than ever. The last few years have opened people's eyes and now the rest of the country is seeing that food security is national security and that we need to have top-quality production right here at home. I can't wait to see all the amazing things this group is going to accomplish for their hometowns, state, and country.

Thanks for reading!

As always, my office is open and ready to serve constituents of Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District! Please do not hesitate to get in touch if there is anything I can do to help. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Michelle Fischbach

Member of Congress

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