July 12, 2024

Dear Fourth District Constituent,

This week, President Biden convened our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies in Washington, D.C. for the 2024 NATO Summit.  This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NATO Alliance, and this gathering of allied leaders and diplomats in Washington could not come at a more critical time.  The fight to preserve and strengthen democracy across the world is one of the preeminent issues of our time.  Authoritarian nations like Russia are working every single day to undermine democracy, and we must stand up to them.  We know Russia continues to interfere in our elections here in the United States.  And Vladimir Putin continues to wage his campaign of death and destruction across Ukraine.  NATO is the most important multilateral defense treaty in the world, and a key cornerstone of our national security here in the United States.  I commend President Biden for the work he has done to pull NATO together in the face of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.  Strengthening NATO enhances our shared security as democracies and makes Russian aggression in other parts of Europe less likely. 

Assisting Ukraine 

Also this week, Russian cruise missiles struck the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine during an attack on Kyiv.   Over 40 civilians were killed in these attacks, including children.  This is another outrageous war crime perpetrated by Vladimir Putin and the Russian military against the Ukrainian people.  The targeting of children is abhorrent, and this attack should be condemned in the strongest possible terms by the entire world.  Ukraine continues to face a daily assault on their people, their infrastructure, and their democratic way of life.  They need our support to defend their homeland and the democratic values we share. 

The horrific attack in Kyiv also underscores the importance of the supplemental funding to assist Ukraine that Congress passed in April.  American security assistance, working with our allies in NATO and the European Union, is providing Ukraine with additional air defense systems that help prevent attacks like the one that targeted the children’s hospital in Kyiv.  As my last newsletter indicated, I visited Kyiv two weeks ago to conduct oversight on U.S. security assistance in my role as the Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  I met with President Zelenskyy, heard the gratitude of the Ukrainian people for America’s help, and told him how I continued to hear from my constituents about the importance of standing up for democracy in Europe.  We discussed how American security assistance was being used by the Ukrainian military, and I learned what more we can do to help Ukraine.  Be assured that in Washington, I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Russian attacks like the one targeting children this week. 

WASHINGTON DC UPDATE

Appropriations Committee Marks Up Fiscal Year 2025 Federal Funding Legislation

This week, the House Republican Majority brought a slate of six bills—funding for more than half of our federal agencies—to the Appropriations Committee. Each of these bills proposed damaging cuts to the services and supports that our communities rely on—cuts that would result in fewer teachers in our classrooms, more pollution in our air and water, fewer affordable homes in our communities, and higher costs for families struggling to put food on the table or pay their medical bills. And House Republicans didn’t stop there. They also loaded these bills down with toxic, extremist partisan policies that discriminate against our fellow Americans, bar our nation from confronting the climate crisis, make it easier for guns to end up in the wrong hands, and strip away reproductive rights.

I joined every one of my Democratic colleagues on the Committee in voting against all of these destructive and divisive bills, and I will oppose the Republican Majority’s partisan path forward if these bills are brought to the House floor. Democrats stand united against these extremist MAGA policies, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to bring reasonable, responsible legislation that funds federal responsibilities in our communities to our children, families, seniors, and veterans.

AT HOME IN MINNESOTA