Latest Releases
Klobuchar, Baldwin, Smith, Stauber Urge Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to Support Federal Funding to Rebuild the Blatnik Bridge
WASHINGTON – Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Tina Smith (D-MN) and Representative Pete Stauber (R-MN) sent a bipartisan letter urging Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to support Minnesota and Wisconsin’s application for federal funding to rebuild the Blatnik Bridge. “We write to reiterate our strong support of the Minnesota and Wisconsin Department of Transportations’ application for federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” wrote the lawmakers. “By replacing the Blatnik Bridge, the project would exemplify the type of critical infrastructure project that was envisioned by Congress.”“As noted in our previous letter to President Biden in September 2023, the Blatnik Bridge, located over St. Louis Bay on Lake Superior, is one of two bridges that connects the cities of Duluth, Minnesota with Superior, Wisconsin,” the lawmakers continued. “It is an essential economic engine in the region and a key link in the global supply chain.”In September, Klobuchar, Smith, Baldwin, and Representative Stauber sent a letter to President Biden urging him to fund this project. In August, Klobuchar and Smith sent letters to Secretary Buttigieg in support of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT)’s applications for funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including the U.S. Department of Transportation National Infrastructure Project Assistance Program and its Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) Program. In 2022, Klobuchar, Smith, and Baldwin sent a letter to President Biden urging him to fund this project. President Biden visited the Blatnik Bridge in 2022 with Klobuchar, Baldwin, and Smith, to discuss how the bridge could benefit from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In 2021, Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Commerce
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar and Representative Angie Craig Press Postal Service Again for Answers on Mail Carriers’ Missing Paychecks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (both D – MN), and U.S. Representative Angie Craig (D-MN02) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy seeking answers about an apparent payroll system error that led to an estimated 2,200 rural letter carriers missing paychecks. The incident is the second major payroll problem for the Postal Service since September. The lawmakers sent a similar letter to Postmaster General DeJoy in September seeking answers when approximately 53,000 postal workers missed or received only partial paychecks, and the Postal Service responded that they had solved the issue that caused the error. “In your response, you assured us that the payroll programming error was ‘corrected’ and ‘rigorously tested,’ but just three months later we must address this again with you. Rural letter carriers provide an essential service to small towns and rural places in Minnesota and around the country. They deliver medicine, bills, Social Security checks and other crucial documents and items. They provide for their own families and deserve timely compensation,” the lawmakers said. In their letter, Senators Smith, Klobuchar, and Representative Craig called for DeJoy to take immediate steps to pay affected workers and ensure this problem is not repeated. Smith, Klobuchar and Craig have long worked to improve the reliability of postal service in Minnesota. All 3 lawmakers have introduced bicameral, bipartisan legislation addressing transparency at the Postal Service. Smith and Klobuchar both sent letters to Postmaster DeJoy regarding the disruptions caused by increased Amazon package delivery and decried Postmaster General DeJoy’s response. In September, they pressed USPS for answers about a payroll error that led to 53,000 rural letter carriers missing or receiving only a partial
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Highlights Bill to Boost Mental Health Services for Students While Visiting Minnesota Elementary School
WASHINGTON, D.C. [04/25/19]—Today, U.S Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced she’s reintroduced her legislation to make sure students in schools across the nation are able to access the mental health services they need, where they are, while visiting Franklin Elementary School in Rochester. While hearing from Rochester area educators and mental health professionals, Sen. Smith discussed her Mental Health Services for Students Act, which would provide funding for comprehensive mental health services in schools. Young people experience mental health conditions about as often as adults—about 1 in 5 struggle with severe mental health problems—but they often have a hard time getting
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith Presses Nation’s Top Agriculture, Drug Enforcement, and Customs Officials to Clear Bureaucratic Hurdles for Minnesota Farmers Growing Industrial Hemp
WASHINGTON, D.C. [04/19/19]—After taking a leading role in making sure Minnesota priorities were included in the 2018 Farm Bill, this week U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.)—a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee—is once again standing up for Minnesota farmers by pressing top federal agriculture, drug enforcement, and customs officials to clear the bureaucratic hurdles that are preventing Minnesota farmers from obtaining hemp seed. Sen. Smith said last year’s Farm Bill established hemp as an agriculture commodity, and authorized the production, consumption, and sale of hemp in Minnesota and across the country. However, she said, a lack of coordination between federal
Klobuchar, Smith Join Colleagues to Introduce New Legislation to Tackle Nationwide Digital Equity Gap
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Broadband Caucus, and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to introduce new legislation aimed at closing the growing digital divide in communities across the country. The Digital Equity Act of 2019 creates new federal investments targeted toward a diverse array of projects at the state and local level that promote “digital equity”— a concept defined by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance as the “condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy.”
Klobuchar, Smith Join Colleagues in Calling for Full Funding of the Firefighter Cancer Registry
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) joined Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and over 30 other senators in requesting full funding for the Firefighter Cancer Registry. The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act was signed into law in July 2018 and requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect the number and type of fire incidents in connection to firefighters who receive a cancer diagnosis—helping doctors and researchers to study the relationship between firefighting and an increased risk for the deadly disease. Although $2.5 million was authorized for the registry, the full
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