Latest Releases
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Announce New Childcare Facility in Luverne
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), a member of the Senate Education Committee, announced federal funding they secured last year to renovate a vacant facility in Luverne, Minnesota into a childcare center has been disbursed. The project will help the city purchase and renovate a facility into a new center that will accommodate 186 infants, toddlers, preschool, and school-age children. The renovated space will also accommodate staff and administrative spaces, a gymnasium, and food preparation kitchen. “Too often I have heard that parents around the state, including in Rock County, have difficulty finding safe, reliable, and affordable child care in their communities,” said Senator Klobuchar. “We worked to secure a federal grant for Luverne to open a new child care center to serve hundreds of kids and expand options for parents.” “With few options for childcare in this area, working families are put in a serious bind. How can parents work without a safe, affordable place for their kids to go while they are at work?” said Senator Smith. “Luverne is leading the way in creating a community young families will want to live in, and this new facility is a testament to their hard work.” Rock County has over 350 kids below the age of five who need childcare, but capacity for just 240 of them, according to First Children’s Finance. Over the last ten years, almost half of the nearly 60 home child care providers in Rock County have left the field or retired. For some families, it makes more financial sense stay home rather
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Colleagues, Demand VA Improves Care for Victims of Sexual Assault
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), led by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT), joined her colleagues to send a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) urging the Department to take immediate steps to improve the readiness of VA facilities and staff to address the needs of veterans after experiencing a sexual assault. The letter comes as a result of a concerning VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report finding significant shortfalls in care provided by VA to veterans who seek care after sexual assault. The letter was also signed by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) Angus King (I-ME), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). “We urge the Department to work expeditiously to implement the recommendations in the [OIG] report and take a more proactive stance towards preparing facilities, both emergent and non-emergent, and staff for how to respond to encounters related to sexual assault,” wrote the Senators to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “Despite the low volume of emergent acute sexual assault victims presenting in VA emergency departments and urgent care centers, we expect the Department to ensure our veterans receive the best possible health care and services, either onsite or via a warm handoff to a community provider.” The Senators highlighted VA’s “unacceptable” shortfalls in providing
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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