Latest Releases
Bipartisan Momentum Builds for Warehouse Worker Protection Act
Washington (September 25, 2024) – U.S. Senator Tina Smith, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, along with Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Bob Casey (D-PA), applauded the bipartisan momentum behind the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, legislation that would protect warehouse workers by prohibiting dangerous work speed quotas that lead to high rates of worker injuries. The legislation as re-introduced includes new enforcement authority for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as an exemption for small businesses. Senators Smith, Markey, and Casey, first introduced the Warehouse Worker Protection Act in May. “The Warehouse Worker Protection Act is about protecting the health and dignity of workers from the scourge of corporate greed at Amazon and other large companies,” said Senator Markey. “This movement is strong and growing, and we will not rest until warehouse workers know when they clock in that they will return home unharmed.” “Corporations too often prioritize profit over their workers’ safety and well-being, treating them like cogs in a machine. It has to stop. This legislation combats the warehouse industry’s worst practices while ensuring corporations do right by their employees in treating them with the dignity they deserve,” said Senator Hawley. “The momentum to protect workers is growing. These big companies hold a lot of power, they are literally controlling the lives of workers minute by minute with their productivity metrics and quotas,” said Senator Smith. “With this bill, we are saying, enough is enough. We’re putting accountability into this system and power back in the hands of workers
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Joins Colleagues to Introduce Resolution to Make Sure Every Woman Can Access Emergency Health Care
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) joined her colleagues to introduce a resolution to ensure that every patient has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care, regardless of where they live. The introduction comes as new reporting from ProPublica states that Republican abortion bans are preventing women from receiving lifesaving emergency health care and resulting in preventable deaths. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade over two years ago, nearly two dozen US states led by Republicans have banned or severely restricted access to abortion. These strict laws have created confusion around the treatment doctors can provide even when a pregnant patient’s life is in danger, as physicians fear that they may lose their medical license, be sued, or even charged with a felony if they perform life-saving emergency care. Despite the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act’s (EMTALA) requirements that Medicare-participating hospitals treat and stabilize pregnant patients in need of emergency medical care, women are being turned away from emergency rooms. “Patients will suffer while lawsuits and litigation move forward. There should be no legal question when medicine is clear: Abortion is health care,” said Senator Tina Smith. “Pregnant women deserve access to emergency medical care. Doctors should be free to provide that care without interference from right-wing, anti-choice politicians.” In Moyle v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court had the opportunity to reaffirm that federal law requires pregnant patients to have access to life-saving emergency care in every state, but instead, the Court dismissed the case and sent it back to the lower
Collins, Smith Announce $200 Million Now Available to Help Loggers, Timber Haulers Facing COVID-19 Economic Crisis
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tina Smith (D-MN) announced that $200 million is now available for logging and log hauling businesses that have been seriously impacted by the pandemic. Eligible members of the logging industry can apply on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website HERE. The funding was provided through the Loggers Relief Act, which Senators Collins and Smith co-authored last year. They secured $200 million for logger relief in the final COVID-19 relief package that was signed into law in December. Following the bill’s passage, the Senators led efforts to push USDA to expedite the distribution of this
U.S. Senator Tina Smith: Too Many Americans Still Being Charged for COVID Tests that Should Be Free
WASHINGTON, D.C. [7/21/21]—Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said people in Minnesota and across the country are still being charged up to thousands of dollars for COVID-19 tests that – by law – should be free, and she introduced legislation to help ensure Americans aren’t stuck with surprise bills when they get a test. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is a cosponsor of the bill. As part of a COVID-19 relief package in 2020, Congress enacted Sen. Smith’s measure to require public health programs and private insurers to cover the cost of coronavirus tests. The law also protects the uninsured from being charged. Despite
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith: Easing of Canadian Border Restrictions Should Bring Much-Needed Relief for Minnesota’s Northwest Angle
WASHINGTON, D.C. [7/19/21]—U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today’s announcement that Canada will ease COVID-19 restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border beginning August 9 will provide long-overdue relief for hard-hit businesses and residents in Minnesota’s Northwest Angle. Sen. Smith said residents and businesses in the Northwest Angle, a Minnesota enclave reachable only by boat—across Lake of the Woods—or by traveling briefly through Canada, have been devastated by the pandemic and the border restrictions that closed the Angle off from the rest of Minnesota and the country. “I’ve repeatedly pushed hard—both diplomatically and through introducing legislation—to get Canada to reconsider its restrictions and
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith: Easing of Canadian Border Restrictions Should Bring Much-Needed Relief for Minnesota’s Northwest Angle
WASHINGTON, D.C. [7/19/21]—U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today’s announcement that Canada will ease COVID-19 restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border beginning August 9 will provide long-overdue relief for hard-hit businesses and residents in Minnesota’s Northwest Angle. Sen. Smith said residents and businesses in the Northwest Angle, a Minnesota enclave reachable only by boat—across Lake of the Woods—or by traveling briefly through Canada, have been devastated by the pandemic and the border restrictions that closed the Angle off from the rest of Minnesota and the country. “I’ve repeatedly pushed hard—both diplomatically and through introducing legislation—to get Canada to reconsider its restrictions
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