Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Joins Senators Murphy, Coons, Merkley, 20 Colleagues Urging Biden Administration to Work with Israel to Take 5 Steps to Get More Humanitarian Aid Into Gaza
WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) joined U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and 20 colleagues in a letter to President Biden urging the administration to encourage Israeli officials to take five specific steps to significantly increase urgently needed humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. “The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire and the civilian suffering is at an unacceptable and staggering level. Ninety-three percent of Palestinians in Gaza are facing crisis levels of hunger. Eighty-five percent of the population is displaced. Seventy percent of those killed are women and children,” the senators wrote. “While the scale of the crisis is massive, the humanitarian assistance that is entering Gaza is just a fraction of what is needed to save lives. Since aid operations resumed on October 21, delivery of lifesaving assistance to Gaza continues to be hampered, despite no evidence of Hamas theft or diversion of humanitarian assistance provided via the United Nations or international non-governmental organizations (INGOs).” In order to significantly increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, the senators recommended the administration work with Israeli officials to take five specific steps: “The largest daily amount of humanitarian aid entered Gaza on November 28th, during the seven-day humanitarian pause. Additional and longer humanitarian pauses are needed to enable a surge of assistance to enter Gaza and the safe movement of goods and people within Gaza. A humanitarian pause will
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Cynthia Lummis Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Prospective Homebuyers from Predatory Financing Agreements
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Preserving Pathways to Homeownership Act, bipartisan legislation to establish basic protections for consumers who seek to purchase a home using a land contract, or contract for deed. Land contracts are an alternative form of seller financing for real estate transactions, often marketed as a way for people who can’t get a conventional mortgage to realize the dream of owning a home. However, land contracts can lack many of the consumer protections available in mortgage lending: full disclosure of costs and fees, protections if a homeowner misses payments or falls on hard times, and protections in the case of fraud. Unscrupulous sellers have used these arrangements to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers. They design the land contract to fail and move to evict when the buyer inevitably breaches it. Buyers typically lose their home and everything they’ve invested in it, and the seller can repeat this process with other buyers. It is estimated that across the country, more than 8 million homes have been sold with land contracts, underscoring the widespread nature of this issue. “Without a safe, decent place to call home, nothing in your life works – not your job, your health, your education, or your family. It is appalling that some Minnesota families trying to pursue the dream of home ownership, who are struggling to receive traditional mortgages, whether due to their credit rating, or because the tenets of their faith preclude them from paying and profiting off
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Pens CNN Op-Ed: “What McConnell is Getting Very Wrong on the Stimulus Bill”
WASHINGTON, D.C. [07/28/20]—Today U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) penned an op-ed condemning Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s failure to lead the Senate to pass a coronavirus relief bill—despite the fact the House acted on their latest COVID relief bill 10 weeks ago. In her piece, published by CNN, Sen. Smith cites the chaos that she’s witnessing—including McConnell filling the Senate calendar with votes on judges rather than legislation related to the pandemic—and outlines what we need to do in this moment. “Part of the Senate majority leader’s job is to set the Senate calendar. The House passed its latest Covid-19 relief bill a full 10 weeks
Klobuchar, Smith, Colleagues Introduce John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) joined Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and over 40 colleagues to introduce the bipartisan John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which as a reintroduction of the Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the landmark Voting Rights Act and help preserve the legacy of John Lewis – one of America’s civil rights heroes. “I was always in awe of Congressman John Lewis — of his persistence, his resilience, his faith that this country could be better, if only we put in the work. He never gave up on justice. He never stopped marching toward freedom,” Klobuchar said. “We
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Helps Introduce Bill to Address Teacher Shortages for Low-Income Students, Communities of Color
WASHINGTON, D.C. [7/24/20] – This week, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced a bill to address severe nationwide shortages of early childhood and K-12 teachers that disproportionately impact students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. For too long, schools in low-income communities have struggled to retain experienced, qualified education professionals. This is exacerbated by low pay, school leadership instability, and poor teaching conditions. The Retaining Educators Takes Added Investment Now (RETAIN) Act would create a fully refundable tax credit for teachers, mental health providers, school leaders, early childhood educators and other professionals working at K-12 schools and early childhood centers in low-income
U.S. Senators Smith, Wicker Propose Bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program Fix for Rural Hospitals
WASHINGTON, D.C. [7/23/20] – This week, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced a bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fix for rural hospitals. The PPP Access for Rural Hospitals Act would waive the Small Business Administration (SBA) affiliation rules for non-profit critical access hospitals and hospitals that serve rural areas so that they may qualify for PPP loans. Granting smaller non-profit and rural hospitals access to the PPP program would allow facilities to retain critical staff and focus their resources on providing quality care to patients for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. “Rural hospitals aren’t just vital to public health; they’re economic engines for
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