Wyden, Merkley talk online taxes, trade, gun violence

Here’s a look at the topics discussed Thursday in news releases from the offices of Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.:

Wyden, Merkley, Tester, Shaheen, Hassan Introduce Legislation to Push Back Against Nationwide Internet Sales Tax Senators Stand with Small Businesses and Oppose Marketplace Fairness Act

Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) are taking a stand against a nationwide online sales tax.

The senators representing states without a sales tax introduced a resolution opposing a bill that would require businesses selling products or services over the internet to collect sales tax, even if the seller is located in a state without a sales tax.

“Passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act would harm the economy of the United States and place burdensome and bureaucratic policies on small businesses and entrepreneurs,” the resolution reads. “It should not be the role of small businesses and entrepreneurs to help shore up the finances of states and localities through an online sales tax.”

“The Marketplace Fairness Act would overwhelmingly benefit larger corporate entities at the expense of small businesses and entrepreneurs,” the resolution continues.

Under the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act , small businesses and retailers that sell their products or services online would be forced to collect sales taxes for nearly 10,000 other states, cities and municipalities.

The text of the resolution can be found HERE.

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Wyden Tax Scam Report Reveals Small Business Owners Are Facing More Uncertainty, Complexity Due To Trump Tax Law Wyden: “What good is a small business deduction if money spent in accountant fees exceeds the tax benefit?”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued a tax scam report outlining concerns from small business owners who say Trump’s tax law has created an increase in financial uncertainty. The report, “Tax Code and Small Business: Even More Bizarre and More Unfair than Before,” also explores how Republicans’ new pass-through loophole may result in small business owners spending more on tax professionals than on growing their operation.

“Republicans claim to want less government intervention, but with their new tax law they picked winners and losers–architects are in, accountants are out; engineers made the cut, doctors did not–leaving business owners wondering whether or not they were blacklisted,” Wyden’s report reads. “What good is a deduction if money spent in annual fees to your accountant far exceed the tax break? Main Street job creators will be lucky if they figure out how to calculate their deduction any time soon.”

“This $1.5 trillion hole in the deficit will provide minimal benefit to Main Street small businesses, as the vast majority of the tax law’s rewards will go to large corporations and the shareholders of a handful of wealthy pass-through entities,” Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer said. “Republican lawmakers blew a once-in-a-generation chance to craft reforms that could have made life easier for America’s small businesses. Instead, they passed convoluted tax cuts that will primarily reward their wealthiest donors. The new tax law is terrible policy, and we’re already seeing that small businesses will pay the price.”

According to Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform, a majority of small business owners don’t believe the tax law will help grow their business.

You can read Wyden’s tax scam report here.

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Amid Tariff Debate, Merkley and Baldwin Introduce Bill to Combat Unfair Trade with a Targeted Approach

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following President Donald J. Trump’s imposition last week of blanket tariffs on steel and aluminum, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) today introduced legislation with a smarter path forward on trade. The Level the Playing Field in Global Trade Act of 2018 takes a targeted approach to crack down specifically on countries that are unfairly subsidizing their products through rock-bottom wages and substandard environmental practices.

“If we don’t make things in America, we won’t have a middle class in America,” said Merkley. “In the past 20 years, we’ve lost tens of thousands of factories and millions of jobs – and unfair trade practices have been a large factor driving this decline. But we need a real strategy to take on unfair trade, not just a talking point from President Trump. This ‘Level the Playing Field’ bill is the targeted, smart approach to taking on unfair trade that America needs.”

“Bad actors like China are not playing by the rules on steel, aluminum and paper. We need the new tools provided in this legislation to take on China’s cheating,” said Baldwin. “As the nation’s leading paper producer, when China cheats, our Wisconsin workers and manufacturers lose. This legislation will help level the playing field and support Wisconsin workers.”

The Level the Playing Field in Global Trade Act would ensure that when other countries undercut American manufacturers by selling products produced under conditions where workers are paid sub-standard wages, or where workplace safety practices and environmental protections aren’t maintained, those failures are treated as unfair subsidies and their imports are penalized.

The bill would require that new free trade agreements include binding, enforceable requirements that manufacturers operating in foreign countries pay adequate wages, maintain workplace safety standards, and abide by environmental standards. Companies or countries that fail to do so would have to pay anti – dumping penalties as they do for any other subsidy under current law. The bill also rewards companies that meet high standards on a global basis in wages, workplace safety and environmental compliance with streamlined trade and protection from enforcement actions.

Over the last 15 years, countries who have cut costs for manufacturers by allowing sub – standard labor and environmental practices have reaped the benefits of trade deals without upholding their end of the bargain. This lack of accountability has contributed to the shuttering of tens of thousands of American factories and the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs.

U.S. companies and workers are presently at a trade disadvantage against companies and countries that do not pay adequate wages or maintain safety standards and environmental controls. This results in countries and companies engaging in a “race to the bottom,” which puts U.S. manufacturing jobs at risk and is fundamentally unfair to American working families. It’s also terribly destructive to workers around the world, many of whom are forced to work in unsafe conditions for meager wages.

Current American law and trade agreements prohibit “dumping” of products, where companies export products at prices below the cost of production or cheaper than they sell for in the home country, and allow the U.S. to impose duties to make the sale price in America reflect what the true cost would be without cheating. The Level the Playing Field in Global Trade Act would, for the first time, require that any new trade deals considered under Trade Promotion Authority recognize egregious environmental and labor practices as a form of illegal subsidy that can be remedied by U.S. duties. It would also reward companies that adhere to high global standards by creating new trade enforcement incentives.

The bill is supported by the United Steelworkers (USW) and the AFL-CIO.

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Wyden, Colleagues Call on Key Senate Committee to Take Action on Legislation to Fund Gun Violence Research at CDC

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and 25 other senators today called on leaders of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to immediately act on legislation to fund gun violence prevention research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Wyden and his colleagues introduced legislation last year (S. 834) to provide $60 million for the CDC to conduct or support research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention. In today’s letter, the senators pointed to the overwhelming support from the medical and public health communities for recognizing gun violence as a public health crisis.

Just today, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar again said there is no impediment to his agency conducting gun violence research. However, in 2015, a CDC official released a statement noting the agency had commissioned an agenda of possible research goals on gun violence but still lacked the dedicated funding to pursue it: “It is possible for us to conduct firearm-related research within the context of our efforts to address youth violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and suicide, but our resources are very limited.”

“In the wake of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, it has become increasingly clear that gun violence in America is going to continue unabated until Congress takes meaningful action,” the senators wrote to Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash. “On behalf of families across the country, we urge you to join the medical professionals in recognizing gun violence as a public health issue, and respectfully request that the HELP Committee consider S.834 at its next Executive Session.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

Also signing the letter are Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Robert P. Casey, Jr., D-Pa.,, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Chris Coons, D-Del., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Tom Carper, D-Del., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

A Republican appropriations rider first authorized by then-Congressman Jay Dickey, R-Ark., in 1996, prohibits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using federal funds to advocate or promote gun control. Some have misconstrued this rider as a ban on CDC research into the causes of gun violence.

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Wyden, Paul Ask DOJ to Clarify Protection of Email Communications under Fourth Amendment

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., this week asked the Department of Justice to clarify whether they believe that an individual’s emails are protected from warrantless government searches under the Fourth Amendment.

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against warrantless search and seizure by the government. The Department of Justice has long taken the position that these protections do not extend to electronic communications stored in the cloud, leaving Americans’ emails vulnerable to warrantless searches.

“The American people deserve to know if the Justice Department is going to defend and enforce protections under the Fourth Amendment that unquestionably apply to their online communications,” Wyden said. “It’s time for the government to provide answers about whether they will continue to prioritize their political agenda over the constitutional rights of Americans.”

“The Fourth Amendment stands as a shield that protects Americans from the government invading their private lives,” Paul said. “Americans deserve for these protections to extend to their emails and information stored in the cloud, and we are simply asking the Department of Justice in this letter to confirm what they have alluded to in court: that Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy in this content, and it is protected by the Fourth Amendment.”

Since 2013, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook have all insisted on a warrant before disclosing the contents of their customers’ email communications. The Department of Justice has yet to challenge the position taken by these companies, and at an oral argument before the Supreme Court last November, a senior Department of Justice official seemed to acknowledge that the Fourth Amendment does in fact apply to email communications, indicating that the Department has adopted a new position on this issue.

Specifically, Wyden and Paul asked:

Is it now the policy of the Department of Justice that email content is protected by the Fourth Amendment even when an internet service provider or email provider would be able to access that content while providing communications service? If that is not the policy of the Department, do you intend to correct the record for the Supreme Court? If the Department takes the position that the Fourth Amendment protects the content of emails, does it also believe this protection extends to other data stored in the cloud, such as photographs, personal documents, and other records? If not, why?

Read the full letter here.

As a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden has been a strong advocate for privacy, pushing back on the overreach of the federal government on warrantless surveillance of Americans.