Thursday 1/31
There is never a shortage of things we could write for these CTAs, and frozen pipes are making it so I’m not adding more like I originally planned last night.
Yesterday the Labor Committee approved a paid family and medical leave bill. Now the bill is referred to the House Commerce Committee.
“The House Labor Committee approved the bill 10-5 Wednesday and referred it to the House Commerce Committee. It has no Senate companion.
Halverson told members the bill would “provide for 12 weeks of medical leave with partial wage replacement and/or 12 weeks of family leave to bond with a new baby, care for a sick loved one, through an insurance program that’s modeled on Minnesota’s unemployment insurance.””
Let your local MoC know you are in support of this. This bill would help ease the stress many families feel when they can’t be at work due to getting ill or bringing home a baby. We need policies that would support our care throughout our lifespans.
“A shortage of childcare and eldercare providers, along with older populations and greater distances to medical care, are some reasons why rural workers might need to take time off to care for a family member, says Debra Fitzpatrick, co-director of the Center and the author of the report.”
We need to light a fire under MN Senate Republicans who are stalling on election security. Thanks to IMLA for keeping track of bills that may have a hard time getting hearings in the Republican controlled Senate. SF93 would release $7 millions in federal funds for election security, which MN did not get access to last year. HF14, which is the house bill, is moving quickly, but not the Senate bill, according to Steve Simon. Let’s help out with that. Call your MN Senator and let them know election security is important to you.
After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, we have a less than three weeks to avoid another. Continue making calls to your MoC telling them to keep the government open without any money going towards a wall.
There has been a lot that has kept me awake at night that preceded the 2016 election, and a lot of that had to deal with the thought of foreign adversaries hacking into and taking control of our energy sources here in this country, especially if someone who happens to be a foreign agent ends up being in a leadership position, which happened. I think now is the time where we let our MoC know that we see this red flag and something serious needs to be done about it. I’m not sure what residents would do without heat, power, or water for an extended length of time, like during a polar vortex. Action needs to be taken even if Trump refuses to acknowledge what our Intelligence Agency is telling us.
“China has the ability to launch cyber attacks that cause localized, temporary disruptive effects on critical infrastructure—such as disruption of a natural gas pipeline for days to weeks—in the United States.”
“Russia has the ability to execute cyber attacks in the United States that generate localized, temporary disruptive effects on critical infrastructure—such as disrupting an electrical distribution network for at least a few hours—similar to those demonstrated in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. Moscow is mapping our critical infrastructure with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage.”
The GOP has finally announced who their members will be on the House Intel Panel.
Stu Lourey wins Minnesota Senate District 11 DFL primary
Stu Lourey won the DFL primary and is now headed to the special election against GOP Jason Rarick on February 5th. The election is necessary to replace MN Senate Senator Tony Lourey (Stu’s dad), who was chosen by Governor Walz as Human Services commissioner. Stu Lourey has worked as an aide to Sens. Al Franken and Tina Smith and he comes from a family of public servants. His grandmother was former Senator Beck Lourey.
Here are the results of the primary:https://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/Re…/StateSenate/118…
Republicans have a two-seat edge in the Senate pending the election. Check out Stu Lourey’s campaign page. https://www.stulourey.com/
Use those skills you honed this past summer/fall and help Stu get elected. The DFL has organized phone and text banking if you would like to help out. https://www.facebook.com/events/790402844670094/
You could also join the SD-11 squad here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275269826488015/
Check out Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s schedule for the House of Representatives https://www.majorityleader.gov/floor-res…/the-weekly-leader…
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Walz https://mn.gov/governor/
