Latest Releases
The Affordable Housing and Homeownership Protection Act Would Tackle Housing Crisis by Creating Millions More Homes and Helping Main Street Compete with Wall Street
WASHINGTON, DC – As the nation’s housing shortage pushes home prices and rents to historic levels, a new Senate bill would provide tens of billions of dollars to help create millions of new homes for low-income Americans. U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI)and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) are teaming up with several colleagues to introduce the Affordable Housing and Homeownership Protection Act (S. 3673). This bill would generate up to $50 billion over ten years to help build and preserve approximately 3 million affordable housing units nationwide. The bill would be fully paid for through a transfer tax on large investors who profit by purchasing sixteen single-family homes or more. Driven by a shortage of as many as 6.8 million homes nationwide, homes prices have surged 39% and rents 31% over the last four years, according to the National Association of Realtors and Zillow. Higher rents and fewer opportunities for homeownership are devastating for millions of families. As housing costs skyrocket, more households are priced out of homeownership, while renters have less to spend on food, clothing, and other everyday necessities. Low-income Americans are particularly strained – the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates 73% of extremely low-income households spend more than half their income on housing. Unsurprisingly, homelessness has risen in line with housing prices and is up 15% since 2019. Unfortunately, federal investments in low-income housing are insufficient to solve this affordability crisis. Indeed, researchers at Harvard University found that the three largest federal housing programs serve nearly
Klobuchar, Smith Announce Significant Federal Infrastructure Grant to Improve Highway 169
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) announced a $24.7 million federal grant for the US 169 Rural Safety and Mobility Interchange Project in Sherburne County, which will eliminate the signal-controlled intersection at County Road 4 and replace it with a grade-separated, hybrid diamond interchange. The current intersection has crash rates at nearly five times the state average and has been ranked the second most dangerous intersection in central Minnesota. This project will also reduce traffic congestion and accommodate anticipated growth on this important regional highway. In addition, the new interchange will have a multi-use trail for pedestrian and bike access. Funding for this project comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s INFRA (Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects) grant program. “Highway 169’s signal-controlled intersection has been ranked as one of the most dangerous intersections in central Minnesota. Drivers who use this intersection every day deserve a safer alternative,” said Klobuchar. “This federal grant will make much-needed improvements to make the interchange secure for drivers and pedestrians.” “Revitalizing our infrastructure is about more than just fixing roadways and bridges; it’s about improving people’s lives, which is precisely what this project will do,” said Smith. “This intersection on Highway 169 is dangerous in its current form. Now, Minnesota has the federal investment to make this vital corridor safer for everyone.” INFRA grants can be used by communities across the country for multimodal freight and highway projects of national or regional significance to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of freight
U.S. Senator Tina Smith: “Protecting Renewable Fuel Standard Signals Trump Administration Heard Concerns From American Farmers Loud and Clear”
WASHINGTON, D.C. [10/04/19]—Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.)—a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee—released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it would account for the harmful abuse of small refinery hardship waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending targets. “Rural communities, farmers, clean energy producers and agribusinesses need a strong Renewable Fuel Standard to thrive. The RFS supports thousands of local jobs and helps lead to billions of dollars in economic activity, it cuts our dependence on foreign oil, and it helps fight global warming,” said Sen. Smith. “While I wish it had taken less
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Bipartisan Group of Senators Release Report Recommending Steps to Ensure Stable Education for Students in Foster Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. [10/3/2019]—This week, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues released a report on how the federal government can better help ensure a stable education for students in foster care who are far too often bounced from school to school. Sen. Smith—a member of the Senate Education Committee—said that these new placements and disruptions can jeopardize students’ academic achievement. The federal law is clear that when children are brought into foster care or change placements, the state must ensure they remain in the school in which they are enrolled at the time of each placement so long as it is in the child’s
U.S. Sens. Klobuchar, Smith Fight to Overturn U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Harmful Rule that Guts Protections for Student Loan Borrowers
WASHINGTON, D.C. [09/30/19]–U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are pushing to overturn U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ move to gut essential protections for student loan borrowers who’ve been wronged by their schools. The Senators joined more than thirty of their Senate colleagues in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval of DeVos’ rewritten borrower defense rule, which makes it more difficult for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school’s closure to receive relief. “Students shouldn’t have to worry about predatory practices from colleges while they are preparing to further their education and
Following Equifax Settlement, U.S. Senators Smith, Markey and Blumenthal Introduce Bill to Hold Data Broker Industry Accountable
WASHINGTON, D.C. [09/26/19]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced legislation to require accountability and transparency from data brokers like Equifax that collect and sell personal information about consumers in Minnesota and across the nation. The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act would prohibit data brokers from engaging in discriminatory data use practices; make it possible for consumers to access and correct their information; and provide consumers with the right to stop data brokers from using, sharing, or selling their personal information for marketing purposes. The bill additionally would require data brokers to develop comprehensive
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