Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Announces Small Business Funding for Tribal Nations
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) announced Red Lake Nation and Lower Sioux Indian Community were selected to receive federal funding to support small business development in their communities. The Tribes will use the funding to help small businesses access credit, which can be difficult in Indian Country. Tribal communities are systemically under-banked, making it nearly impossible for small businesses to obtain the financing they need to grow. Tribal governments can remove these barriers by working directly with businesses in their communities. The funding was awarded through the Small Business Credit Initiative, which was reauthorized and expanded by the American Rescue Plan, which Senator Smith supported. “Access to capital is essential to the economic health and growth of Tribal communities in Minnesota and across Indian Country,” said Senator Smith. “Native-owned small businesses face disproportionate obstacles when trying to secure capital to develop and grow their businesses, especially in rural areas like Red Lake and Lower Sioux. Tribes know best what works for their communities, and this funding will help Tribal economies to grow and thrive.” “The SSBCI allocation is an important steppingstone for meaningful economic development on the Red Lake Nation. Breaking down barriers surrounding capital access for Tribal and member owned businesses to equitably participate in opportunities that have historically been unavailable in Indian Country is a transformative change. An investment like SSBCI will help the Red Lake Nation achieve a vision of economic independence as well as continue to fuel the growth of our Tribal economy that also benefits rural communities across Minnesota. This change would not be possible without the advocacy
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Human Services Announce Expansion of School-Based Health Services
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (both D-MN), the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), and the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) announced that the state has been selected to receive funding to improve school-based health services. Medicaid and CHIP cover over 41 million children, and this program presents an opportunity to provide health care for kids where they spend a significant amount of time: at school. Some care is easiest to provide at school, such as preventive medicine, mental health care, physical and occupational therapy, and disease management. Providing care at school can help ease transportation for parents, reduce stigma and missed school-time. The funding was made available by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, legislation aimed at curbing gun violence and mental illness in schools, which both Senators supported in Congress. “Providing health care to students at school — where they spend a significant portion of their time — helps them thrive,” said Senator Smith. “We need to expand school-based health services to help meet students where they’re at and better support young people’s mental and physical health, and that’s exactly what this initiative will help do. It removes many barriers to access, such as trying to figure out how to leave school in the middle of the day, and promotes health equity.” “Schools provide vital mental and behavioral health care on-site to many Minnesota students,”said Senator Klobuchar. “This grant will allow schools to do even more to provide students with the convenient and accessible support they need to do well in the classroom and live healthy lives.” “Schools are a critical place for reaching and supporting young people in Minnesota. With these resources, we will be able to do even more
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Applauds Biden Administration Action On Investment Rules that Will Promote Racial, Environmental Justice
WASHINGTON, D.C. [3/10/21]— U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today backed a Biden Administration decision to stop enforcing a Department of Labor rule from 2020 that discouraged retirement plan managers from considering factors like climate change and racial justice in their investment decisions. She said the move will remove unnecessary regulatory burdens and give investment managers flexibility to offer investment options that take into account environmental, social and governmental (ESG) criteria when deciding where to invest. “As workers and retirees increasingly ask that their retirement plans take issues of racial equity and climate change into account in their investment decisions, I believe
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Says Senate-Passed COVID-19 Relief Package Will Help Tribal Communities Recover From Pandemic
WASHINGTON, D.C. [3/6/21]—U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by the Senate today includes more than $31 billion she pushed to help Tribal governments and urban Indigenous communities in Minnesota and across the country address the health and economic fallout from the pandemic. She said the funding represents the largest single infusion of resources for Tribal Nations in U.S. history. Sen. Smith, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said that during the pandemic, Indigenous Americans who contract COVID-19 have been hospitalized at nearly four times the rate of non-Hispanic white Americans, and they die
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Says Senate-Passed Pension Relief Package Stops Drastic Cuts Looming for 22,000 Minnesota Retirees
WASHINGTON, D.C. [3/6/21]—U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by the Senate today includes a key measure to bolster the solvency of the multiemployer pension system and prevent drastic cuts to pensions earned by more than 22,000 Minnesotans. The measure passed today stems from Sen. Smith’s years-long push to help the more than 1 million workers and retirees nationwide—including more than 22,000 Minnesotans—who had been facing deep cuts to their hard-earned pensions. Sen. Smith said without the action from Congress, the more than 22,000 Minnesotans who paid into Central States Pension Fund, as well
U.S. Senators Smith, Warren Successfully Secure More Than $40B for Childcare & Early Learning in Senate COVID-19 Relief Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. [3/6/21]—Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) successfully secured more than $40 billion for childcare and early learning resources in the Senate-passed COVID-19 relief package. With the funding from the package passed today, $10 billion from the December-passed relief bill, and the $3.5 billion provided in the CARES Act, Sens. Smith and Warren have made good on their push to secure $50 billion for childcare. “We’ve known that our country’s childcare system is on the brink of collapse, and that women are bearing the brunt of the cost,” said Sen. Smith. “My colleague Senator Warren
English