Senator Scott 2023 Year in Review

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) released his 2023 year in review, highlighting his work on behalf of the people of South Carolina and efforts to advance his Opportunity Agenda across the country.

This year, Senator Scott introduced 24 bills, 4 resolutions and 10 amendments. 8 pieces of his legislation were partially or fully enacted this year.

South Carolina

The Senator and his team assisted 7,320 South Carolinians with casework requests, an 80% increase compared to 2022. 

Strengthening a direct line of communication with constituents remained a priority for the Senator and allowed him to send over 82,000 letters to South Carolinians in 2023.

Through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, the Senator championed several legislative accomplishments for South Carolina, such as:

• $66 million in funding to complete new barracks at Fort Jackson; 
• $20 million in funding for the Aiken County National Guard Readiness Center; 
• $4.37 million in funding to complete the National Guard Readiness Center at Joint Base Charleston;
• $7.9 million in funding for an automated multipurpose machine gun range at the McCrady Training Center in Columbia, South Carolina; and
• $2.7 billion in funding to support the Savannah River Site, including $1 billion for plutonium modernization activities and $1.6 billion for operations and maintenance. 

American Energy

Reaffirming his commitment to American energy dominance and independence, Senator Scott championed the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) from China Act, which would strengthen our energy security by prohibiting the sale of American crude oil from the SPR to any company under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control and bar the exportation of SPR crude oil to China. Senator Scott also championed the Energy Security Cooperation with Allied Partners in Europe (ESCAPE) Act to weaken Russia’s ability to influence our European allies by promoting energy independence.

Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Senator Scott took over as the top Republican on the powerful Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in January. As the Ranking Member, he has focused on commonsense policies to create economic opportunity and grow communities across the country, including those that are often left behind. Throughout the year, Ranking Member Scott introduced 11 pieces of legislation and legislative frameworks as the Republican leader of the committee.  

As the son of a single mother, Ranking Member Scott grew up living with family until they could afford to rent a place of their own and wasn’t able to experience the value of homeownership until later in life. That’s why he’s so dedicated to enhancing policies and programs that help improve housing affordability for Americans— making the American Dream a reality. Ranking Member Scott released the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act, his comprehensive legislative solution to lift families up by taking a holistic view of federal housing policy and making long-needed reforms across all segments of the U.S. housing market. 

The Biden administration and its regulators have worked overtime to push a progressive policy agenda and regulate every aspect of American life. Agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have issued rules and proposals at a record pace and the federal banking agencies have waded into climate initiatives and other progressive priorities outside its mandate. Throughout the year, Ranking Member Scott has executed principled oversight of the Biden administration’s burdensome regulatory agenda and demanded transparency and fact-based analyses for their proposed rules and regulations. 

To see a full list of Senator Scott’s accomplishments during his first year as the Republican leader of the Senate Banking Committee, click here.

Education

Senator Scott has strived to create pathways to give all Americans a quality education. To that end, he hosted the largest ever National School Choice Week Student Rally at the U.S. Capitol, which was attended by more than 300 students from 10 D.C.-area public charter and private schools.

As the co-chair of the bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus, Senator Scott hosted the 7th Annual HBCU Fly-In to celebrate the historic accomplishments of HBCUs, highlight their immense contributions to the American economy and workforce and discuss ways to strengthen them for years to come. This was the largest HBCU Fly-In to date.

With education as a central focus of his Opportunity Agenda, the Senator led two bipartisan Senate resolutions – National Charter School Week and National School Choice Week – both of which unanimously passed, raising attention to critical education issues and priorities.

In an effort to protect parental rights and ensure parents remain the lead decision makers in their child’s life, Senator Scott secured House passage of his Parental Rights Over the Education and Care of Their (PROTECT) Kids Act. Far too often, parents are pushed out of their child’s education—and kids are paying the price. 

Health Care

Senator Scott championed 12 pieces of legislation aimed at making American health care more consumer friendly and market-driven. His Initiating Meaningful Patient Review Of Various Existing (IMPROVE) Part D Regulations Act, which ensures the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) listen to the patients who rely on Medicare Part D and make improvements based on their feedback, passed committee. Also passing committee this year was the Senator’s Occupational Therapy Mental Health Parity Act, which ensures occupational therapists can provide care to those suffering with substance abuse and mental health disorders.

When the Biden administration pushed radical far-left priorities, Senator Scott back on harmful health care policies to South Carolinians and opposed two radical health care nominees. When Washington bureaucrats threatened American seniors’ coverage access and choices, Senator Scott co-led a bipartisan group of 61 Senators in calling for the protection of Medicare Advantage for the nearly 30 million older adults and individuals with disabilities enrolled in the program. The Senator also worked with Republicans on the Senate Committee on Finance to help prevent drastic cuts proposed by the Biden administration to the Medicare Advantage program.

As in everything he does, Senator Scott was focused on ensuring Washington bureaucrats work on behalf of the hardworking American people. In addition to formally launching another investigation into government waste, Senator Scott received a report from an investigation he previously initiated detailing deficiencies within Medicaid’s Recovery Audit Contractor Program—a program created to identify and correct government overpayments and underpayments.

Restoring Law & Order

Over the course of this year, South Carolinians and Americans alike have witnessed a spike in crime and an increase of illegal border crossings. In an effort to restore law and order, the Senator has supported legislation to tackle immigration, bolster police funding, prevent federal government overreach and combat human trafficking.

The Senator introduced the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act and Secure the Border Act of 2023, and supported the Back the Blue Act of 2023, Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act of 2023, Combatting Violent and Dangerous Crime Act, Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, Keep Our Border Agents Paid Act, Securing Our Border Act and Stop Fentanyl Border Crossings Act.

To combat the rising fentanyl crisis in America, Senator Scott, in his capacity as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, wrote and introduced the FEND Off Fentanyl Act. This bill targets every part of the illicit fentanyl supply chain – from the chemical suppliers in China to the manufacturers in Mexico and the cartels who smuggle the deadly drug across our border – and aims to choke off the income source of synthetic opioid traffickers and stop the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States. The FEND Off Fentanyl Act was unanimously voted out of the Senate Banking Committee and earned 66 Senate cosponsors. It was included in the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

National Security & Foreign Affairs

This year, Senator Scott joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which he serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy. Throughout the year, the Senator championed policies to strengthen U.S. national security, support our allies and push back on our adversaries.

After Iranian-proxy Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, Senator Scott stood by our greatest ally in the Middle East, and, in his capacity as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced the Revoke Iranian Funding Act, a bill to permanently freeze the $6 billion released by the Biden administration to Iran and direct the Treasury Secretary to provide an accounting of all high-value Iranian assets around the world that are currently blocked by U.S. sanctions. To prevent Iran from funding further attacks on the U.S. and our allies, Senator Scott also pushed for passage of his Solidify Iran Sanctions Act to extend sanctions on funding for Iran’s energy and weapons sectors and curtail the regime’s ability to develop its nuclear program and finance destabilizing activities. Before and after the October 7 attack, the Senator led dozens of his Republican colleagues in holding the administration to account for its dangerous Iran polices. Additionally, to prevent U.S. tax dollars from winding up in the hands of Hamas and combat potential malign influence at our foreign policy institutions, Senator Scott helped author the Stop Support for Hamas Act and the State Department Security Notification Act, a portion of which was signed into law in the FY24 NDAA.

To combat the CCP’s efforts to steal Americans’ data and infiltrate our institutions, Senator Scott introduced the Know Your App Act to require app stores to display the country where an app is developed and provide users with the choice to filter out apps that come from countries of concern. In addition, the Senate unanimously voted to include Senator Scott’s amendment to address the Chinese military’s influence on U.S. higher education in the FY24 NDAA. Senator Scott secured additional language in the NDAA to require the Department of State to explore innovative ways to fill long-standing vacancies at U.S. embassies around the world, which will improve our ability to combat China’s expanding influence. The Senator also championed an NDAA provision to end China’s unfair advantage in the international system by revoking its status as a ‘developing nation.’

Senator Scott, in his capacity as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, also led the Protect Our Bases Act, legislation to help prevent China purchasing land near our sensitive military, intelligence and national laboratory sites.

This year’s NDAA also ushered into law the Senator’s John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship Act, which will establish a namesake fellowship program at the Department of State for the study of nonviolent civil rights movements abroad.