{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://duffy.house.gov/media-center/enewsletters/steps-in-the-right-direction", "Steps in the right direction", "2013-10-27", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "WI", "Sean Duffy", "D000614", "duffy.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Dear friends,Our Wisconsin businesses, and the people who work to keep them open, are among my top priorities as your Representative in Washington. This week I had the opportunity to work on two initiatives that will help these businesses that are so vital to both our local and national economies. Keep reading for a wrap-up of the week that was.\u00a0Keeping our waterways clear and flowing:\u00a0This week I voted in favor of the House\u2019s Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). As a co-chair of the Congressional Great Lakes Task Force, I am glad that provisions were included in WRRDA that will directly benefit our Great Lakes. Central among these is the designation of our Great Lakes waterways and ports \u2013 including Superior-Duluth \u2013 as a Navigation System, which will guarantee that our infrastructure and harbor dredging projects will be accurately prioritized.I offered an amendment, which would have further ensured that funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is only used to do just that \u2013 maintain our harbors \u2013 rather than being spent on unapproved projects elsewhere in the country.\u00a0 While this amendment was not accepted in the final legislation, I will continue to fight for our Great Lakes and make sure they are taken care of.Another step for small businesses:\u00a0America\u2019s number one job creators \u2013 small businesses \u2013 still need help.\u00a0Congress put aside partisan differences last year and passed the JOBS Act, which removed a number of barriers to raising capital to start a business.\u00a0It\u2019s only logical that the next step is to remove barriers that are keeping these smaller companies from going public and to raise additional capital to expand those businesses.\u00a0I, and many others, believe giving emerging growth companies the opportunity to trade at bigger increments than the larger, Fortune 500 companies will give them the access to capital they need.\u00a0However, the SEC, markets, and Congress do not have much data on that theory. My legislation, the Small Cap Liquidity Reform Act, will give us the data we need to move forward. We discussed my bill in a Financial Services hearing this week. Click on the image to watch my exchange:\u00a0I will continue to do all that I can to ensure these bills, in addition to other pieces of legislation that also help our Wisconsin economy, move through Congress.\u00a0As always, please continue to share your thoughts via myFacebook\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter\u00a0pages.\u00a0Have a great week,\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Sean", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://duffy.house.gov/media-center/enewsletters/steps-in-the-right-direction"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8560467287898064, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}