Latest Releases
Senator Smith, Colleagues Call on Fed to Strengthen Rules for Banks with Assets Over $100 Billion
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Angus King (I-Maine), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote the Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Michael Barr, calling on him to exercise the Fed’s authority to apply stronger regulation and supervision to banks with assets totaling $100 to $250 billion. “The fall of both SVB and Signature, the near-crash of First Republic, and the struggles of other regional banks shed new light on the systemic importance of banks with assets totaling between $100 and $250 billion,” wrote the senators. “In response to SVB’s and Signature Bank’s failures, the Department of Treasury, after consultation with the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), approved ‘systemic risk exceptions’ allowing the FDIC to fully compensate the banks’ depositors, including those holding deposits above the $250,000 FDIC insurance threshold. In making this determination, regulators acknowledged the systemic significance of banks of this size, and that their failure could have significant spillover effects on the broader banking system.” The 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA), which unwound Enhanced Prudential Standards for mid-sized banks, provided the Fed with the discretion to maintain stronger rules – including stronger requirements for capital, liquidity, stress testing, and resolution plans – to banks with assets between $100 and $250 billion. The Fed has largely failed to
Klobuchar, Smith Announce Judicial Selection Committee for Vacancy on Federal District Court
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) announced the formation of a judicial selection committee to assist them in making recommendations to President Biden to fill a vacancy on Minnesota’s federal district court. The vacancy was created by Judge John R. Tunheim’s decision to assume senior status. The selection committee will include Leslie Beiers, Chief Judge of the Minnesota Sixth Judicial District and former Assistant St. Louis County Attorney; Susan Segal, Chief Judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals; Abou Amara, Associate at Gustafson Gluek PLLC and Vice President of the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers; Tadd Johnson, Professor Emeritus of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Cecil Naatz, Managing Attorney of the Public Defender’s Office in Marshall, Minnesota; and Miguel Pozo, Member at Cozen O’Connor and former President of the Hispanic National Bar Association. “I would like to thank Judge Tunheim for his decades of service to Minnesota and the federal judiciary,” said Klobuchar. “Minnesota’s federal judges have a long track record of being fair-minded, conscientious and even-handed in their application of the law, and this distinguished selection panel committee will find a jurist worthy of this tradition. Federal judges have lifetime appointments, which is why it is critical that they demonstrate an unwavering commitment to equal justice under law for all.” “I thank Judge Tunheim for his public service, particularly his nearly three decades serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Federal judges have
Klobuchar, Smith Join Colleagues in Calling for Study of Dual Enrollment and Concurrent Enrollment Programs
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) joined Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and 15 Senate colleagues in encouraging the U.S. Department of Education to expand its planned study of federal K-12 education spending to include dual and concurrent enrollment programs and early college high schools. In their letter, the senators urged the Department to examine utilization, outcomes, and best practices of college in high school programs that receive funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The most recent reauthorization of ESEA – the Every Student Succeeds Act – passed on a bipartisan basis in 2015.
U.S. Senators Klobuchar, Smith & Democratic Colleagues Call on Environmental Protection Agency to Protect Region Five Communities
WASHINGTON, D.C. [02/10/20]—U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.)—along with a number of their Democratic colleagues led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)—urged new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator Kurt Thiede to keep the need to protect public health and safety, and to support the hard-working career professionals within Region 5, top of mind. The senators also raised concerns over the troubling pattern of decreases in staffing and enforcement meant to protect communities in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. “We write to you to request that in your new role as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Klobuchar, Smith Announce Funding to Assist Monitor Water Quality Monitoring in Grand Portage
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced $40,000 in grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to monitor water quality in Grand Portage. The funds will be used to purchase a vehicle in order to better track human health and water quality on the reservation to ensure that Grand Portage’s officials will have consistent, up-to-date, local water quality data available. Reliably gathering and updating this information will help Grand Portage maintain, restore, and improve water quality within the reservation boundaries. “Investments in clean water serve as a down payment on the long-term well-being of tribal communities
Following Request for Funding, Klobuchar, Smith Announce Federal Agricultural Disaster Declaration for Seven Minnesota Counties
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted their request to provide federal assistance to Minnesota farmers overwhelmed by significant wet weather during last fall’s harvest. Beltrami, Clearwater, Kittson, Marshall, Nobles, Polk, and Yellow Medicine counties are all now eligible to apply for assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), including FSA emergency loans. “Heavy rain and flooding made last fall a particularly challenging harvest for our state’s farmers and producers, killing crops and causing uncertainty for Minnesotan families,” Klobuchar said. “This disaster declaration will expedite much-needed assistance to struggling communities who
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