Tina believes in economic opportunity and a diverse economy so businesses can grow and workers get better pay and better jobs. She knows we need to work to rebuild American manufacturing, which strengthens both our economy and national security. She knows we need to build an American medical supply chain that expands drug manufacturing in America so we do not have to rely on other countries for critical medical supplies. And she knows that in order to help rebuild our middle class with good-paying jobs and to make drugs more affordable and accessible, it’s going to take leaders who have proven records of finding common ground to get the job done.
As Minnesota’s Lt. Governor, she worked hard to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage and supported legislation to close the gender pay gap. She also helped bring high paying jobs to Southern Minnesota by leading a public-private partnership with the Mayo Clinic that generated billions of dollars in private investment in the region and state.
In the Senate’s response to COVID-19, Tina has fought tirelessly to ensure families, small businesses, and our health care workers are getting the resources they need. As part of the CARES Act, Tina supported extended and expanded unemployment benefits, forgivable loans available to small businesses, worker protections at firms that receive government support, and key accountability and transparency measures.
As unemployment has reached record highs, Tina remains focused on the current and future workforce. As a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, she has helped secure a new law limiting foreclosures and evictions, and requiring lenders to let borrowers struggling financially to delay their mortgage payments. In addition, she is fighting to secure additional funds to help renters and homeowners who are struggling to pay for their housing costs during this economic crisis.
Tina has continued to help workers obtain the skills they need for new jobs, and to help businesses get back on their feet and hire more workers. For instance, she helped write a new law that helps students access high-quality training programs that they need to find high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand jobs and helps to recruit Career and Technical Education teachers in fields like health care, manufacturing, IT, and construction. In addition she’s been fighting to make sure small businesses have access to disaster loans and grants by pushing the Small Business Administration to remove unfair restrictions they placed on loans available to small businesses in the wake of disasters.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the childcare crisis families and providers were already experiencing in Minnesota and across the country. In response to the crisis, Tina and Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a $50 billion childcare relief package that would help to stabilize the childcare industry, allow providers to stay in business, and to make sure parents have a safe place for their children to go to once it is safe for them to return to work.
Tina believes that while we’ve made a lot of progress in the fight for workplace and economic equality, there is still a lot of work to do. A woman only makes an average of 80 cents to every dollar a white, non-Hispanic man makes – and that gap only widens when broken down by race with Native women making only 57 cents and Black women making only 63 cents for every dollar – which is why Tina is working in the U.S. Senate to close the gender pay gap. She also supports increasing paid and family medical leave so parents can stay home to take care of their children and family without the worry of losing a paycheck.