Opinion by Congresswoman Fischbach in Park Rapids Enterprise
It has been a busy month in Washington, and I was grateful to spend time with my family in Minnesota for the Easter holiday. I’m pleased to report that I have been hard at work strengthening our national security, defending law enforcement and restoring fiscal responsibility to the government.
Western Minnesotans understand the importance of our rural economies. The family farms and small businesses keep this country running. Unfortunately , according to the White House's proposed budget, it appears President Biden does not feel the same way. His budget would increase federal government spending at the expense of our small businesses, farmers and producers, including new tax hikes and restricting the like-kind exchanges that allow businesses to improve operations.
Rather than increasing the burden on rural economies, the federal government needs to take responsibility and rein in its own spending. I've joined my colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to work with us to support small business owners and family farms, not hinder them.
In addition to protecting rural economies from even more taxes, Congress passed legislation to cut unnecessary spending in Washington. The Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act requires the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration to reduce or consolidate space if its utilization rate falls below 60%.
Currently, most federal agencies are using less than 25% of their D.C. office space. In fact , the Social Security Administration only uses as little as 9% of its office space, according to the Government Accountability Office.
With so much of the federal workforce staying home, taxpayer dollars are going towards empty offices. It is time for federal employees to go back to the office. If they are not going to do that, then it is time to get rid of wasted office space and wasted tax dollars.
I'm proud of my colleagues for following through with the commitment to rein in government spending, and I encourage the Senate to join us in getting serious and taking up this bill.
In March, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in order to strengthen our national security against adversaries like China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
This, of course, is in response to the app TikTok, which is owned by a People’s Republic of China-controlled company, ByteDance. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has enacted several laws requiring all Chinese tech companies to allow CCP officials access to user data. Through this app, the Chinese government has the ability to access the data of millions of U.S. users as well as influence what content they are exposed to.
Because of the ambitious data collections goals and the lack of transparency, several governments (including the U.S., the E.U., Canada, India and several U.S. states) have already banned TikTok from being used on government devices.
With over 170 million users in the U.S., it’s time for the federal government to step in to protect its citizens. This bill has wide bipartisan support, and I encourage readers to contact their Senators to bring it to a vote.
And finally, I am continuing my work to defend the law enforcement officers of Minnesota. As you may know, State Trooper Ryan Londregan was charged with felony counts of second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter after he shot and killed Ricky Cobb II.
However, an expert determined that Londregan followed his training and acted lawfully to save his partner's life. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty ignored this expert and tried to keep this information from the public in order to advance her politically motivated and unjust prosecution. Moriarty has weaponized her position to wrongfully charge Londregan and this case needs to be taken out of her hands.
I led a letter from the Minnesota Republican delegation to Gov. Walz expressing our outrage at the demonization of law enforcement, and specifically Moriarty's abuse of power and wrongful charge. The letter also makes the governor aware that we are requesting the House Judiciary Committee investigate the prosecution. It is critical that Minnesota’s law enforcement community is treated fairly under the law.
