Senator Blumenthal Week In Review 02/17/2023—02/24/2023

SUPPORTING OUR UKRAINIAN ALLIES ON THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN INVASION

— U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) visited the U.S. Army Garrison in Grafenwöhr, Germany to observe Ukrainian servicemembers receiving combined arms training on equipment provided by the U.S. and European allies. Blumenthal and Whitehouse also met with American soldiers from Connecticut and Rhode Island who are stationed in Germany and who have been training Ukraine’s servicemembers on new military assets.

“We have been calling on global leaders to provide more weapon systems more quickly to Ukraine. Seeing American troops training Ukrainian warfighters was truly eye-opening – a real-time demonstration of highly skilled American soldiers showing how to use the most sophisticated weapons in defense of freedom and democracy,” Blumenthal said. “Almost always when we push for more robust support, we are told that training is too complicated and will take too long. From what we saw in Germany, the learning curve is far quicker than commonly thought. As we reach this war’s one-year anniversary, we must recognize the enormity of this conflict and the tremendous ability and resourcefulness of Ukraine’s soldiers. It was awesome to witness this vital training – the expertise of American teachers and the quick study of the Ukrainians.”

Blumenthal and Whitehouse visited U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria following the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which they attended with a bipartisan congressional delegation led by U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Whitehouse.

“One clear takeaway from the Munich Security Conference: America must provide jet fighters to Ukraine—at the very least, begin training Ukrainian pilots, as the Brits are doing now. The F-16’s are absolutely vital to stopping Russian missiles & winning the war.”

— Blumenthal hosted a town hall with a panel of local experts and the deputy mayor of Kyiv to discuss the path forward and take questions from the Ukrainian American community to mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

Blumenthal has made several trips to Ukraine since the invasion, including a recent January trip to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top military officials to reaffirm U.S. support for the cause. Blumenthal also traveled to Kyiv in July to meet with President Zelenskyy and tour Bucha, where hundreds of Ukrainian citizens were massacred by Russian forces.

“Our town hall last night showed why CT’s support for Ukraine has been strong & unshakable. Diverse leaders, students, & activists said America must provide the military & humanitarian aid Ukrainians need to win. Their fierce, brave fight for freedom & democracy is ours too.”

— Blumenthal joined Governor Ned Lamont and other state leaders at an event marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion.

“On the eve of the 1-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, I stood w/Ukrainian Americans & Governor Ned Lamont to show our strong, steadfast support. This country is defending its homeland w/courage, resilience, & resolve—showing what it truly means to fight for freedom & independence.”

— Blumenthal joined a virtual town hall hosted by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and stood with Connecticut’s Ukrainian-American community at other events in New Haven, Hartford, and New Britain.

— Blumenthal visited FuelCell Energy, a Danbury-based company working with the U.S. State Department to help build energy security in Ukraine. FuelCell Energy is participating in a pilot project with the U.S. State Department to deploy their hydrogen fuel cells, which produce electricity, to Ukraine. Ukraine’s energy security and reliability is of key importance to their ability to win the war.

— Blumenthal reacted to President Biden’s visit to Ukraine and Putin’s announcement Russia will suspend its role in the New START nuclear accord with the U.S.

“A brave, bold, & powerful move by President Biden—showing the strength of American support. Having visited Kyiv & President Zelenskyy 3 times over roughly the past year, I know how meaningful it is to Zelenskyy & the Ukrainian people.”

“The inspiring, uplifting images of President Biden’s Kyiv visit continue to reverberate around the world. I know how difficult the security & logistics must have been for this visit—making the trip even more impactful to the Ukrainian people.”

“Putin’s suspending Russia’s role in START is truly reprehensible—but no reason to reduce, in fact every cause to increase, our commitment to Ukraine. He was already disregarding START. His speech was bunk & bluster to bolster domestic support.”

PROTECTING PEDESTRIANS & CYCLISTS

— Blumenthal announced $400,000 in federal funding for the City of New Haven to help implement their existing ‘Safe Routes for All’ plan, designed to help make New Haven’s sidewalks, bike lanes, and roads safer and more accessible for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and riders of public transportation. The awarded funding will be used for several quick-build projects along the corridors of Blatchley Avenue, Bassett Street, Kimberly Avenue, Winthrop/Sherman Avenue, and Wintergreen Avenue with the goal of upgrading and improving these corridors and expanding the city’s bicycle network and infrastructure.

“With the proper investments we can—& will—make our streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, & motorists. Excited to announce $400,000 in federal funding to help New Haven implement their ‘Safe Routes for All’ plan—road improvements that will save lives.”

The funding is awarded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, a new program established to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.

PROTECTING CONSUMERS FROM HIDDEN JUNK FEES

— Following calls from President Joseph R. Biden during his State of the Union address, Blumenthal announced new legislation to eliminate excessive, hidden and unnecessary fees imposed on consumers and require full prices of services be provided upfront ensuring transparency in the ticketing, hotel, entertainment and airline industries.

During his State of the Union address on Feb. 7, Biden urged Congress to pass legislation eliminating junk fees that cost consumers billions of dollars every year. Blumenthal’s Junk Fee Prevention Act is a direct response to the President’s call to action and would require the Federal Trade Commission to issue rules requiring the full price of a service to be displayed upfront, preventing excessive fees and ensuring transparency. Blumenthal’s legislation specifically targets excessive online ticket fees, airline family seating fees, exorbitant early termination fees, and surprise resort or destination fees.

“Exorbitant junk fees are rightly making customers mad. No hidden surprises. We need to put a stop to this modern day scourge through my Junk Fee Prevention Act—requiring full price disclosure upfront & setting rules against excessive fees.”

— Blumenthal also joined U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) in writing to the CEOs of Grubhub, Uber Eats, and Doordash urging for more transparency on junk fees, a misleading and harmful price gouging practice directed at consumers and small businesses. With 16% of Americans who rely on income from an online gig platform, many small businesses struggling to stay open, and many vulnerable Americans who depended on food delivery apps during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has a responsibility to ensure consumers, workers, and restaurants that rely on those applications have access to a fair and transparent marketplace.

In their letter, the senator are seeking clarification on the current practices of food delivery services that relate to fees, payments to businesses, consumer disclosures, and compensation for delivery workers.

“Food delivery apps play an important role in many Americans’ lives, and they experienced massive growth during the pandemic. Unfortunately, the industry has been regularly accused of unfair and deceptive practices,” wrote the senators. “Consumers should not have to work through a confusing fee structure, deceptive offers and discounts, and potentially inflated prices while attempting to order a meal and support local businesses.”

SENDING VITAL RELIEF TO TÜRKIYE & SYRIA

— Blumenthal visited Sultan’s Turkish Restaurant, a local business assisting with relief efforts for victims of the devastating earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. As hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes and the death toll continues to climb, Connecticut’s Turkish community is rallying together to send vital relief and aid to Türkiye and Syria. Sultan’s is now collecting monetary donations after a week of accepting warm clothing and other supplies.  

OPPOSING THE CLOSURE OF SHARON HOSPITAL’S ICU

— Blumenthal, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), and U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (D-CT) submitted comments calling on the Office of Health Strategy to reject a plan to close the Sharon Hospital ICU.

“We strongly urge rejection of Vassar Health Systems’ (Nuvance) application to reduce the medical services provided at Sharon Hospital. While we understand the challenges facing the operation of rural hospitals in Connecticut, reducing or eliminating a wide range of critical acute care services at the one hospital within reasonable driving distance of many residents in Northwest Connecticut is untenable,” wrote Blumenthal, Murphy and Hayes. “The Office of Health Strategy must ensure that Sharon Hospital remains a mainstay of medical care for the sparsely populated section of Connecticut. OHS must carefully and critically scrutinize the application and consider the testimony provided by the petitioners and the impact of any reduction in medical services on those who live in the area and depend – with their lives – on reasonable access to vital health care services.”

Vassar Health Systems plans to replace the ICU with a Progressive Care Unit, which typically provide a more intermediate level of care as opposed to the ICU’s acute care. Blumenthal, Murphy and Hayes urge OHS to consider the potential detrimental health impacts the closure of the ICU would have on patients seeking care at Sharon Hospital and urge the agency to reject the application.

ADDRESSING RISING MOVING FRAUDS

— Blumenthal raised deep concerns about increasing instances of several types of moving frauds affecting American consumers and urged U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) action to prevent these incidents.

“The FMCSA must use all of its authorities to enforce penalties against bad actors and protect consumers from widespread fraud, extortion, and theft within the moving industry,” wrote Blumenthal in a letter to DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Moving frauds include moving companies deliberately underestimating costs of moving and forcing consumers to pay a higher price following the move, misrepresenting the weight of a package, and taking consumers’ moving loads hostage. In this latter scam, a mover demands more money than the initially agreed-upon estimate to return a consumer’s items.

“There have been tragic reports of movers extorting thousands of dollars from consumers in return for their possessions. These fraudsters can make moving – an already stressful experience for any consumer – a nightmare,” Blumenthal emphasized.

Blumenthal expressed encouragement at some action taken by the FMCSA on this issue, including efforts to educate the public and investigatory steps taken by the agency, and urged the agency to take further action.

“While I understand the FMCSA is limited in the penalties it can assess without the DOJ, such limitations do not preclude tough enforcement or referrals to DOJ for further action. Indeed, tough enforcement of the law will be a strong deterrent to the widespread fraud perpetuated currently on consumers,” Blumenthal continued, asking the agency a number of questions regarding the scope, nature, and potential solutions to the issue.

“I look forward to working with you and the FMCSA to prevent moving fraud and ensuring many fraudsters are held fully accountable going forward,” Blumenthal concluded.

PROTECTING INFANTS FROM DEADLY ROCKERS

— Blumenthal joined injury prevention experts from Connecticut Children’s to call on Mattel, Inc., the parent company of Fisher-Price, to step up its recall efforts for the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper — which was linked to eight more infant deaths since its recall in 2019.

The infant rocker has been linked to over 100 infant deaths, a tragic toll made worse by Fisher-Price and Mattel’s efforts to stop the Consumer Product Safety Commission from warning the public of the risks. Despite the 2019 recall, as of 2020 fewer than one tenth of the 4.84 million infant rockers had been accounted for.

In a new letter to Mattel, Inc. Blumenthal and U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) led a group of Members of Congress in demanding the company take further action to ensure these dangerous products are off the market and out of consumers homes.

“We write with serious concern over the effectiveness of recall efforts for dangerous infant inclined sleepers manufactured by your subsidiary Fisher-Price Inc., and request information about the actions you have taken to remove these deadly products off the market,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter to Mattel CEO, Ynon Kreiz.

The Members of Congress lambasted Mattel and Fisher-Price’s undermining of previous recall efforts through “failing to adequately notify consumers and continuing to downplay the dangers of the product” and called on the company to swiftly identify where these products remain—and act to ensure they are promptly removed to prevent more infant deaths. 

“It is critical that Fisher-Price examine the source of the Rock ‘n Play Sleepers linked to the new deaths,” continued the lawmakers. “We urge Mattel to take further action to ensure these dangerous products are off the secondary market and out of consumer’s homes.”

The Member of Congress demanded the company answer a number of questions regarding its actions, writing: “We will not sit by while dangerous products continue to put babies at serious risk and rip families apart.”

SUPPORTING CONNECTICUT’S BUSINESSES

— Blumenthal, Hayes, and Governor Ned Lamont joined Mott Corporation CEO Boris Levin for a press conference celebrating Mott’s expansion in Farmington. Mott is opening a new 65,000 square foot facility that will double their clean energy business, creating more than 100 new, local jobs.

— Blumenthal met with employees at Mirion Technologies, Inc, a global provider in radiation detection, measurement, and analysis for the nuclear, defense, and medical industries. Mirion has approximately 2,600 employees in thirteen countries, with their headquarters based in Atlanta, Georgia. Their Meriden facility has 150 employees.

HELPING FAMILIES WITH HOME ENERGY COSTS

— Blumenthal joined the Connecticut congressional delegation in announcing Connecticut will receive an additional $19.6 million in federal funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), as part of the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. Since November, Connecticut has received more than $105 million in LIHEAP funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Everywhere I travel across our state, I hear again and again from people fearful and angry about the crushing cost of home heating bills. This $19.6 million for LIHEAP will deliver real relief to Connecticut families when they need it most. No one should ever have to choose between putting food on their table, keeping the lights on, or heating their home, and thanks to this funding, fewer people will face those tough choices this winter,” said Blumenthal.

EASING CONSUMER PAIN AT THE PUMP

— As the five largest publicly traded oil companies boast to Wall Street about their record $264.3 billion haul in 2022, Blumenthal and Murphy joined 15 of their Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act to crack down on profiteering by Big Oil and return the industry’s excessive gains to working people.

“Oil giants should be compelled to return some of their record profits to consumers struggling with high prices. While the industry’s greed leads to consumer pain at the pump, our windfall profits penalty puts an end to the price gouging and corporate profiteering – putting hard-earned dollars back in family pockets through common sense rebates,” said Blumenthal.

The five largest publicly traded oil companies – Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies – hauled in pre-tax profits totaling $264.3 billion in fiscal year 2022.  Exxon alone reported $77.8 billion in profits in 2022, smashing the earnings record of any American or European oil company. Exxon also announced plans to keep oil production flat for the year ahead. Rival oil giant Chevron – flush with $49.7 billion in profits – greenlit $75 billion in stock buybacks in 2023 to benefit its wealthy executives and shareholders on Wall Street. 

CONDEMNING THE REPRESSION OF IRANIAN BAHA’I

— Blumenthal and Murphy joined 22 of their Senate colleagues in introducing a bipartisan resolution condemning Iran’s government for persecuting the 300,000 members of the Baha’i faith. The Iranian Baha'i community is the largest religious minority in Iran with membership of more than 300,000 people. Unlike some other religious minorities such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, Iran's Baha'is have never been recognized by their government and are often persecuted by the Iranian regime. The regime often seizes personal property, denies Baha'i access to education and employment opportunities and detains or imprisons Baha'is based solely on their religious beliefs.

ENSURING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE

— Blumenthal joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and 13 of their colleagues in a letter urging Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to ensure that the gains made in reducing the number of uninsured children are not lost as states begin to unwind some Medicaid policies that have been in place since the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

As part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), Congress acted to require states to keep individuals in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continuously enrolled in coverage through the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. As a result of this Medicaid Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provision, all Medicaid beneficiaries, including children, have been continuously enrolled in the program since the enactment of the FFCRA in March 2020. However, states will start conducting Medicaid redeterminations and dis-enrolling individuals beginning in April 2023, which could cause children to churn in and out of coverage.

“Making continuous eligibility a nationwide policy will ensure continuous coverage and access to essential health care services for the nearly 45 million children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, even as the MOE phases out. Unfortunately, as nationwide continuous eligibility for children will not be effective until January 1, 2024, there will be a gap where children in the remaining holdout states could once again be at risk of churning when redeterminations begin,” wrote the senators. “Therefore, we urge you to take steps to work with each of these states to ensure that children across the country have continuous coverage as the MOE soon comes to an end and eligibility redeterminations commence and prevent the potential for coverage losses among children across the nation.”

— Blumenthal, Murphy, and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined 31 of their colleagues in a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra urging the Department to take immediate action to address short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans, or junk plans, which fail to provide adequate, comprehensive health insurance coverage.

In 2018, in an effort to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Trump Administration made junk plans more widely available to consumers. Since then, these plans have continued to expand, however, they are not required to adhere to important standards, including prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, coverage for the 10 essential health benefit (EHB) categories, and annual out-of-pocket maximums.

“Now, more than ever, the Department of Health and Human Services must act. Beginning in April, millions of Americans will likely lose the Medicaid coverage that they have relied upon during the COVID-19 pandemic. We must protect those who will be looking for coverage in the near future, and take steps to ensure that these plans are not allowed to further proliferate,” wrote the senators. “It is past time for your Department to step up and address the expansion and proliferation of junk plans.”

AROUND CONNECTICUT

— Blumenthal joined a CT Department of Veterans Affairs Black History Month event.

“Grateful to join Commr. Saadi & CT Dept. Of Veteran Affairs in honoring brave, dedicated African American Vets as part of Black History Month. We should salute them & all vets in action, not just words, with health care, education, skill training, jobs, & more. We owe them.”

— Blumenthal joined a Small Business Administration (SBA) announcement designating Torrington a business HUB.

“Proud to stand with Gov. Lamont, Mayor Carbone & community leaders to announce SBA designating Torrington a business HUB. Increased access to federal contracts for local businesses will mean more jobs & economic opportunities. Torrington well deserves it.”

— Blumenthal joined a ribbon cutting for Norwalk Hospital’s new expanded outpatient mental health care facility.

“Cutting the ribbon for Norwalk Hospital’s expanded outpatient mental health care facility—welcoming & warm—was truly inspiring. A $2.1 million federal grant helped make it possible, but the real heroes are health care professionals, staff, board, volunteers—& patients.”

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