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GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran is getting support from Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin.
"I will be supporting the Iranian nuclear deal," Baldwin said during a visit to downtown Green Bay Monday. "I am very proud that our country has led an international negotiation that is going to prevent Iran from acquiring or developing a nuclear weapon."
Baldwin (D-Madison) says that her approval came after her reading, briefings that she has had and consultations with negotiators and others.
"This isn't based on trust," said Baldwin. "It's based on verification and inspection."
When asked about New York Senator Chuck Schumer's opposition to the deal, Baldwin wouldn't speculate what the future majority leader's "calculations" or thoughts were on the deal.
WATERFRONT REVITALIZATION
Senator Baldwin's visit to downtown Green Bay was to tour the CityDeck with Mayor Jim Schmitt and highlight legislation to help other waterfront communities in their revitalization efforts.
"It allows communities to not take a piecemeal approach to their waterfront redevelopment, but to think about it comprehensively with both their economy and the environment in mind," Baldwin said.
Dubbed the Waterfront Community Revitalization and Resiliency Act, the legislation uses both public and private grants to invest in experts to help these communities come up with a plan to breathe new life into often abandoned waterfront properties.
"Public access to the waterways was an afterthought for recreation and tourism," remarked Baldwin, who said that many of these communities were built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries without these aspects. "When you start doing that communities come back to life, and there's a very significant economic impact to that."
SUPPORTING CRAFT BREWERS
Also Monday, Baldwin toured Stillmank Brewery as part of her efforts to promote Wisconsin's craft beer industry.
Baldwin is co-sponsoring the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act.
"This bill is aimed at reducing their excise tax that they face on the barrels of beer that they brew," said Baldwin. "The brewers I've talk with say any relief we could get in this regard would immediately either go into investment in equipment which would allow them to make more, or to workforce."
According to her website, brewers, cider makers, vintners, and distillers, this legislation would reduce compliance burdens for craft beverage producers by exempting nearly 90 percent of all industry members from complex bonding and bi-weekly tax filing requirements. It would reform rules on brewers to encourage more collaboration and streamline regulations. And it would equalize the playing field for all distilled spirits producers.
