Latest Releases
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Shelley Moore Capito’s Bipartisan Women’s Lung Cancer Prevention Legislation Unanimously Passes Senate
WASHINGTON – United States Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) announced their bipartisan legislation, the Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act, unanimously passed the Senate. The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate with the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans’ Affairs to conduct a comprehensive review across departments of ongoing research that could help us better understand and respond to the increasing number of women being diagnosed with lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death for women in America. The disease claims more women’s lives each year than breast, ovarian and cervical cancers combined. While lung cancer rates are generally declining, cases among non-smoking women are on the rise, troubling researchers. “Cancer has touched each and every one of our lives in some way. Many of us remember a loved one fighting this horrible disease and doing everything we can to prevent ourselves from developing cancer. But for women, even if we never smoke, we’re increasingly more likely than men to develop lung cancer. It’s a deeply troubling trend that we need to better understand if we hope to combat the disease,” said Senator Smith. “This legislation is a good first step for us to take to better understand what we do and don’t know about why lung cancer rates seem to be moving in the wrong direction, particularly for one half of our population.” “West Virginia has long been deeply impacted by lung cancer, and
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Releases New Report on Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), the lead Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, released a new report, Bold Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis. It examines the nationwide crisis of rising home insurance costs, the role of climate-change-driven extreme weather events, and policy solutions that would tackle this affordability crisis. Across the country, Americans are increasingly facing unaffordable home insurance bills or aren’t able to access coverage at all. Insurers have significantly increased their rates, pushing up home insurance premiums an average of 45% since 2019. Sixteen years ago, home insurance was much more affordable and cost only 5% of the typical monthly mortgage payment. But these costs have now more than doubled to more than 10% of a typical mortgage payment, even as mortgage costs have also surged. Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized the risk we face in response to Sen. Smith’s questioning during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, saying that “If you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage” due to insurance companies pulling out of high-risk areas. Minnesotans have been particularly hit hard by rate increases. Last year, Minnesota home insurance rates increased 34%, which was the largest increase of any state, according to reports. These problems, Sen. Smith argues, are driven by the growing strength and severity of disasters due to climate change and an insurance industry motivated more by profits than protecting its customers. To address the problem, Sen. Smith lays out more than two dozen policy options that Washington can consider, ranging from those that lower physical risks for homeowners and communities, to wholesale alternatives to our current, private home insurance system. You can read the full report HERE: · Senator Smith’s opening letter here · An executive summary here “Owning a home has always been part of the American dream. But for too many families today, that dream feels further out of reach than ever before. Without affordable insurance, mortgages may become harder to get, home values
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Press Administration on Potential Closure of Federal Courthouse in Fergus Falls
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) wrote a letter demanding answers about the reported closure and sale of the Edward J. Devitt U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Fergus Falls. This courthouse serves as the only federal court outside of Minnesota’s largest metropolitan areas and houses critical law enforcement offices. In a letter to General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Stephen Ehikian and James C. Duff, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Senators raised concerns that shutting it down would restrict access to justice and disrupt public safety in western Minnesota.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith to Bring Voyageurs National Park Ranger Fired by DOGE as Guest to President’s Address to Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) announced that Kate Severson, a former Park Ranger at Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota impacted by Elon Musk’s gutting of the National Park Service, will be her guest at the President’s Joint Address to Congress on March 4th, 2025. The indiscriminate mass firing of all probationary federal employees by Elon Musk and the “Department of Government Efficiency” forced the firings of more than 1,000 National Park Service employees. With these reductions in staffing, campsites and bathrooms won’t be cleaned, trails will become overgrown, trash won’t get picked up, and parks
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Todd Young Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen Trade Laws, Protect American Workers
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act, legislation to strengthen U.S. trade remedy laws to fight against unfair trade practices and protect American workers. The bill would improve the U.S. trade remedy system and respond to repeat offenders and serial cheaters, leveling the playing field for American workers. The bill also addresses China’s unfair trade practices, specifically its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which provides subsidies to China-based or China-operated companies doing business in countries outside of China. It would also update U.S. trade remedy laws to establish the new concept of
Smith, Klobuchar Demand Answers from Secretary of the Interior Regarding Mass Firing of National Park Employees
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, expressing deep concern about his decision to abruptly fire more than 2,000 employees at the Department of the Interior (DOI). Reporting indicates that these mass layoffs came at the behest of Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” directive to fire probationary federal employees. The Senators highlighted the risks that these mass firings could have on the ability of the National Park Service (NPS) to maintain public safety and demanded transparency about the seemingly random
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