Latest Releases
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Announce New Childcare Facility in Luverne
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), a member of the Senate Education Committee, announced federal funding they secured last year to renovate a vacant facility in Luverne, Minnesota into a childcare center has been disbursed. The project will help the city purchase and renovate a facility into a new center that will accommodate 186 infants, toddlers, preschool, and school-age children. The renovated space will also accommodate staff and administrative spaces, a gymnasium, and food preparation kitchen. “Too often I have heard that parents around the state, including in Rock County, have difficulty finding safe, reliable, and affordable child care in their communities,” said Senator Klobuchar. “We worked to secure a federal grant for Luverne to open a new child care center to serve hundreds of kids and expand options for parents.” “With few options for childcare in this area, working families are put in a serious bind. How can parents work without a safe, affordable place for their kids to go while they are at work?” said Senator Smith. “Luverne is leading the way in creating a community young families will want to live in, and this new facility is a testament to their hard work.” Rock County has over 350 kids below the age of five who need childcare, but capacity for just 240 of them, according to First Children’s Finance. Over the last ten years, almost half of the nearly 60 home child care providers in Rock County have left the field or retired. For some families, it makes more financial sense stay home rather
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Colleagues, Demand VA Improves Care for Victims of Sexual Assault
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), led by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT), joined her colleagues to send a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) urging the Department to take immediate steps to improve the readiness of VA facilities and staff to address the needs of veterans after experiencing a sexual assault. The letter comes as a result of a concerning VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report finding significant shortfalls in care provided by VA to veterans who seek care after sexual assault. The letter was also signed by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) Angus King (I-ME), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). “We urge the Department to work expeditiously to implement the recommendations in the [OIG] report and take a more proactive stance towards preparing facilities, both emergent and non-emergent, and staff for how to respond to encounters related to sexual assault,” wrote the Senators to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “Despite the low volume of emergent acute sexual assault victims presenting in VA emergency departments and urgent care centers, we expect the Department to ensure our veterans receive the best possible health care and services, either onsite or via a warm handoff to a community provider.” The Senators highlighted VA’s “unacceptable” shortfalls in providing
U.S. Senators Klobuchar and Smith: Over $1 Million Awarded to Organizations that Help People from Diverse Backgrounds in Minnesota Participate in Agriculture
WASHINGTON, D.C. [10/9/2019]— U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced that more than $1 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding has been awarded to organizations that help people from diverse backgrounds in Minnesota participate in agriculture. This funding will support the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), which helps immigrant and Latino farmers in Minnesota overcome barriers to growth. It will also support the American Indian Higher Ed Consortium (AIHEC) to engage students in agriculture at tribal colleges and universities—including the four in Minnesota—and improve Native American farmers and ranchers’ agricultural practices. The senators said that this funding is available to qualifying organizations through the USDA’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and
U.S. Senator Tina Smith: “Protecting Renewable Fuel Standard Signals Trump Administration Heard Concerns From American Farmers Loud and Clear”
WASHINGTON, D.C. [10/04/19]—Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.)—a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee—released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it would account for the harmful abuse of small refinery hardship waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending targets. “Rural communities, farmers, clean energy producers and agribusinesses need a strong Renewable Fuel Standard to thrive. The RFS supports thousands of local jobs and helps lead to billions of dollars in economic activity, it cuts our dependence on foreign oil, and it helps fight global warming,” said Sen. Smith. “While I wish it had taken less
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Bipartisan Group of Senators Release Report Recommending Steps to Ensure Stable Education for Students in Foster Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. [10/3/2019]—This week, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues released a report on how the federal government can better help ensure a stable education for students in foster care who are far too often bounced from school to school. Sen. Smith—a member of the Senate Education Committee—said that these new placements and disruptions can jeopardize students’ academic achievement. The federal law is clear that when children are brought into foster care or change placements, the state must ensure they remain in the school in which they are enrolled at the time of each placement so long as it is in the child’s
U.S. Sens. Klobuchar, Smith Fight to Overturn U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Harmful Rule that Guts Protections for Student Loan Borrowers
WASHINGTON, D.C. [09/30/19]–U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are pushing to overturn U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ move to gut essential protections for student loan borrowers who’ve been wronged by their schools. The Senators joined more than thirty of their Senate colleagues in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval of DeVos’ rewritten borrower defense rule, which makes it more difficult for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school’s closure to receive relief. “Students shouldn’t have to worry about predatory practices from colleges while they are preparing to further their education and
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