Dear Friend,

As your Representative, I am always looking for ways to connect and hear directly from you. Soon, I’ll be announcing my next monthly telephone town hall – stay tuned for call-in details!

Other ways you can connect with my office are by utilizing our casework staff, applying for our Young Women’s Leadership Program, or entering a piece in our Congressional Art Competition! You can also always write me an e-mail here.

Last week, Congress came together to pass an extension to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – aimed at helping small businesses stay afloat and keep their employees on the payroll through this difficult time. I was a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Protection Extension Act, which would delay the deadline for PPP for two additional months to May 31 and provide 30 days of additional loan processing time for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

The program has approximately $100 billion in remaining funds and the extension will allow businesses in need to access those funds and get the relief they still desperately need. If you need more information about the PPP, learn more here.

Keep reading to learn more about our work to represent Minnesota’s Sixth District in Congress…

Community Policing is Essential

Last week, I reintroduced an important bill, the Community OutPost (COP) Outreach and Engagement Act. This bill would establish a national federal pilot program using as an example one of our local initiatives: the St. Cloud COP House.

St. Cloud invested in a Community OutPost to help law enforcement engage and communicate with residents in their surrounding communities. The “COP House” is a residential home where local residents can receive critical services, like health screenings, and attend afterschool education programs while building relationships with law enforcement in that community. With improved police-citizen communication, officers can more effectively establish trust and build rapport with the citizens that they are sworn to protect. 

Law enforcement should be familiar with the neighborhoods and the residents they are sworn to protect. Engagement and familiarity can help keep communities safe. This effort will give them the resources they need to make these COP Houses a reality. 

You can read more about the Community OutPost Outreach and Engagement Act here.

Celebrating National Agriculture Day!

Today, we celebrate National Agriculture Day, a day to recognize the farm families who work around the clock to feed and fuel the world.

Farming is a way of life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Minnesota uses over half its land for agriculture production and is the 5th largest agriculture-producing state in the nation. Our state ranks number one in production for sugar beets and turkeys, second in wild rice and hogs, third in wheat, oats, meat animals, and soybeans, and fourth in corn.

We have a legacy of agricultural production, and I’m committed to ensuring farm families have what they need to do their important work.

Here are some recent agriculture-related updates:

• I introduced the Stemming the Tide of Rural Economic Stress and Suicide (STRESS) Under COVID-19 Act.
  • This bill would expedite funding to farm country to address mental health care shortages. Read more here.
• I cosponsored the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) Flexibility for Farmers and Ranchers Act.
  • This bill would allow farms to properly calculate the size of their business in order to receive a fair PPP loan amount.
• The Biden Administration halted payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) funding.
  • President Biden has frozen payments from CFAP, a program authorized and funded by Congress. This was explained as a routine review of previous Administration policies; however, CFAP was created to provide rapid relief to our agriculture community in light of the pandemic, and the need for this critical funding remains.
•  President Biden has proposed to increase the capital gains tax to 39.6% from the current 23.8%.
  • This plan would be extremely detrimental to farmers. The plan would require taxes be paid on unrealized gains for farmers who pass away. With the vast majority of ag assets tied up in land, buildings, and equipment, this tax is incredibly untenable.

Assistance with Federal Agencies Available!

As many of you know, my Otsego office has incredible caseworkers at the ready to assist you with a variety of issues that you may experience when navigating agencies in the federal government. Whether you need your passport processed quickly, or you are trying to coordinate with a foreign country on an international adoption – my office can help!

Our casework team can help you resolve issues with the IRS, Social Security, the VA, and many more. We help you cut through the red tape and get tangible results for your problems.

If you are in need of assistance, call my Otsego office at 763-241-6848 or visit my website here.

ICYMI: Star Tribune: Supporting cryptocurrency, Emmer carves a niche with congressional high-tech crowd

As a member of the Financial Services Committee, I’ve focused on finding ways that financial technology can revolutionize the way we bank and transact with one another.

In Congress, I became the Ranking Member of the Task Force on Financial Technology. My role on this Task Force was to identify ways government can act as a facilitator – instead of a roadblock – for Fintech to improve our financial services industry and bridge the gap for those struggling financially. Last week, the Star Tribune wrote about my work on blockchain technologies, like cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology is a method of storing data, like a ledger. The blockchain permanently records every change in a shared and secured history, so everyone can see the changes.

This has huge implications for countless aspects of our lives, such as helping health care providers securely store patient records, providing for supply-chain logistics, like distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, and limiting food safety concerns to only the contaminated portions of the supply.

Fintech gives us the power to do things, like improve access to our financial markets from our phone or computer. It increases competition in financial services so you can save for retirement, and expands financial inclusion, offering the unbanked and underbanked the opportunities to gain financial security and send their kids to college.

You can read more about my work on my website here, and in the Star Tribune here.

Until next week, if you are in need of assistance or would like to share your thoughts with me, please write me an e-mail here.

To keep up with what we’re doing in Washington, follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more updates!

Sincerely,