WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minnesota, issued the following news release on Feb. 23, 2024: Today, Congressman Brad Finstad (MN-01) introduced the Better Examiner Standards and Transparency for Veterans (BEST for Vets) Act, which would ensure that all medical disability examinations (MDEs) performed at or on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are conducted by only licensed healthcare professionals. MDEs are critical baseline assessments for determining the health  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release: "(F)inancial institutions, including your own, have continued to close customers' accounts involuntarily and without basic notice, explanation, or ability to contest the decision"; bank practices "pose() a particularly severe threat for customers from the Muslim community." Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. - Following reports that major banks may be disproportionately restricting or shutting down the   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, issued the following statement on Feb. 22, 2024: * * * U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) released the statement below after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will approve a request to allow summer month sales of E15 gasoline with high blends of ethanol. The expansion will have an effective date of April 28, 2025. The request was made in 2022 by the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Sout  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. Tina Flint Smith, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release: Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Democratic Women's Caucus (DWC) Chair Lois Frankel (FL-22), Reps. Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), Kathy Manning (NC-6), and Judy Chu (CA-28), led over 150 House and Senate Democratic colleagues in urging health insurers to fully comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraception coverage requireme  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development, issued the following opening remarks at a hearing on Jan. 31, 2024, entitled "Artificial Intelligence and Housing: Exploring Promise and Peril": * * * Good morning. The Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development will come to order. Today's Hearing will focus on the promise and threats that Artific  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Chairwoman and Member of the Senate Rules Committee with oversight over federal elections, introduced the Redistricting Reform Act of 2024 to help end partisan gerrymandering and reform the nation's patchwork redistricting process. "Partisan gerrymandering undermines our democracy and puts political parties before the American people," said   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Sen. Tina Flint Smith, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release: 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 child  more