Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Leads Efforts to Address the Rural EMS Crisis with Statewide Tour
MINNESOTA [4.16.24] – As access to emergency medical services continues to be a top issue for leaders in the Minnesota State Legislature, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) has been active in working toward federal solutions to the crisis. She and her staff have held meetings across Minnesota, from Hibbing to Barnesville, Blackduck, and New Richland, where local EMS leaders conveyed that first responders are in dire financial straits. Senator Smith has been urging Congress to act on this crisis and is an original cosponsor of a bill to provide Medicare reimbursement for care provided by EMS when no transportation to the hospital is provided, called the Emergency Medical Services Reimbursement for On-Scene Care and Support (EMS ROCS) Act. Senator Smith stressed that joint efforts with state and local governments will be essential to fully address this crisis and is committed to ensuring all Minnesotans can live safe and healthy lives wherever they choose to live. In recent years, several states have passed laws to make EMS an essential service – Minnesota is not one of them, meaning the state government isn’t required to fund them. At the Minnesota State Legislature, there is a bipartisan EMS Task Force that is working to address the EMS crisis at the state level. “Everyone deserves a timely, fully equipped response in times of crisis. EMS workers also deserve a fair and decent wage, regardless of where they live,” said Senator Smith. “While the Minnesota Legislature continues to work toward state solutions, I’m going to keep pushing
Klobuchar, Smith Secure Significant Federal Funding for Infrastructure Improvements Along I-94
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded $13,736,000 in federal funding for the I-94 Blowing and Drifting Snow Control Project in West Central Minnesota. The project will install 24 miles of snow fence across 38 sites to address snow control along nearly 120 miles of I-94 between the cities of Moorhead and Alexandria. The project will reduce snow traps along the economically vital I-94 corridor, enhancing safety, minimizing winter maintenance, and boosting the reliability of the heavily traveled highway. “I-94 is one of the most heavily used highways in our state but its driving conditions can be impacted during winter storms,” said Klobuchar. “With this federal grant, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will install snow fences to reduce snow traps along the highway and ensure I-94 remains safe for drivers.” “In Minnesota, we have to keep moving even when there’s snow, and this stretch of I-94 is notoriously unsafe in snowy conditions,” said Smith. “This grant from the Federal Highway Administration will help keep Minnesotans safe on I-94 in snowy conditions.” The funding was secured through the USDOT Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Grant program. PROTECT provides funding to ensure surface transportation resilience to natural hazards including climate change, sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes, and at-risk coastal infrastructure. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides funding for PROTECT.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Leads Senate Push to Improve Gaps in Telehealth Coverage for Mental and Physical Health
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/15/20]—Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) led her Senate colleagues in introducing the Health Care at Home Act, which would provide telehealth parity for mental and physical health services. She was joined in the effort by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Mark Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a significant increase in telehealth services for both physical and behavioral health. In Minnesota, health systems have witnessed an over 1,000-fold increase in the use of telehealth. But gaps in access to telehealth remain. Sens.
U.S. Senators Smith and Warren, U.S. Representative Eshoo Spearhead Effort to Direct Nation’s Top Health Agencies to Publicly Share Information on Testing Supply Inventory
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/15/20]—This week U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced their COVID-19 Testing Inventory Act, which directs Federal agencies to compile and publicly share real-time information about testing supply inventory and shortages. U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Calif. 18) introduced companion legislation in the House today. Since President Trump declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency, state departments of health, Indian Tribes, hospitals, health care providers, and first responders have lacked tests and supplies—including personal protective equipment (PPE), testing swabs, and reagents—needed to conduct adequate public health surveillance to contain and stop the spread of COVID-19. The COVID-19 Testing Inventory
U.S. Senators Tina Smith & John Hoeven Secure Bipartisan Win: Rural Electric Cooperatives Now Eligible for Paycheck Protection Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/14/20]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said that the U.S. Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have heeded their bipartisan call to make rural electric cooperatives with fewer than 500 employees eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Last month, Sens. Smith and Hoeven led a bipartisan group of senators in urging the U.S. Department of the Treasury and SBA to support rural electric cooperatives and ensure their access to the PPP, which was created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support small businesses and help them maintain payroll and cover expenses during the pandemic. Click here to read the Senators’ letter. “I pushed the Treasury Department to make this important change
U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Cory Booker Announce Plan to Build Stronger Public Health Workforce to Keep Fighting Pandemic
WASHINGTON, D.C. [05/14/20]—Today, in an effort to solve America’s impending public health workforce shortage and strengthen its response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced legislation to build a stronger public health infrastructure. Right now, America is facing an alarming public health workforce shortage. Local and state health departments have lost nearly a quarter (23 percent) of their workforce since 2008. Public health departments are also facing a looming retirement crisis, with almost a quarter of health department staff currently eligible for retirement and 55 percent of local public health professionals already over age 45. Experts also estimate that nearly half of the public health workforce is considering leaving their
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