Congressman Brad Finstad has stated that his goal is to “deliver real results for a richer, safer and freer Minnesota and America” knowing that his votes “will impact you and your families”, so let’s look at the legislation that he has authored, sponsored and voted on …. starting with January 2023.

The start of the new legislative session has began at glacier speed …. in fact, the Republican-controlled House has authorized 18 committees … most of which were finally approved on January 31st … including Congressman Finstad’s two committees — the Agriculture and Armed Services committees. Congressman Finstad is not returning to the Education and Workforce Committee where he was assigned last year …. which is unfortunate since that committee “will impact you and your families”. Also, the House approved Members for the Small Business committee … without including George Santos … interestingly, Jim Hagedorn had served on the Small Business committee but Brad Finstad was not chosen.

So without committees, hearings and mark-ups of legislation are delayed.

In January, Congressman Finstad authored three pieces of legislation.

H.R. 328 Jim Hagedorn Memorial Post Office (6 cosponsors all from Minnesota)

H.R. 329 American Workforce Empowerment Act (29 GOP sponsors and 3 Democrats) This is an old idea that Jim Hagedorn had pushed that expands the use of funds from tax-advantaged 529 accounts … if ya got one, and the stock market has provided you a good return, you may like this … but it ain’t gonna do that much good … more hype than substance.

H.R. 414 The Invest in Rural Manufacturing Act (3 GOP sponsors and 2 Democrats) Another idea that has been around before … providing $2 BILLION in forgivable loans for communities with a population under 50,000 if business will, within five years add at least 75% of its job creation goal. Considering that the company sets the goal, this seems like a pretty low benchmark.

These bills have been assigned to committees which Congressman Finstad has not been assigned.

Congressman Finstad has cosponsored 35 other proposals … and there are some common themes.

Abortion

H.R. 7 No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2023

H.R. 26 Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

H.R. 371 Providing a moratorium on Federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc

H.R. 384 Protecting Life from Chemical Abortions Act

H.R. 427 Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act which restricts the use of the FDA-approved drug, mifepristone.

H.Con.Res 3 Condemn the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.

Guns

H.R. 38 Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act

H.R. 53 Firearm Industry Non-Discrimination Act or the FIND Act

H.R. 152 Removes firearm silencer and firearm muffler from being regulated by the National Firearms Act.

H.R. 615 Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act of 2023 which “protects” the use of lead ammunition.

Pandering (ya know “image-building” by promoting ideas that appeal to various voting groups or donors)

H.Res.Con 4 Expressing support for the Nation’s law enforcement agencies and condemning any efforts to defund or dismantle law enforcement agencies.

H.Res.Con 9 Denouncing the horrors of socialism.

H.J.Res. 8 Proposing a Constitutional amendment to require that the Supreme Court be composed of nine justices.

H.Res. 69 Recognizing the dedication and devotion of law enforcement personnel and that calls to “defund”, “disband”, “dismantle”, or “abolish” the police should be condemned.

H.R. 149 Protecting Our Democracy by Preventing Foreign Citizens from Voting Act

H.R. 337 “Guarding America’s Stoves Act” or the “GAS Act” which would prohibit Federal agencies from banning gas-burning stoves.

H.R. 661 Sarah’s Law … on the 7^th anniversary of Sarah Root’s death, this legislation was re-introduced which you may remember as “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act” which passed the House on a Bipartisan vote in 2017 but never acted on by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Energy

H.R. 150 Protecting American Energy Production Act which inserts Congressional approval for fracking

H.R. 209 Permitting for Mining Needs Act which guts the National Environmental Policy Act

Governmental operations or regulations

H.R. 23 Family & Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act which the CBO says would INCREASE the DEFICIT by more than $114 BILLION by enabling wealthy tax cheats to engage in tax fraud and avoidance and prevents the creation of a direct e-file system, a government-run tax preparation software.

H.R. 24 Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2023 (Fun Fact … this idea has been around for almost a decade as Tim Walz voted for it in 2014 only to have it die in the Senate)

H.R. 267 Ceasing Age-Based Trucking Restrictions Act allowing individuals age 18 to 21 to become over the road truckers

H.R. 277 Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023 which inserts Congressional approval into any major federal rulemaking.

H.R. 347 Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation Act which would require whether the executive order will have any significant impact on inflation.

H.R. 397 Government Offices Realignment and Closures (GORAC) Act … another proposal offered before … which would hire a private auditor to identify duplicative, wasteful, or outdated functions performed by a federal executive agency.

H.R.562 Improving Veterans Access To Congressional Services Act … another proposal offered before …so that Members of Congress can set-up offices in Veterans Affairs facilities

H.R. 513 Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act which would add agricultural considerations into the vetting process of foreign investment in (and acquisition of) American companies.

Agriculture

H.R. 530 Amplifying Processing of Livestock in the United States (A-PLUS) Act which is aimed to exclude investment by the 10 largest US meatpackers into smaller operations.

H.R. 648 Supporting Market Access to Reinvigorate Trade Act of 2023 or the “SMART Act” which will extend and expand the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program (FMD). This is another bill that was offered last session … requesting an increase to at least $400 million per fiscal year for MAP and at least $69 million per fiscal year for FMD. Gosh, does anyone else remember when “fiscal conservatives” were complaining when the MAP program was being funded at $200 million as they felt that producers, exporters, private companies and non-profit trade organizations should finance their own activities to promote U.S. agricultural commodities? Yep, it’s a great question … is it “SMART” for way to spend taxpayers monies?

Other

H.R. 41 VA Same-Day Scheduling Act of 2023 … a repeat of the 2022 proposal.

H.R. 82 Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 … another bill that has been around for awhile which would revoke two longstanding provisions impacting the retirement savings of a specific subset of federal retirees. If you worked for the federal government, as Brad Finstad did, you may have a “vested” interest in this legislation but if you worked for private industry or were self-employed, you are not gonna gain a dime.

H.R. 297 Rehiring discharged members of the military who refused to receive a vaccination against COVID-19 — another bill proposed last year.

H.R. 335 STOP Fentanyl Act which would to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for dealers who sell fentanyl … another bill proposed in the past.

H.R. 346 NOTAM Improvement Act of 2023 … another bill that has been around for multiple congresses … creating a task force to address how to improve the Federal Aviation Administration’s aging U.S. Notices to Air Missions (hence NOTAM). Repeating … creating a task force.

H.R. 582 Credit Union Board Modernization Act … a bill which the House passed last year.

Gosh, reviewing those legislative proposals provides a great insight into what Representative Finstad is truly interested in — and who he is representing (aka his donors and special interest groups). Congressman Finstad does not control what pieces of legislation the Republican-House that will be voted on … BUT every vote that Representative Finstad made in January were supporting Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s wishes.

It is very apparent that he is concerned with avoiding any primary challenge suggesting that he is not adequately and firmly Pro-Life and Pro-Gun. And for those that thought Jeremy Munson may have been too MAGA, well Brad Finstad proves everyday that he is firmly embedded into the MAGA mind.

Heck, ya gotta wonder how many of those “government operations” proposals would have occurred if Donald Trump had been re-elected ? (Hint … similar proposals were made during the Obama years). How many of those proposals were drawn up by ALEC and other lobbying groups ? How many campaign contributions will the Finstad For Congress receive ?

So which of these could pass ? Well, excluding Ilhan Omar, is there any other Member of Congress who would not get a Post Office named in their honor ? But the bill most likely to pass is H.R. 513 Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act … because it is a BiCameral bill and BiPartisan and evokes fears of a China takeover of America’s agricultural sector. But read the bill … it just adds one more voice into the approval process … and considering that Saudi interests have ownership in the largest oil refining facility in America, don’t think that the Committee on Foreign Investment could not allow foreign interests to purchase farmland and processing facilities … wasn’t Smithfied Foods bought by China’s largest pork producer and isn’t JBS S.A., a Brazilian company, one of the largest meat processing company operating plants in America ?

What should be key to legislative activity … author and sponsor bills that have strong bipartisan support in the Senate and the House. Passing bills that will never get through the Senate or override a Biden veto are just pure political theater …. and America does not need any more of that.

Based on Congressman Brad Finstad stated goal to “deliver real results“, it is time to pick up the pace … ’cause right now it looks like a “Do Nothing” House that is willing to spend money on programs that their donors want.