Feingold Highlights 2004 Legislative Accomplishments Pushes Through Legislation in Areas Ranging from the Fight Against Terrorism to Fiscal Responsibility December 28, 2004 Washington, D.C. -- During the second session of the 108th Congress in 2004, Senator Russ Feingold was able to get Congress to act on a number of his priorities. In 2005, Feingold will begin his third term in the U.S. Senate. Below are some of the highlights of Feingold's legislative accomplishments in 2004. "I am pleased that I was able to advance a number of important issues over this past year, from enacting legislation to protect our country against terrorism to ensuring that our veterans receive adequate outreach services," Feingold said. "However, there is much more work to be done and I look forward to achieving even greater successes for the people of Wisconsin in the next Congress." Making America Stronger and Safer • Transportation Security -- One of the first 9/11 recommendations passed by the Senate, Feingold's amendment to the DHS fiscal year 2005 appropriations bill requires DHS to identify key transportation assets and ways to protect them from possible attack, and to prioritize future spending to address the nation's most pressing transportation security needs. The bill including Feingold's amendment was signed into law on October 18, 2004. • WMD Response Teams -- Feingold led a successful effort to fund the remaining 11 weapons of mass destruction civil support teams in the fiscal year 2005 budget. The FY05 Defense Department appropriations bill including funding for these teams was signed into law in August. The effort capped Feingold's successful drive to make sure that every state and territory has at least one WMD-CST, which respond to emergencies involving WMDs. Wisconsin should have its team in place in 2005. Fighting Crime • Bulletproof Vests -- Feingold cosponsored the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act, which was enacted as part of broader legislation, H.R. 2714, in October. The bill reauthorizes a grant program that has provided funds for over 350,000 bulletproof vests for police officers in Wisconsin and across the country since 1999. • Crime Victims -- Feingold cosponsored a bill to protect crime victims' rights that the Senate approved as part of the DNA backlog bill, H.R. 5107, on October 9. The final version of H.R. 5107, including the protections for crime victims -- as well as portions of the Innocence Protection Act, which Feingold also co-sponsored -- was signed into law later that month. Improving Health Care • Rural Physicians -- Feingold cosponsored S. 2302, a bill to improve access to physicians in medically underserved areas. The bill was signed into law on December 3. • Cancer Research -- Feingold successfully fought to maintain funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) peer-reviewed research programs for breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. The final DOD budget for fiscal year 2005, enacted in August, maintained funding for these programs. (more) • AEDs -- Feingold led successful efforts to prevent cuts to the Rural AED program, which improves public access to automatic external defibrillators in rural areas. Feingold and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) drafted the bill setting up the program in 2000. While the President requested $2 million for the program in his fiscal year 2005 budget, Feingold fought for more funding. and the fiscal year 2005 omnibus appropriations bill that was signed into law in December had $9 million for the program. Protecting Jobs • Manufacturing -- The JOBS Act, H.R. 4520, that Congress passed in October was based in large part on legislation that Senator Feingold cosponsored, S. 970, the Jobs Protection Act. The bill, which was signed into law on October 22, did two things: (1) repealed the FSC/ETI tax provision that had led to punitive tariffs on American-made products; and (2) established a tax break for domestic manufacturers that helped them compete with foreign producers, and encouraged firms that have left the country to return. • Buy American -- Feingold continued his successful efforts to ensure that the federal government buys American-made goods whenever possible, and can explain when it fails to do so. A Feingold amendment requiring all federal departments and agencies to report on their compliance with the Buy American Act in fiscal year 2004 was signed into law in January. A similar provision was included in the fiscal year 2005 omnibus appropriations bill that was signed into law in December. Supporting our Troops and Veterans • Health Care Outreach for Veterans -- A Feingold-authored provision prohibiting the VA from implementing its policy banning health care marketing to veterans was enacted as part of the fiscal year 2004 omnibus bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law in January. • Transition Services for Military Personnel - Feingold authored an amendment that was enacted as part of the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill requiring the Government Accountability Office to review transition services for our military personnel that are administered by the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor and to make recommendations to Congress on how these programs can be improved. The bill was signed into law in October. Ensuring Fiscal Responsibility • PAYGO -- In March, Feingold was successful in passing a Senate amendment reinstating the PAYGO (or pay as you go) rule, which requires new mandatory spending or tax cuts to be offset, or paid for. Feingold's amendment to the 2005 budget resolution was taken out by the conference committee drafting the final version of the bill. However, Senate Republican deficit hawks refused to accept a budget without the Feingold amendment -- as a result, Congress failed to pass a budget this year. • Iraq Inspector General -- Feingold was successful in extending the mandate of the Coalition Provisional Authority's Inspector General (IG), now the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, in order to maintain oversight of American taxpayers' reconstruction funding. Feingold was instrumental in establishing the post of IG in 2003. Thanks to his amendment to the Department of Defense FY05 authorization bill, enacted in October, the IG will remain in place to target waste, fraud or abuse with respect to the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars being spent in Iraq. Fighting for Farmers • Bankruptcy Protection -- Feingold successfully pushed to extend Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code, which provides protections for farmers, until June 30, 2005. Chapter 12 allows family farmers who fall on hard times to seek protections from creditors without liquidating their farms. This measure was passed by Congress in October and signed into law. • Dairy Markets --Feingold successfully pushed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that a drought relief program for the West did not undermine commercial dairy markets in Wisconsin. In May, Feingold called on USDA to rewrite the regulations for the Nonfat Dry Milk Livestock Feed Initiative to address allegations of fraud and abuse of the program. The USDA followed this advice when the program was extended on July 16.

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