Dear Fourth District Constituent,

 

The House of Representatives has been in a District Work Period since last Friday, so I've been back home in Minnesota for the past week listening to constituents at town halls and community meetings. Over the weekend, I joined Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and other members of the Minnesota House of Representatives for a town hall in Saint Paul to draw attention to the cuts that the Trump Administration is making to the government services that Minnesotans rely on. President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are attempting to gut Medicaid by as much as $880 billion, which would severely impact the state budget when it comes to healthcare. Republicans are also looking to cut as much as $230 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

 

 

Elon Musk and President Trump are illegally and unconstitutionally cutting services that Americans rely on. While Republicans are cheering them on, my fellow Democrats and I are fighting back.

 

Republicans are making the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history and cuts to food assistance. Why? To pass massive tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk. I'll continue to resist Republican efforts to take away food, healthcare, and government services that Minnesotans rely on.

 

Thank you to the hundreds that attended the town hall on Saturday. You are the reason I have the power to push back. I'm empowered to fight back through your action. Together, we are making a difference through victories in the court. You are making a difference!

 

70 million Americans rely on the Social Security Administration to deliver their earned benefits. On Tuesday, House Democrats highlighted the threats to Social Security and the importance of taking action to defend it. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are attempting to severely worsen Social Security customer service by gutting the workforce, shuttering offices, and ending phone service. Their actions have already had real consequences – wait times for beneficiaries to speak to someone at the agency have shot up. The Social Security Administration website has had numerous outages, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from accessing their accounts.

Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley has predicted that benefits could be interrupted for the first time in the agency’s history as a result of Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s actions. All of this is so they can pay for a tax cut for Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and their billionaire mega-donors.

 

On Wednesday, I joined workers with SEIU Healthcare at the Minnesota Capitol for a press conference hosted by Protect Our Care to highlight that Republicans in Washington are attempting to make the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. With me to highlight the impact of these cuts were two mothers: Karen Rae Hannah, a Healthcare Advocate; and Starlisha Doby, an SEIU Healthcare worker. 

 

 

Starlisha Doby had to leave her job to focus on her role as the primary caretaker of her adult son William who has autism, is nonverbal, and suffers from cognitive delays. William relies on preventative care, speech and occupational therapy, and medications provided by Minnesota's Medical Assistance program, also known as Medicaid.
 
Karen Rae Hannah is also the primary caretaker of her adult son Hans, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy — a severe disease that progressively weakens the muscles and eventually leads to difficulty with moving and walking. Hans requires constant care to stay alive, and for that care he relies on Medicaid. 

 

Cuts to Medicaid are cuts to people. Real Minnesotans rely on Medical Assistance, and they would be severely harmed by the Trump Administration's cuts to Medicaid. You may rely on Medicaid. If you don't, you know someone who does — It may be a brother, a sister, a parent, an aunt, an uncle, a grandparent, a friend, or a neighbor. They are us.

 

Listening to Saint Paul's Seniors at Carondelet Village Town Hall 
On Thursday, I was hosted by residents of Carondelet Village in Saint Paul for a town hall meeting to hear their concerns about proposed cuts to critical government services. Seniors told me they're worried about President Trump's attacks against Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. I've always voted to protect these programs, and I always will.

Before the district work period, I voted NO on the House Republicans' budget proposing large cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and SNAP to provide a billionaires like Musk a tax break. I will continue to do all I can to defend Minnesota's seniors against the Trump Administration's attempts to take food, healthcare, and Social Security benefits from them.

Congresswoman McCollum addresses seniors at Carondelet Village in Saint Paul during a town hall on Thursday.

 
Upcoming Town Hall in Stillwater with Rep. Josiah Hill and Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman
Listening to you, answering your questions, and bringing your ideas back to Washington to inform my work is one of my most important roles as your Congresswoman. That's why I've already listened to Minnesotans at two town halls this week, and have another town hall coming up next week.

 

 

I will participate in my next town hall with State Representative Josiah Hill and Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman next week in Stillwater on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30pm.

 

 

This week, I joined members of Hmong National Development (HND) at their annual conference in Minneapolis. HND is a nonprofit focused on empowering the Hmong community to achieve prosperity through education, policy advocacy and leadership development. This year, we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the resettlement of our Hmong and Southeast Asian neighbors. Since the end of Vietnam War, Hmong Americans have called Minnesota home and made tremendous contributions to our culture and economy.

 

Despite these successes, our community faces many challenges. Recent actions by the Trump administration have resulted in legal U.S. residents being denied due process and threatened with displacement and deportation. I will continue to fight to protect and defend our democracy and our Constitution and support the rights of all persons in the United States.

Joining Friends of the Boundary Waters for a Virtual Discussion

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) protects a precious life-sustaining resource: some of the cleanest water in our nation. Over 20% of the fresh water in our entire national forest system is located in Superior National Forest, including in the headwaters of the BWCAW, its thousands of lakes, and the rivers that flow through it. This week I joined the Friends of the Boundary Waters to discuss my bill to permanently protect those waters. The Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act (H.R. 588) would permanently ban toxic copper sulfide-ore mining on federal lands within the headwaters of the Boundary Waters.

 

 

We can’t allow bad actors to remove environmental protections and exploit our public lands, all so that a foreign mining corporation can profit from selling copper ore to China and leave American taxpayers with polluted waters. This wilderness and its pristine waters are intact today because of more than a century of conservation, and now its our turn to protect it for the benefit of future generations.

 

 

REAL ID Deadline Approaching
REAL ID enforcement begins on May 7th. Your state driver’s license or ID must be a REAL ID to board U.S. domestic flights or enter certain federal buildings. An enhanced driver’s license, passport book, or passport card are also approved IDs for domestic travel.  For more info, visit the Department of Driver and Vehicle Services.