Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Unveils Legislation to Repeal the Comstock Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. [6/20/24] —Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) introduced a bill to repeal an arcane 1873 law, called the Comstock Act, that Republicans and anti-choice extremists want to misuse to ban abortion nationwide. Comstock has been cited recently by Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas in oral arguments during the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA and invoked in Project 2025 – broadly seen as a roadmap for a future Trump administration – as a way for an extremist, anti-choice administration to use unilateral executive action to effectively ban abortion nationwide. “The Comstock Act is a 150-year-old zombie law banning abortion that’s long been relegated to the dustbin of history. But extremist Republicans and Trump judges have seized upon the idea of misusing Comstock to bypass Congress and strip women nationwide of their reproductive freedoms. When MAGA Republicans say they intend to use the Comstock Act to control women’s decisions and enact a backdoor national abortion ban, we should believe them. Now that Trump has overturned Roe, a future Republican administration could try to misapply this 150-year-old Comstock law to deny American women their rights, even in states where abortion rights are protected by state law. “This is why I’m introducing legislation to repeal Comstock. It is too dangerous to leave this law on the books; we cannot allow MAGA judges and politicians to control the lives of American women,” said Senator Smith. The Comstock laws are a set of 1800s laws meant to ban the mailing or shipping of every obscene, lewd, indecent, article, matter, thing or device, with the goal of restricting
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Celebrates 4th Year of Juneteenth Being Recognized as a Federal Holiday
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith celebrated the fourth year that Juneteenth was officially recognized as a federal holiday in the United States. The annual holiday celebrates the date that news of emancipation of slaves in the South reached Galveston, Texas, two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Senator Smith’s bill establishing the holiday was signed into law by President Biden in June, 2021. Smith helped introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution this week for the legislative body to commemorate the date. She celebrated Juneteenth in Minnesota at the Northside Juneteenth Festival Celebration on June 15th. “The end of slavery in this country is a critical milestone in our history, and Juneteenth should be commemorated nationwide as a day of celebration, reflection, and rededication to the cause of racial justice,” said Senator Smith. “I am forever grateful to the generations of activists who made this possible. Commemorating Juneteenth as a federal holiday is an encouraging and deeply meaningful step – but we have much farther to go on the path towards justice. In the meantime, I hope Minnesotans find a time to celebrate the progress we’ve made and recommit themselves to the work that lies ahead.” Senator Smith gave a floor speech following the Senate’s passage of her bill in 2021. You can read her full remarks here or view/download them here. ###
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Merkley Unveil Plan to Prevent Pharmaceutical Companies from Price Gouging COVID-19 Vaccines, Treatments
WASHINGTON, D.C. [08/5/20]—This week U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced legislation to ensure that any taxpayer-funded vaccine or treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19) proven to be safe and effective will be accessible, affordable, and available to all individuals. The Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price-gouging (MMAPPP) Act would forbid monopolies and exclusive licensing of any taxpayer-funded COVID-19 vaccine or treatment, require reasonably affordable prices for said drugs, improve transparency from drug manufacturers on expenditures related to COVID-19 vaccines or treatments, and prohibit price gouging of drugs used to treat future diseases. “People in Minnesota and across the country deserve access to taxpayer-funded COVID-19 treatments and vaccines without financial barriers,” said
U.S. Senators Smith, Warren Fight to Secure Child Care Relief in Next Senate COVID-19 Stimulus Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. [08/5/20]—This week U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led a large number of their Senate colleagues in calling on Senate leadership to prioritize the inclusion of their plan for a $50 billion child care bailout in the next coronavirus relief package. The Child Care is Essential Act would stabilize the child care system, keep providers in business, and ensure parents are able to go back to work when it is safe to return. It was recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sen. Smith and Warren say that families in America already faced a serious child care crisis before the coronavirus pandemic. And
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar’s Measure to Install Fire Sprinkler Systems in Public Housing Passes the House
WASHINGTON, D.C. [8/5/2020]—Legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to encourage public housing authorities to install sprinkler systems in older apartment buildings is one step closer to becoming law after recently clearing the House of Representatives as part of a larger House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies funding package. And today, Sen. Smith and Klobuchar sent a letter calling for their bill to be included in the next Senate appropriations package. The Public Housing Fire Safety Act would create an annual $25 million competitive grant program to provide funds to public housing authorities who wish to retrofit older high-rise apartment buildings with sprinkler systems. “The fire at Cedar High Apartments was a horrific in the Cedar-Riverside community.
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Chris Murphy Introduce Bill to Study, Address How Social Inequities Impact Health in Communities of Color
WASHINGTON, D.C. [08/6/20]—U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said today that factors like unemployment, hunger, lack of affordable housing, and education have far more impact on Americans’ health—especially in communities of color—than just medical care and treatment. On Wednesday they introduced legislation designed to study the role these “social determinants” play in exacerbating health inequities and to invest in addressing them. The Senators said that medical treatment accounts for only 10 to 20 percent of an individual’s overall health, while other social determinants of health (SDOH) account for the other 80 to 90 percent. Their Improving Social Determinants of Health Act
English