Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Celebrates 4th Year of Juneteenth Being Recognized as a Federal Holiday
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith celebrated the fourth year that Juneteenth was officially recognized as a federal holiday in the United States. The annual holiday celebrates the date that news of emancipation of slaves in the South reached Galveston, Texas, two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Senator Smith’s bill establishing the holiday was signed into law by President Biden in June, 2021. Smith helped introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution this week for the legislative body to commemorate the date. She celebrated Juneteenth in Minnesota at the Northside Juneteenth Festival Celebration on June 15th. “The end of slavery in this country is a critical milestone in our history, and Juneteenth should be commemorated nationwide as a day of celebration, reflection, and rededication to the cause of racial justice,” said Senator Smith. “I am forever grateful to the generations of activists who made this possible. Commemorating Juneteenth as a federal holiday is an encouraging and deeply meaningful step – but we have much farther to go on the path towards justice. In the meantime, I hope Minnesotans find a time to celebrate the progress we’ve made and recommit themselves to the work that lies ahead.” Senator Smith gave a floor speech following the Senate’s passage of her bill in 2021. You can read her full remarks here or view/download them here. ###
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith, Minnesota Fire Chiefs Celebrate Passage of the Fire Grants and Safety Act
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) issued the statements below after the Senate passed the Fire Grants and Safety Act, bipartisan legislation to continue providing federal funding for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant programs. This bill now goes to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant program helps firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources. The SAFER Grants program provides direct funding to fire departments and volunteer firefighter organizations to increase or maintain the number of trained “front line” firefighters and enhance their capacity to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards. Since 2015, fire departments across Minnesota have received over $33 million in SAFER grants and $59 million in AFG grants. “Firefighters put their lives on the line every day to save lives. We need to invest in our local fire departments and ensure that they have the funding they need to hire and train firefighters and purchase life-saving equipment,” said Senator Klobuchar. “That’s why I worked to pass the bipartisan Fire Grants and Safety Act which will support fire departments in Minnesota and across the country.” “Firefighters do one of the most difficult jobs possible, often at the risk of immense personal injury, to keep our families and loved ones safe. This funding is our way of giving them the support they need to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible,” said
U.S. Sens. Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray Seek Answers from Labor Department on Fake Public Comments Opposing Stronger Protections for Retirement Savers
WASHINGTON, D.C. [08/14/20]—Alarmed by the fact that much remains unknown about the rash of fake critical comments that flooded the public comment period for a key federal consumer protection rule for retirement savers in 2015, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) sent a letter pressing Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia to outline the actions he’s taken to prevent it from happening again. The Senators told Scalia that a Wall Street Journal analysis found that in the case of the 2015 rule on retirement investment advice, “40% of respondents didn’t write the comments attributed to them,” and that most of the 345 fraudulent comments analyzed were slanted in favor of financial industry views,
Congresswoman Angie Craig, Senator Tina Smith and Andy Slavitt Discuss Bill to Improve National COVID-19 Testing and Tracing
Today, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, Sen. Tina Smith were joined by health expert Andy Slavitt during a briefing to discuss their bipartisan bill to create a national coronavirus (COVID-19) testing and contact-tracing strategy in partnership with states. The measure, the Suppress COVID-19 Act would provide federal support to states working to address the virus by helping them purchase tests and testing supplies. It would also allow states to work together in interstate compacts and regional agreements to overcome challenges with the testing supply chain, such as a lack of available tests and slow turn-around for test results. Republican Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee is also a lead author and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. of
Minnesota Congressional Delegation Urges IRS to Address Backlog in Processing Tax Returns
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Representatives Jim Hagedorn (MN-01), Angie Craig (MN-02), Dean Phillips (MN-03), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Tom Emmer (MN-06), Collin Peterson (MN-07), and Pete Stauber (MN-08) sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expressing concern about continued delays in the processing of paper tax returns and requesting further information on what the agency plans to do to address this issue. “We have heard from constituents all across the State of Minnesota who filed paper returns and have not yet received their refund or even been able to check
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar Introduce Bill to Help K-12 Schools Improve Infrastructure
WASHINGTON, D.C. [8/12/2020]—U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) joined Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), along with other colleagues in introducing a bill to help K-12 schools make infrastructure improvements. The Impact Aid Infrastructure Act (IAIA) would provide $1 billion in supplemental funding through the Impact Aid program. IAIA provides competitive and formula grants for school infrastructure projects, including school construction and facilities upgrades, in school districts with high percentages of children with military parents or children living on Tribal lands. With these grants, school districts would have the flexibility to focus on their specific renovation and repair needs, which could
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