Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Statement on Federal Operation in St. Paul
ST. PAUL, MN – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement on the federal operation in St. Paul: “We’re still gathering information about what happened in St. Paul, but what we do know is that once again, federal authorities provided no notice to local leaders or law enforcement. This is their playbook: no warning, no transparency, no coordination. Their goal here isn’t safety, it’s to sow chaos, fear, and intimidation. Minnesotans deserve answers.”
U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Statement on Attorney General Ellison’s Settlement with Nation’s Largest Landlord for Artificially Inflating Rental Prices
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, released the following statement after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a $7 million settlement with the nation’s largest landlord, Greystar, as part of his ongoing litigation against property management software company RealPage. “When everything is already so unaffordable, cheating by artificially inflating rent adds insult to injury. These corporate landlords will do anything to pad their pockets and that’s why I’m so appreciative of Attorney General Ellison’s work to bring accountability for Minnesota renters,” said Senator Smith. “I’m pushing legislation to ban these practices nationwide and empower renters. Landlords should be competing on price, lease terms and amenities, not illegally colluding to keep prices high.” RealPage is accused of using confidential information from landlords such as Greystar in order to inflate rental prices and decrease competition in the free market. Minnesota is expected to receive approximately $500,000 in the settlement. Smith is a co-sponsor of the End Rent Fixing Act, legislation that would crack down on landlords that collude to set prices with software and price-setting algorithms. In addition to the monetary payment to the states as a result of Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit, the proposed consent decree, if approved by the court, would require Greystar to: Earlier this year, Smith joined an effort to press RealPage to answer for its multi-million dollar lobbying campaign for a provision that would have shielded them from state or local laws regulating improper use of artificial intelligence. She has also pressed RealPage about its algorithmic
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar Lead Push to Reinstate Energy Projects for Farmers, Small Businesses
Sixteen Senators are demanding the Trump Administration reverse canceling the bipartisan Rural Energy for America Program WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) and Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led fourteen colleagues in demanding the Trump Administration re-commit to funding energy projects across rural America through the bipartisan Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). In 2022 alone, REAP projects saved enough energy and generated enough energy to power over 250,000 homes. Roughly 70% of those projects could be deemed ineligible under the Administration’s new arbitrary restrictions. “Unleashing American energy and supporting American farmers are stated priorities
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Delivers Floor Speech Remembering Annunciation School Shooting Victims, Pushes for Congress to Pass Gun Safety Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith delivered a speech on the floor of the United States Senate after the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School last week. You can watch Sen. Smith’s floor speech here. You can read Sen. Smith’s remarks as delivered below: Mr. President, I stand before this body trying to make sense of the terrible shooting at Annunciation Catholic School just a couple of miles from where Archie and I live in Minneapolis. And I can’t. I can’t make it make sense. You know, I know this neighborhood really well. I’ve lived in and around it for
ICYMI: U.S. Senator Tina Smith Blasts Wrongful Firing of Duluth EPA Scientists by the Trump Administration
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) blasted the news that scientists at the Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Laboratory were fired for signing onto a letter expressing concerns over cuts and changes at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they argued would endanger the health and safety of Minnesotans. In a statement to the Duluth News Tribune, Smith decried the firings and expressed pride in the workers who had the guts to sign onto the Declaration of Dissent warning about the impacts of EPA cuts. “How is firing the people who keep Lake Superior and Minnesota’s waters clean and
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Demands Answers from Trump Administration on Actions Purportedly Allowing Sulfide-Ore Copper Mining Near the Boundary Waters
[ST. PAUL, MN] – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) is demanding answers from the Trump Administration regarding its recent announcement about planned executive actions to allow sulfide-ore mining in the Rainy River Watershed, where waters flow into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The only sulfide-ore mine proposed in the area would be owned by Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta, a company with a questionable environmental record, and the minerals they intend to mine would be shipped overseas to be processed outside of the United States – most likely to China. In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
English