Dear Friend,

This week we are crisscrossing the Sixth District, meeting with constituents, local businesses, and ending our visits at the State Fair! I normally count the days until the ponds freeze over and the snow starts to fall, but nothing beats the atmosphere and the energy around the State Fair each and every year.

Stay tuned for more updates on our visit to the Fair and meetings around the District. In this week’s newsletter, we will highlight the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, and this year’s Congressional App Challenge.

Read on to learn more…

Announcing the 2022 Congressional App Challenge

In an increasingly digital world, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills are critical building blocks of our children’s education and future. The Congressional App Challenge offers middle and high school students the opportunity to expand these skills by developing their own software application, or app.

The Congressional App Challenge is a U.S. House of Representatives initiative that began in 2015. This competition gives students the chance to compete against their peers by developing an app for desktop/PC, web, tablets, mobile, or other devices. This is a great way to start learning to code as well as hone existing skills.

Congressman Tom Emmer with 2021 Congressional App Challenge winner Aryssa Trotter

Last year's winner from the Sixth District was Aryssa Trotter from Central Middle School. Aryssa created Depression Revolution, an app focused on connecting individuals facing mental health challenges with resources in their area. Her work to recognize the potential for technology to combat our nation’s mental health crisis and develop an application to improve access to care is just one example of the incredible things our students are doing to address the real world issues of today.

Make no mistake, our students are learning in a world of rapidly developing technology. To our next generation of innovators, STEM skills are more important than ever. If you would like to learn more about participating in the 2022 Congressional App Challenge, more information can be found here. 

Recognizing the one-year anniversary of the failed Afghanistan withdrawal

Congressman Tom Emmer on the one-year anniversary of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan

This August, we recognize the one-year anniversary of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The poor planning and rushed implementation that went into the withdrawal resulted in the death of thirteen young American heroes. This tragedy could have been avoided with proper planning. Instead, the Biden administration rushed out of the country, unprepared for the consequences that arose from their hasty exit.

On August 20, 2021, President Biden made a promise to the American people, saying “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home". Recently, we learned that more than 800 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the formal withdrawal ended. This is unthinkable. While we are happy these Americans are home safely, the fact that they were abandoned in the first place is completely unacceptable. Along with these Americans, thousands of our Afghan partners were also abandoned. These Afghanis took on immense risk by assisting the American peace effort in the Middle East. Now they are left to fend for themselves against a hostile Taliban regime.

It didn’t have to be this way. In July of 2021, before the withdrawal began, I sent a letter to President Biden expressing my deep concern for our Afghan partners, seeking information on his plan to evacuate them safely. My concerns went unanswered and as a result, thousands of our allies were abandoned and hundreds were killed for assisting American forces during the 21-year occupation.

There is still work left to be done to rescue those who remain trapped in Afghanistan and to signal to our allies that we will not abandon them in the future if they offer their commitment and support to our cause. We will never forget the thousands of brave Americans we lost during the war, and we must make sure another failed withdrawal like this never happens again.

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,