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As an advocate, community leader and state legislator, Tarryl Clark has always focused on the issues most important to Minnesota families: creating jobs, getting the most of our tax dollars, ensuring opportunity for our children and families and supporting our veterans and military families.
In the State Senate, Tarryl works with colleagues from both parties to get results. She reduced costly mandates for local schools and local government, blocked tax increases on small businesses, fought for fair benefits for veterans and military families and cut her own legislative pay. She will take that same determination and work ethic to Congress to bring common sense solutions to the challenges facing Minnesota’s 6th District.
Jobs
Our top priority must be getting people back to work.
Prior to joining the Senate, Tarryl faced the same challenges in her career that thousands of Minnesota’s businesses face every day: how to make payroll, how to afford the rising costs of health insurance, how to stay on budget.
As a State Senator, Tarryl worked to grow jobs and support small businesses. She blocked a major tax increase on small businesses, and started grants for entrepreneurs, small business development and worker training to create economic development.
She brought together industry and Labor to create vertical construction and transportation jobs. She authored and passed a bill to stimulate jobs through workforce development, and authored the Central Minnesota bioscience initiative to bring high-paying life sciences jobs to the 6th District.
As a member of the Senate’s Higher Education Committee, Tarryl has worked closely with our state’s colleges and universities to invest in the opportunities of tomorrow, investing in science and technology and training facilities. She brought together higher education institutions, workforce development and training to better leverage resources, reduce hassle for business and students, and better prepare students for the future.
While Michele Bachmann has refused to work with local governments and businesses to advance projects and secure federal funding, Tarryl has partnered with them to help create critical jobs and opportunities, such as the Northstar commuter line and road and bridge improvements, and will continue to do so as their representative in Congress.
And she’s worked to create opportunity for new industries, such as bioscience and homegrown energy, that will bring new jobs to our state.
In Congress, Tarryl will make creating jobs in the District Job #1 by promoting clean energy jobs and investments in infrastructure like the Northstar line and I-94.
Standing Up for Families
Minnesota’s families are struggling. From staying in their homes, to affording the rising costs of everything from transportation to higher education – family budgets are stretched to their limits.
In the State Senate, Tarryl put money back in the pockets of middle-class taxpayers, authoring legislation to increase homeowners’ maximum allowable property tax refund.
She’s worked to help families afford the rising costs of college, authoring a bill to ensure federal funds were used to reduce tuition through the State Grant Program.
Tarryl helped families stay in their homes through her work on the Minnesota Subprime Borrower Relief Act. She updated our state’s “cold weather rule,” protecting utility customers who have trouble making heating payments from being disconnected when temperatures drop below freezing.
And she’s worked bi-partisanly to expand health care coverage for Minnesotans, make health care more affordable for both families and businesses, and ensure care focuses on quality and healthy outcomes instead of procedures.
Minnesota’s families can count on Tarryl Clark to continue her strong track record of advocacy, and to work every day to relieve the pressure on family budgets.
Protecting Taxpayers
Tarryl has been a leader in demanding accountability and transparency in state government, and getting the most for taxpayers out of every tax dollar.
With Minnesota facing serious budget difficulties, Tarryl cut her own office budget and per diem pay. She has authored legislation to cut local government costs by consolidating services and creating new, more efficient practices.
Tarryl also cut through red tape, reducing mandates on local schools and freeing up more than $300 per student back into local classrooms.
In Congress, Tarryl will continue to demand accountability and fiscal responsibility in government, including seeking a requirement that policies and programs receiving federal dollars be required to show results -- and to end those that cannot. Reducing our federal deficit is key to ensuring a strong economy in the future, and adhering to pay-as-you-go policies is a first step to bringing our budget back into balance.
Health Care
Across Minnesota, families and businesses are struggling with the rising costs of health care. Increasingly, the costs of care are driving both the family budget and the business bottom line. Meanwhile, far too many are battling insurance companies who deny claims and raise costs, all while posting record profits.
Tarryl knows these struggles first-hand. As a young couple just starting out in their careers, Tarryl and Doug did not have family health coverage through their employers, up through the first through months after their son, Colin, was born. They struggled to pay the costs of doctor visits, hospital stays, and routine tests - the hospital even made them pre-pay for Colin's birth. During that time, they lived in fear of unexpected illness or injury, knowing any medical development could have spiraled them into massive debt.
Her experiences are just one reason Tarryl has dedicated her career to public service, and fought for affordable, accessible health care. No one should have to worry about how to afford basic care for themselves or provide it for their loved ones.
As an attorney at the Senior Law Project, Tarryl worked with senior citizens who struggled to get Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers to cover the care and prescription drugs they needed, to get the resources they needed to stay in their own homes or to get proper care in a nursing home. As the head of a small business, she's faced the same challenges as Minnesota business owners who work to provide health care to employees while meeting the bottom line. As the Executive Director of a state association, she worked with organizations across the state to contain health care costs and increase access for the uninsured.
As an advocate and as a State Senator, Tarryl is already a proven leader. She's worked closely with her local businesses and her constituents to stand up for their needs - when Central Minnesota nursing homes were getting the short-shrift, she stood up to ensure quality care and fair reimbursement rates. She's working to reduce costs and increase access to health care for all Minnesotans. She has worked to reform health care payments and increase transparency to ensure we are paying for good care - not unnecessary procedures. She has been a champion of Cover All Kids to ensure all kids have access to quality health care and worked to maintain basic health care for our most vulnerable citizens. She's worked directly with seniors to ensure they are getting the care they need and the benefits they deserve. And she's taken on the insurance companies to ensure that they are giving consumers what they pay for.
Minnesota's businesses and families need a proven ally in Congress, who will fight to ensure health care is focused on patients, not profits or bureaucracy. Tarryl supports addressing our health care challenges with a combination of public and private solutions, just as we have done in Minnesota. In Congress, Tarryl will put families before insurance companies - leading the charge to reduce costs and focus on healthy outcomes instead of quantity of procedures. She will fight for fair insurance practices - including ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. She'll champion the needs of small business, so they can provide health care without being buried in costs, and focus on creating jobs. She'll work to ensure quality care for all children. And, in the home state of the world's medical leaders, Tarryl will be a champion for investment in health care research and innovation in order to improve wellness and create new, high paying jobs in our communities. She'll continue to push for high-quality, low-cost care for our seniors, like we've successfully done in Minnesota. Tarryl will continue to fight so that Minnesota is rewarded - not punished - for our leadership on health care, including Medicare reimbursement rates that recognize successful and more cost-effective treatments.
In Congress, Tarryl Clark will continue her record of standing up for our health care consumers, taking on the insurance companies, and fighting for affordable, accessible health care for all.
Investing in Our Children
Tarryl is committed to our schools, and knows a good education from early childhood through college is key to our global competitiveness. She’s leading the charge to reduce the achievement gap, to ensure all children can read by the 3rd grade. She’s working to stabilize funding and reduce mandates and allow more local control. She’s devoted her career to advancing early childhood education, working to expand Head Start and school readiness and, in the Senate, creating scholarships to ensure parents are able to choose quality early childhood opportunities.
It’s no secret that Washington has made some big mistakes when it comes to school funding and policies. As a member of Congress, Tarryl will work to make sure Washington concentrates on the “what” and not the “how,” giving schools and districts the flexibility they need to succeed. Its time for Washington to live up to its education funding promises and stop passing the buck down to property taxpayers.
Fighting for Veterans and Military Families
Tarryl grew up in a military family - her father and two of her three brothers served in the Navy. She understands firsthand the sacrifice that veterans and their families have made for this country, and, in Congress, she will continue her work to ensure our veterans and military families receive the support and benefits they deserve.
Currently, Tarryl serves as co-chair of the statewide Warrior to Citizen campaign – an effort by business, communities and individuals to come together and reintegrate our returning soldiers. In the Minnesota Senate, Tarryl co-authored legislation to provide leaves of absence for the families of service members seriously injured or killed. She led efforts to provide for returning service members, authoring legislation to expand the GI Bill and provide counseling services for returning soldiers. She also authored legislation to allow veterans to declare their veterans status on their driver’s license or state-issued ID.
Advocating for Seniors
Tarryl has spent her career as an advocate for seniors.
As an attorney with the Senior Law Project, Tarryl helped many seniors with their health care needs, and worked with them to stay as independent as possible.
While heading the Community Action Partnership, Tarryl worked with community organizations to offer seniors vital services like Meals on Wheels, in-home services, energy assistance, and housing.
In the Senate, Tarryl fought to keep property taxes down for seniors on fixed incomes, and for affordable health care options so they could choose to stay in their own homes. She authored legislation with AARP to provide protections in reverse mortgages and to ensure that utility bills have reasonable payment plans so seniors can afford to keep the heat on, even during the coldest Minnesota winter.
Tarryl has been a champion for quality care for our seniors. In the State Senate, she stood up to ensure Central Minnesota nursing homes received fair and equitable reimbursements from the state in order to continue to provide quality care. She partnered with our Federal delegation to fight unfair treatment for Minnesotans on Medicare. As a Member of Congress, Tarryl will continue to work to protect Medicare, and ensure our seniors have access to high-quality care.
As our advocate in Congress, Tarryl will always work to ensure our seniors can retire with dignity.
Protecting consumers
In the State Senate, Tarryl Clark has been an unwavering advocate for Minnesota consumers.
She took on the insurance companies to ensure homeowners were getting what they paid for from their policies; and when the big insurance companies spent more than one million dollars to defeat her legislation, she didn’t back down.
She took on the banks and fought to keep Minnesotans in their homes, working on the Minnesota Subprime Borrower Relief Act and giving homeowners the tools to fairly examine reverse mortgages.
She worked to ban toxic substances like BPA from children’s products. And, in response to a constituent, she fought to enact Justin’s Law to tighten online prescription distribution.
And Tarryl worked with state employees to identify more than $357 million in savings from within the state budget, including millions in outside contracting and bloated management.
That’s the leadership Tarryl Clark will bring to Congress: demanding fiscal accountability, responsibility, and transparency in government and serving as a watchdog for consumers and their money.
Transportation
Improving transportation creates jobs, keeps our families safe, builds our communities and creates opportunities for business.
In the State Senate, Tarryl is a strong leader on transportation, and helped lead a bi-partisan coalition to build the Northstar Commuter Rail. She has worked to ensure safe roads and bridges, including securing state funds to replace the DeSoto Bridge in St. Cloud after it was found to have the same structural flaws as the collapsed I-35W bridge. Tarryl’s leadership on this issue at the state level was especially critical, as Congresswoman Bachmann didn’t seek federal funds for this critical project.
Throughout her time in the Senate, Tarryl has fought to ensure Central Minnesota received its fair share of transportation dollars, and in Congress, she’ll do the same for Minnesota’s 6th District. Tarryl will work to expand transportation opportunities across the 6th District – from the I-94 corridor to completing Northstar all the way to St. Cloud. And she’ll continue to work closely with Chairman Jim Oberstar to ensure Minnesota’s transportation needs are met.