Tag: CD3

Farmers Seize Innovation Opportunities

Prices for most ag products are linked to world markets, but Minnesota farmers say it’s possible to take advantage of market niches.

Long before businessman Dean Phillips became a congressman, he was sitting in Carolyn Olson’s farm home near Cottonwood, Minnesota, in 2008.

Olson, co-owner of Olson Organics and a self-described outgoing person, was talking with Phillips about her farming operation that’s located 140 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

“Like a good Lutheran, I made a Bundt cake,” Olson recalled Monday during a panel discussion at a Food Ag Ideas Week event in St. Paul. Over cake and conversation, she and Phillips made a connection. It led to Olson selling some of her grain that’s used in vodka production for Phillips Distilling Co.

View the complete October 14 article by Liz Fedor on The Twin Cities Business website here.

Local newspapers wait anxiously for pension funding relief

Crucial retirement savings package appears stuck in the Senate

Local newspapers serving communities from Tampa, Florida, to Walla Walla, Washington, say they’re under the gun from a pension funding “cliff” they face next year that will make them have to rapidly catch up on required contributions, exacerbating their well-documented financial decline.

When relief for some 20 publishers passed the House in May on a 417-3 vote as part of sweeping retirement savings legislation, it seemed like a slam dunk that lawmakers would ride to the rescue in time.

But they haven’t, and advocates say the clock is running out.

View the complete October 7 article by Doug Sword on The Roll Call website here.

Rep. Dean Phillips Update: October 4, 2019

Hi Friend,

We made it to Friday. I want to take a moment to thank everyone who called, wrote, and took our survey this week as we watched grave events continue to unfold in Washington – your feedback is so important. All the while, there’s a lot of work being done for the American people, so I’m dropping a line to share a few updates from my week:

PROTECTING OUR ELECTIONS FROM FOREIGN INTERFERENCE 

By now it’s clear that our democracy is under attack from the inside and out, and nowhere is that more apparent than in political advertising. That’s why I introduced the Firewall Act today, a bill that prohibits foreign nationals from paying for online advertisements created to attack or support candidates in U.S. elections. Current law prevents similar foreign spending on television, radio, satellite and print ads, leaving bad actors with an open door to spread malice and misinformation online. That’s unacceptable, and Congress should act swiftly to protect voters from foreign meddling, and in doing so, protect our democracy itself. Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips Update: October 4, 2019”

Rep. Dean Phillips Update: September 27, 2019

Dear Neighbors,

I have a lot to share with you today, but first I wanted to address the major news from the week. This is a somber time for our country, but an important time for the Constitution and the rule of law.

On Monday, I endorsed an official impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Donald Trump. As your representative in Congress, I am on a mission to clean up corruption and restore trust in our government. Central to that mission is ensuring that our elections are fair and free of foreign interference. The President’s own statements, along with the readout released by the President detailing his conversation with Ukraine’s president, have confirmed that he encouraged Ukrainian officials to investigate his political opponent — thereby inviting foreign interference into our democracy.

I have long been concerned with a pattern of behavior unbecoming of the President of The United States of America. It has been corrupt and unethical at best, and treasonous at worst. For me and many of my colleagues, the latest allegation represents a clear violation of our deeply-held principles and values and, very possibly, our laws. Furthermore, the reports were confirmed by the President himself and by documents released by the White House. Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips Update: September 27, 2019”

Phillips Statement on Ukraine Allegations

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement:

“I came to Congress on a mission to clean up corruption and restore America’s trust in our government. It appears that our President encouraged the leader of Ukraine to investigate his political opponent, thereby inviting foreign interference in our democracy. This continues a pattern of behavior that is corrupt at best, treasonous at worst, and puts our rule of law at risk. Our Constitution transcends any person, politician, or political party, and I call on the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Judiciary Committees to use every legal mechanism possible to obtain all relevant evidence. If the reports are corroborated, we must pursue articles of impeachment and report them to the full House of Representatives for immediate consideration.”

My Week Representing You

Hi Friend,

Greetings from Washington! I’m checking in after another full week of conversations, hearings and votes. Read on to learn more about how I represented you this week:

PROTECTING OUR KIDS FROM THE TRAUMA OF GUN VIOLENCE

For the second week in a row, I joined my colleagues on the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force for a hearing on our nation’s gun violence epidemic. This time, I had the opportunity to ask a panel of experts about the emotional and psychological toll active shooter drills, lockdowns, and the fear of gun violence have on our students and educators. Their answers were profoundly heartbreaking. We cannot let gun violence in America become normalized, and we cannot not let the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate obstruct the will of the people. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to get common sense gun violence prevention bills passed into law.

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Click here to watch our hearing on the emotional and psychological toll gun violence is taking on our children.

Continue reading “My Week Representing You”

Rep. Phillips Statement on Mitch McConnell Backing $250 Million in Election Security Funding

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) released the following statement on Mitch McConnell’s decision to support providing states with $250 million in election security funding:

“There is an urgent need to restore public trust in our government, and that means elected officials must act in the public interest. Senator McConnell’s change of heart is welcome news, but far more needs to be done to secure our elections from foreign interference. The House passed the SAFE Act in June that would provide the level of robust funding our states actually need to secure their election systems. We need verifiable paper ballots all over the country that can be efficiently monitored. And we need to comprehensively address other avenues for election interference – with bills like Senator Klobuchar’s bipartisan HONEST Ads Act. Senator McConnell can and should support all of these efforts.

This is a beginning. I invite Senator McConnell to engage with members of both political parties and continue the work of protecting our democracy. The American people are counting on us to put politics aside and do the right thing.”

At Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Hearing, Rep. Phillips Questions Experts on Psychological Toll of Gun Violence on Students

Phillips: “I cannot believe we live in a country in which parents have to consider buying their children bulletproof backpacks to go to school.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) participated in the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force’s hearing on the impact of gun violence on children. Phillips questioned the panel of experts on the emotional and psychological toll active shooter drills, lockdowns, and the fear of gun violence have on students and educators.

You can view video of Rep. Phillips’s question and the responses here

Leslie Boggs, President of the National Parent Teacher Association, is a resident of Odessa, Texas where there was recently a mass shooting spree that killed 7 and injured 22 victims. She shared that her goddaughter is now too afraid to walk the two blocks from her school to her grandmother’s house:

“You not only see students that are now afraid, and question everything that happens within and around their schools, but you also see parents who are no longer able to walk up to a school to retrieve their children. They’re keeping them in auditoriums, and then call them out to the cars, because they are fearful of what might happen in their community… I see schools that have become more of a fortress and a prison than a welcoming environment to thrive and learn. And this is happening across the country, not just in my hometown.” Continue reading “At Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Hearing, Rep. Phillips Questions Experts on Psychological Toll of Gun Violence on Students”