Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Voting No on Dangerous Republican Spending Bill
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement on her decision to vote no on the Continuing Resolution (CR): “I will be voting no on cloture for the Continuing Resolution. “Donald Trump and Republicans are forcing two terrible choices on us, both of which are bad for the people of this country, and would hand unchecked power to President Trump and Elon Musk as they slash and burn government services on their own terms. “This bill we are voting on is not a ‘clean Continuing Resolution,’ and it does not continue the spending and policy law that Congress passed last year. Instead, it would slash support for fetal alcohol syndrome, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s at the National Institute of Health. It fails to pay for disaster relief or fund hundreds of millions of dollars for important community projects for Minnesota, from childcare centers in Moorhead to public safety investments for Rochester and supporting rural health care on the Iron Range. It would give President Trump vast discretion to allocate funds to reward his political friends and punish those he considers enemies. And this is only a sampling of the damage done by this bill. Therefore, I cannot support it. “President Trump and House Republicans wrote this bill on their own, with no consideration for my views or any of my Democratic colleagues, and they will own the consequences. From the beginning, President Trump and the Republicans set this up as an unprecedented power grab.” ###
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Adam Schiff, and Colleagues Urge Housing and Urban Development Secretary to Fund Critical Homelessness Programs
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, and Adam Schiff (D-CA) led a letter to the Trump Administration demanding congressionally-appropriated funding for Continuum of Care (CoC) programs aimed at combatting homelessness is allowed to flow. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is required by law to obligate these funds no later than 45 days after the issuance of award letters, a deadline which passed on March 4, 2025. The Senators criticized the Trump administration for freezing this funding, creating unnecessary chaos amid a national housing crisis. There is a shortage of around 5 million housing units nationwide and nearly 43 million households pay for a rent or mortgage they cannot afford. HUD is the federal agency charged with combatting this crisis. The letter called out HUD for suddenly canceling technical assistance contracts and planning sweeping layoffs, actions which will exacerbate nationwide homelessness. “We urge you to take action to ensure the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will finish processing FY2024 funding and comply with the two-year funding cycle,” wrote the Senators, “We further urge you to restore HUD’s technical assistance contracts that are vital to CoC recipients in smaller communities.” “Most CoC awards are needed for existing projects rather than new projects, and hundreds of projects have already started their program years without any clarity on when and if HUD funds will be available,” the lawmakers continued. “To keep the lights on, providers are now being forced to draw on lines
Klobuchar, Smith, Grassley Statements on Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Rename Federal Building in Minneapolis After Senator Paul Wellstone
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tina Smith (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the statements below on the House passage of their bipartisan legislation to rename the Federal Building in Minneapolis the “Paul D. Wellstone Federal Building,” in honor of the legacy of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN). The bill passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month and now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law. “From his passionate advocacy for better mental health care to his leadership on civil rights, Paul Wellstone showed that public service is really about improving people’s lives,” said
U.S. Senator Tina Smith on the Arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried
WASHINGTON, D.C. [12/13/22] — Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) released the following statement in response to the arrest and indictment of Sam Bankman-Fried: “In this country, people are free to invest or bet their money however they want to. But they deserve to know that the market is fair and the rules protect them from bad actors, so they aren’t getting ripped off. “Looking at the charges brought against Sam Bankman-Fried, it’s hard not to conclude that he and his crypto organizations ran roughshod over the market rules protecting consumers. That’s flatly wrong and he needs to answer for what
Senators Klobuchar, Smith, and Representative Craig Announce Deadline Extension for Enrollment in 2023 Dairy Margin Coverage Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. [12/12/22] — U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith, and U.S. Representative Angie Craig (all D-MN) announced that the deadline for eligible farmers to enroll in the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) and Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage (SDMC) programs has been extended. Eligible producers will now have until January 31, 2023 to enroll in the program. These programs help dairy producers manage the volatility of milk and feed price disparities. “The Dairy Margin Coverage program helps provide Minnesota’s dairy farmers with important stability and risk management tools that benefit our rural communities,” said Klobuchar. “This extended sign-up period will allow
Senators Smith, Warren Ask Key Regulators About Banking System’s Exposure to Crypto Risks after FTX Crash
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent letters to three key banking regulators raising concerns about the ties between the banking industry and crypto firms following FTX’s bankruptcy. The senators are asking each regulator, the Federal Reserve (Fed), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), how they assess the banking system’s exposure to crypto risks. “(I)t appears that crypto firms may have closer ties to the banking system than previously understood,” wrote the senators. “Banks’
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