Latest Releases
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Announce USDA Partnership to Expand, Bolster Minnesota’s Food Supply Chain
WASHINGTON [2/7/2024] – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (both D-MN), members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced federal funding to strengthen the middle portions of Minnesota’s food supply chain. These funds will help small farms and small food businesses access more customers and help consumers find more locally-grown goods – oftentimes at lower cost. The funding is made possible through the American Rescue Plan, legislation both Klobuchar and Smith supported. “To keep prices low at the grocery store, we need to invest in our food supply chain to make it resilient from disruptions and bottlenecks,” said Klobuchar. “These grants will strengthen the infrastructure needed to bring food from farm to table, support farmers as they expand into new markets, and deliver technical skills training for local food businesses.” “Farmers in Minnesota know firsthand the vulnerabilities of our food supply chain and the importance of making it more resilient in the long term,” said Smith. “This funding will help strengthen our food supply system and also expand opportunity for farmers in Minnesota and around the country by creating new and better markets for their products.” This funding is one of many actions taken under the Biden Administration to expand processing capacity and increase competition in agriculture, making markets more accessible, fair, competitive and resilient for producers. The four-year partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and United States Department of Agriculture will bolster the middle of Minnesota’s food supply chain, meaning more opportunities for producers to sell their goods, better infrastructure for food businesses to operate with, and
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Durbin, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Increase Oversight of the For-Profit College Industry
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) joined her colleagues Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to reintroduce legislation to establish an interagency committee tasked with improving coordination of federal oversight of for-profit colleges, so that students are not scammed out of an education and into a mountain of debt. The bill, called the Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act, would improve enforcement of existing laws and make it easier for students to voice concerns about their experiences with for-profit colleges. “Students should be protected from predatory institutions that will leave them with thousands of dollars of debt and limited job prospects,” said Smith, a member of the Senate Education Committee. “This bill will protect students and taxpayers alike by improving the oversight of for-profit colleges.” “Predatory for-profit colleges rake in billions in federal student aid rather than to provide a quality education to students, who are often drowning in debt with a near-meaningless degree. We must step in to provide the proper federal oversight to stop this industry from continuing to take advantage of students,” said Durbin. “The Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act will give the power back to students. With readily available information about which colleges are known to take financial advantage of students, students will have the tools to make the best decision for the future of their education.” “For-profit colleges all too often put profit and enrollment over education by luring students into insufficient academic opportunities and leaving them with insurmountable debt,” said Blumenthal. “With the Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act, we
U.S. Senators Klobuchar, Smith Urge Landowners to Enroll in Conservation Reserve Program Before Friday Deadline
WASHINGTON, D.C. [02/26/20]—U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are reminding Minnesota landowners interested in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to enroll before the February 28 general signup deadline. The senators said that CRP, signed into law in 1985, is one of the largest private-lands conservation programs in the United States. Over the last 35 years, CRP has helped improve water quality, reduce soil erosion and improve wildlife habitat on private lands in Minnesota and across the country. “The Conservation Reserve Program protects critical natural resources and provides economic benefits for our rural communities,” Klobuchar said. “I worked to increase the number of acres in CRP
U.S. Sens. Smith & Sasse Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Credit Union Employee Safety, Simplify Operations
WASHINGTON, D.C. [02/24/20]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) introduced bipartisan legislation—the Credit Union Governance Modernization Act—that would make credit unions safer for employees and members, and simplify rules for credit union operations. The measure would allow federal credit unions to expel members for violations of credit union policies, without requiring a vote of membership. Under current law, a federal credit union must hold of a vote of its entire membership before it can expel a member who engages in unacceptable, sometimes dangerous behavior. Minnesota credit unions have shared stories of members who have robbed credit unions, smashed ATMs, and sexually
U.S. Sens. Smith, Jones, Rounds Successfully Create New USDA Post to Improve Health Care in Rural America
WASHINGTON D.C. [02/20/20]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and U.S. Representative Angie Craig (D-MN 2) lauded the USDA for filling the new role of rural health liaison to help improve rural health care—something the bipartisan group of senators pushed to include in the Farm Bill and Rep. Craig advocated for. Sens. Smith, Jones, Rounds first introduced the Rural Health Liaison Act to create a liaison with the USDA to better coordinate rural health resources across the federal government and improve health care delivery for Minnesotans and people across the country living in rural areas. Last year,
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith: Virtually Every Minnesota Community Has a Housing Shortage That Hurts State’s Families, Businesses, and Economic Growth
U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today that virtually every Minnesota community has a shortage of quality, affordable housing, which not only hurts the health and well-being of families, communities and businesses across the state, but also restrains job creation and economic growth. She released a report of the findings of her recently-completed “Statewide Housing Listening Tour” at an event in Duluth on Monday. Senator Smith, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the nation’s housing policy, said she and her staff met with hundreds of Minnesotans during 21 meetings and listening sessions in communities across the state. They found many barriers
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