Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Legislation to Tackle Drug Shortages, Improve Public Health Preparedness Advances Through Key Committee
WASHINGTON, D.C. [8.4.23] –U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) announced that two of her legislative priorities, aimed at addressing drug shortages and improving public health preparedness, took a major step forward. “Drug shortages are hurting patients, pharmacists, and physicians across the country,” said Senator Smith. “I have heard directly from Minnesotans who are facing shortages of ADHD medications like Adderall, cancer-fighting drugs for chemotherapy, among other things. These drug shortages can be life-threatening, and I’ve made it a priority to tackle this problem. In addition, I’m focused on ensuring we are prepared for future public health threats. My bipartisan legislation will improve the FDA’s responsiveness when medication demand outpaces the supply, and help improve our ability to rapidly develop and distribute diagnostic tests in the event of a disease outbreak. I’m glad to see these priorities included in this important legislation.” The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Response Act is essential legislation that reauthorizes key public health and emergency preparedness programs. Current funding expires on September 30th. Millions of Americans have been affected by shortages of chemotherapy drugs, commonly-used antibiotics, pediatric formulations of medications like ibuprofen, and other essential drugs. Pieces of Senator Smith’s legislation, which have been included in the reauthorization, will help address these shortages and bolster public health preparedness. Senator Smith’s provisions include:
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Reintroduce Legislation to Improve Fire Safety in Public Housing
WASHINGTON, D.C. [8.3.23] – U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (both D-MN) reintroduced legislation to help install sprinkler systems in older public housing buildings. Companion legislation was also introduced in the House by U.S. Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ 15) and John Rutherford (R-FL 05) with support from Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN 5). Smith originally introduced the Public Housing Fire Safety Act following the tragic Cedar High Apartments fire, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2019. The upper floors of the building, where the fire erupted, did not have sprinkler systems installed. “In the wake of the tragic 2019 Cedar High Apartments Fire, I joined Senator Smith in introducing legislation to ensure that buildings have properly installed fire and sprinkler systems. Every second counts during a house fire, and with up-to-date systems, more lives can be saved,” said Klobuchar. “We need to continue these efforts by passing the Public Housing Fire Safety Act to bring us one step closer towards ensuring that buildings are safe for all residents.” “The fire at Cedar High Apartments was a tragic loss for the Cedar-Riverside community,” said Smith. “In the aftermath of the tragedy, I began connecting with people closely affected the fire and looking into ways to prevent it from happening again. This bill gets to the root of what we need to do: incentivize public housing authorities to install sprinkler systems and give them the support they need to do it.” “One of the most important investments our federal government
U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Key Health Care Priorities Included in Larger, Bipartisan Health Care Costs Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/23/2019]—A number of measures championed by U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) were included in the bipartisan package to address the rising cost of health care released today by the Senate Health Committee, including Sen. Smith’s efforts to help bring lower-cost insulin and generic drugs to market. Sen. Smith said both her bipartisan Protecting Access to Biosimilars Act and the Ensuring Innovation Act were added to the package, and her work with colleagues to increase price transparency by strengthening health care databases is also included. “The high costs of health care are jeopardizing the financial security of Americans and
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Susan Collins Address Rise in Tick-Borne Diseases and Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Target, Prevent, and Treat Lyme Disease
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/23/19]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), in a bipartisan effort, pushed for improving research and treatment efforts that address the sharp rise in tick-borne diseases. The Ticks: Identify, Control, and Knockout (TICK) Act, improves coordination between government response at the federal and local levels to tick borne diseases. “Minnesotans are eager to get outside after a long winter,” said Sen. Smith, a member of the Senate Health Committee. “Unfortunately, the number of Lyme disease cases in the state—and states across the country—is on the rise. Our bipartisan bill aims to reduce the number of
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Rep. Sean Casten, Senate and House Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Nation’s Energy Storage Capabilities
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/22/2019]—Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Representative Sean Casten (D-Ill.)—along with a bipartisan group of Senate and House colleagues—introduced their Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019, which would boost research and development of cutting-edge technologies to increase energy storage capabilities for America’s electric grid and enable the expanded use of clean energy. In addition to Sen. Smith and Rep. Casten, the bill is also supported by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Reps. Ben Ray
Smith, Portman Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Transparency and Safety of American Study Abroad Programs
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/21/2019]–U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) today introduced bipartisan legislation—the Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act—to increase the amount of information available to students regarding the risks they may face when studying abroad. While studying abroad is an educationally enriching experience for many American students, too little information is currently available to them and their parents. Sens. Smith and Portman are calling for greater transparency, and the Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act will require institutions of higher education that offer study abroad programs to issue biennial reports on safety incidents experienced by
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