Our campaign is bringing people together, creating hope—and making news
Help for battered restaurants could be on the way as House considers new bills
Almost from the day the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program was announced, restaurant owners have been complaining that it doesn’t work for their industry. Congress has clearly heard them.
Last week, Reps. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Chip Roy (R-Tex.) introduced the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which would extend the period in which small businesses can use the money and ease restrictions on the amount they can spend on non-payroll expenses such as rent.
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Neguse and Phillips: Vote by mail will ensure a safe and fair November election
What could Minnetonka, Minnesota and Loveland, Colorado possibly have in common? It’s neither ice fishing nor rodeos. It’s mail-in ballots.
In 2018, our respective congressional districts — Minnesota’s 3rd and Colorado’s 2nd — generated the highest voter turnout among the 435 districts in the country, with a 73% participation rate by eligible voters.
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Bipartisan lawmakers introduce bill to make changes to Paycheck Protection Program
“While the PPP has helped millions of small businesses keep their lights on, millions more remain on the outside looking in. It won’t matter how much money we appropriate if the system by which it’s distributed is inaccessible to those who need it the most,” Phillips said in a statement.
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COVID-19 forces 2020 candidates to retool their campaigns
While people are in isolation, positive messaging directly from candidates has been effective. DFL Third District Rep. Dean Phillips has been surprised at how many people are now picking up their phone when he calls. “It used to be 1 in 10; now it’s more like 8 in 10,” he said. “They’re human, heartwarming calls.”
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For rebuilding after COVID-19, Rep. Dean Phillips proposes six-fold increase in AmeriCorps volunteers
“The United States must have a whole-of-government response to the COVID-19 pandemic that not only employs those who have lost their jobs or who’ve become underemployed,” Phillips said in a statement, “but also delivers relief to understaffed frontline workers.”
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Peace Corps Volunteers Can Get Unemployment Benefits, Officials Say
Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, and Representative Dean Phillips, Democrat of Minnesota, wrote a bipartisan and bicameral letter, signed by 40 lawmakers, to Eugene Scalia, the secretary of labor, on April 2, asking for clarification on whether the assistance program covers Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and other national service participants.
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Pence visits Mayo Clinic, learns of coronavirus testing partnership with Minnesota
“He is incredulous that we are ready to go with a massive testing program but still cannot obtain federally promised support, swabs and vials in particular,” Phillips said of the governor. “Access to swabs and vials and testing is imperative, and the federal government can and should be playing a role to ensure that. Anything short of that will only result in more delays and or loss of life and economic hardship.”
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Small business loan recipients includes not-so-small Minnesota companies
Phillips said he did not “begrudge” big companies that tried to get paycheck protection money under existing rules, but he wished they would consider giving it back the way Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, both huge restaurant chains, returned millions of dollars after media reports revealed their PPP loans.
“I am dismayed by a federal policy that benefits those who need it the least at the expense of those who need it the most,” Phillips said.
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An Oral History of the Day Everything Changed
In the first few days of March, a number of us were invited to the White House from the Problem Solvers caucus to meet with Vice President Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx. I left the meeting convinced that there was a graphic disconnect between the risks the virus presented to the country and the administration’s either cognition or belief in the science.
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Left out of stimulus payments, Minnesota college students fear for future
How does a medical device maker keep international supply chains open in a time of crisis? The answer is testament to both the power of bi-partisan cooperation and international maneuvering during the pandemic, and the ongoing struggle to produce even medical supplies deemed essential.
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‘No Excuses’: Moderate Democrats Urge Quick Deal on Small-Business Coronavirus Aid
Representative Dean Phillips, who in 2018 became the first Democrat to represent his Minnesota district in decades, said, “Congress must cast aside partisan affiliations and pass relief for these companies now. No delay. No excuses.”
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‘I do worry about the optics’: Congress struggles to get off the sidelines
“I am a frustrated member of Congress who’s joined by many similarly frustrated members of Congress,” said freshman Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), a vocal proponent of allowing Congress to hold remote hearings and debate.
“We are operating still as a 19th-century institution in a 21st-century unprecedented crisis,” Phillips said. “We cannot leave it just to the administration to have the megaphone.”
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MN company’s medical devices in demand for coronavirus tests, but supply chain a problem
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and Reps. Angie Craig, Dean Phillips and Collin Peterson have signed onto the All Dependents Count Act bill, which would update the CARES Act to expand the qualifying age of dependents to include college students as old as 24 and all adults with disabilities. Families would receive the $500 bonus for these dependents.
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House Members Challenge GOP Lawmakers to Vote Against Resolution That Affirms Presidents Don’t Have ‘Total Authority”
New Jersey congressman Tom Malinowski joined Minnesota Democrat Dean Phillips and Michigan Independent Justin Amash in filing the House Resolution that affirms the chamber’s members are in agreement “the president remains limited by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
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Rep. Dean Phillips authored a measure to oversee spending under the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package. Trump has pledged to sidestep it.
“I’m disappointed,” Phillips said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. “He sure wasted no time trying to challenge what most of us Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate believe are important accountability mechanisms and oversight of the most massive distribution of tax payer dollars in human history.”
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Minnesota congressional delegation unites for COVID response
Minnesotans in Congress lined up Friday behind the massive, $2.2 trillion stimulus package to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, even as they looked ahead to what else is needed to respond to the unprecedented crisis.’
“It’s probably the most important bill a member of Congress has ever voted on,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democrat who represents the western Twin Cities suburbs.
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The House works from home
As the outbreak threatens to overwhelm the nation, more than 400 House members are working to combat a mammoth crisis almost entirely from their living rooms — sometimes enduring the same daily indignities, like botched conference calls, that millions of other Americans are experiencing while working from home.
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“Peak Congressional Disorganization”: Working to Save the Country, Congress Forgot to Keep Its Own People Safe
“We are the worst-case scenario. We have 535 people, disproportionately older, who almost on a weekly basis fly to 435 districts and 50 states all around every nook and cranny of the country, shaking hands relentlessly, meeting with hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the course of a week,” said Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, whose office shifted to teleworking at the start of last week. “And then we bring it all back to one room where we’re all together.” Add into the mix thousands of Hill staffers, roving crowds of Capitol visitors, and the reality that most congressional offices can be characterized as overcrowded shoeboxes, Phillips told me emphatically, and there is perhaps nothing more “antithetical to best practice than that.”
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Sen. Smith, Rep. Phillips to host coronavirus call-in session tonight
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and 3rd District U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, R-Minn., will host a coronavirus briefing call for the public Monday night, according to Smith’s office. The call comes as more COVID-19 cases pop up in the state.
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How Minnesotans in Congress are responding to the COVID-19 outbreak
“I am on a mission to serve and protect my constituents and all Americans, and will continue to ask critical questions and demand action during the months ahead,” Phillips said in a statement. “We must tackle this threat with a unified, nonpartisan front at home and overseas, and ensure that our public health officials are afforded the resources to protect our nation.”
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Congress livid over lags in coronavirus testing
“We’re just ill prepared and should have been [prepared]. That’s not a political statement, that’s just the truth. That’s what everybody in that room, I think, took away,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said. “I’m horrified by the lack of leadership, I really am.”
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U.S. Capitol to stop all public tours amid coronavirus outbreak
“We’re not practicing what we’re preaching,” said freshman Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who became so frustrated at the sense of normalcy in the Capitol that he sought out House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on the floor earlier on Wednesday to air his concerns.
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No ‘clawback’ change likely for early Minnesota voters
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips introduced legislation to provide more funding for state and local governments that make the switch to ranked-choice voting. Under that system, already used in local elections for some local cities, voters rank multiple candidates on one ballot.
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Rep. Phillips meets with Mike Pence on federal handling of coronavirus
Phillips says Congress must work hand-in-hand with the White House to make sure the correct resources are available to combat COVID-19. “We must tackle this threat with a unified, nonpartisan front at home and overseas, and ensure that our public health officials are afforded the resources to protect our nation,” wrote Phillips.
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Moderate Dems acknowledge country division at ‘rock bottom’ following impeachment, pledge Congress can still work
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday offered themselves up as the “antidote” to a bitterly divided Washington and pledged to continue to pass meaningful legislation after the impeachment saga. Several moderate Democrats who are members of the so-called Problem Solvers Caucus were eager to put their impeachment votes behind them and called for a renewed sense of bipartisanship.
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‘A phenomenal moment’: Minnesota Liberians celebrate their hard-won path to U.S. citizenship
“This is the most joyful place in America tonight,” Rep. Dean Phillips told MinnPost Saturday evening, as seemingly everyone in the entire Brooklyn Park Community Activity Center beamed hard-won smiles over the month-old news that many Liberians who make their home in Minnesota are finally on their way to becoming United States citizens.
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Amendment to clean up Watertown missile site expected to be signed into law
The old Watertown missile site, owned by the Western Area Fire Training Academy (WAFTA), may finally get cleaned up. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, announced in Dec. 17 news release that his amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act passed in the Senate.
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Why Minnesota agricultural interests are lauding the new USMCA trade deal
Several of Minnesota’s representatives in Congress have lauded the final agreement on USMCA. Reps. Angie Craig and Dean Phillips stood behind Pelosi as she announced the finalized deal at a press conference. “The administration forwarded what we considered an improvement over NAFTA. A good trade deal, but imperfect, as many of them are, Phillips told The Morning News on WCCO.
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As impeachment racks Washington, Minnesotans in Congress ready for historic vote
Minnesotans in Congress, much like the rest of America, appeared evenly split Thursday as the House of Representatives prepared to advance articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
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Rep. Dean Phillips trying to repeal cap on state and local tax deductions that particularly hurt his district
The bill introduced a $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that can be deducted in annual tax returns, which has a disproportionate impact on higher-tax states like Minnesota, and in particular hit wealthier areas like Phillips’ district, which covers the western Twin Cities suburbs.
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Game-changing H.R. 3 would stop prescription-drug price gouging
When we began running for Congress, we immediately heard from Minnesotans who were worried about their health care. They were worried about threats to protections for people with pre-existing conditions, about being one illness away from financial ruin, and about skyrocketing prices of their life-saving prescription drugs. The consensus is clear on health care more than any other issue — people in our communities want their elected leaders to reform and protect their care.
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Optimistic Dean Phillips speaks at Brooklyn Park Town Hall
When Dean Phillips announced his candidacy for Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, he promised, if elected, to host frequent town halls in the district. Phillips held his fifth town hall meeting on Nov. 23, 2019, at the Brooklyn Park Technical College.
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Let’s create change—together.
Join the DeanTeam—a diverse, committed team of neighbors who are creating change in communities across Minnesota’s Third District.
Whether you’d like to volunteer at an upcoming campaign event or lend a hand from home, there are always opportunities to make a meaningful difference.