Congresswoman Scholten’s Newsletter Covering 3/27/2023 - 3/31/2023

Dear constituent, 

My team and I had an action-packed week in Washington, working for the people of West Michigan. I introduced emergency response legislation, voted on key policies that matter to the people of West Michigan, spent time with the President at the White House’s summit on women in small business and called on Congress to end gun violence in America.

Justice for Exploited Children Act

This week, I, along with my colleague, Congresswoman Nancy Mace from South Carolina, introduced bipartisan emergency legislation to address the devastating issue of child labor in West Michigan and across the country. Here’s what my bill—the Justice for Exploited Children Act—will do and why it’s important: right now, the section of the law that sets fines for violations of child labor laws was last updated in 1938. It’s just $15,138 per child—a penalty that is effectively pennies for big corporations, particularly when the amount imposed is often far less.

That is unacceptable. Congress cannot allow a system that allows for this exploitation to simply be the cost of doing business. My bill would increase the civil monetary penalty for a violation of child labor standards of the Federal Labor Standards Act nearly ten fold.

These fines are designed to make companies engaging in this practice feel the pain and stop this shameful practice, rather than simply factoring the penalty in as a line on their balance sheet. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: exploiting kids cannot be the cost of doing business.

This is not a complicated bill–it’s a targeted, bipartisan, and commonsense proposal intended to directly give more force to the DOL’s enforcement capabilities by making companies think twice before they mess with kids. Read more about my bill here.

Vote Explainer: H.R. 1 
This week's center stage bill was HR1–the Republican policy proposal to address our energy crisis. I was so optimistic about this bill, and wanted to find an alternative here for the rising costs of energy and a way to simplify the regulatory process for green energy alternatives. But sadly, this bill doesn't do it. In fact, it really does the opposite. The country need a solution to our energy problems, that's 1. consumer focused and 2. prioritizes the sustainability of the planet. This bill puts big oil corporations first, and American consumers last. Here's why I voted against it

• H.R. 1 would add roughly $2.4 billion to the deficit–that’s an enormous add for a bill that mostly includes handouts for big corporations.
  
  
• This bill repeals the $4.5 billion home electrification rebate program–a program that the Department of Energy has estimated could save American families a thousand dollars annually.
  
  
• Most of all, H.R. 1 holds an antiquated permitting system hostage to extract benefits for big oil corporations. It is possible to separate these two elements out into two separate bills. I'm committed to coming to the table in good faith, focusing on serious bipartisan efforts to streamline the permitting process and lower energy costs for American families.
  
  
• Bottom line is this: H.R. 1 puts polluters and big oil above the needs of working families. This won’t improve the lives of West Michiganders. A top priority of mine is to lower costs for families across the district, but unfortunately, this bill doesn’t help us do that.

Standing in Solidarity with Victims of Gun Violence
This week I was asked to speak at our House press conference in response to yet another tragic school shooting, as a mother of two school aged children who is sick and tired of our culture of killing in our schools. I’m sharing a summary of my remarks here with you too. Americans don’t have to live like this. Another way is possible.

On Monday, once again, tragedy struck as three nine-year-old children were gunned down where they learned and played.

We know that the problem of school shootings is a uniquely American problem. Literally no other country on earth has this problem to the extent that we do. The United States has 57 times more school shootings than other industrialized nations. Between 2008 and 2018, the United States experienced 288 school shootings, more than any other nation in the world. In that same time period, Canada had 2 school shootings, and the United Kingdom had none. The entire next generation of Americans are being traumatized by this epidemic of gun violence–a catastrophe that is entirely preventable.

Since my kids were in preschool, gun violence was always a problem they were forced to reckon with. They were the ones that had to deal with the reality of active shooter drills—and active shooter lockdowns. I believe it’s beyond time that the grown ups in the room—like us lawmakers—make gun violence, and preventing gun violence, our problem. When I heard about the Covenant Shooting, I wanted nothing more than to go home and give my 10 year old a hug. I didn’t get to though, not because he was ripped apart by the bullets of an assault rifle in his school, but because I was here in Congress, doing the work to make sure that the parents of Evelyn, Hallie, and William had to. Congress has to step up.

Fear of gun violence is a reality that millions of American children live with everyday. And the reason they are living with it is this: their federal legislators refuse to take commonsense actions that are statistically proven to save human lives.

Funding Friday
This week, my office is highlighting the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. This grant helps farmers growing specialty crops. For more information, visit this link—feel free to reach out to my office at scholten.house.gov with any questions or inquiries!

Apply for an Internship
Do you know a young person interested in politics? My office is hiring interns for the West Michigan office and for the office in Washington, DC. If you or someone you know is interested in applying, visit this link!

As always, West Michigan, it has been an honor to serve you this week! I’m committed to continuing to fight for West Michigan values in Congress. Please feel free to call my office at (616) 451-8383 with any questions, concerns, or feedback.

Have a great weekend,

Hillary J. Scholten

Member of Congress