I’d like to kick off this week’s update by thanking the nearly 1,000 job seekers who joined me last week for my 4^th annual job fair at Normandale College. It was an incredible success for both job seekers and the 60+ employers who attended. Also, thanks to those who attended my Congress on Your Corner event in Chaska on Monday to share your thoughts and input on the issues of the day.  I also had a great telephone town hall meeting with over 9,000 of my constituents this week - thank you!

As always, please feel free to contact me if I can assist you or your family in any way. Join the conversation online by visiting my website, Facebook page, Twitter, and don’t forget to watch my weekly video, Erik’s Correspondence Corner.

Congress Votes to Get Critical FAA Employees Off The Sideline

You may have seen stories in the news this week about flight delays at our nation’s airports. The disruption was caused by the FAA's handling of the budget sequester, which reduced the agency's budget by 4%. FAA management made the decision to convert this 4% budget cut into a 10% air-traffic control cut by furloughing air traffic controllers that would delay 40% of flights. In fact, the furloughs of critical personnel were completely unnecessary. So on Friday Congress acted with a strong bipartisan vote to give broader flexibility to the FAA to use their so-called "unobligated funds", including $253 million in unspent airport grants, for air control instead. This ensures critical air traffic controllers are back on the job.

Celebrating National Park Week

This past week was National Park Week -- celebrating the fact that our National Parks are truly one of America’s greatest natural resources, bringing nearly 279 million people to camp, hike, fish, and explore each year. Minnesota is home to several national parks and monuments, which saw more than 600,000 visitors last year.

In just a few years, our national parks will celebrate their 100^th birthday.  As part of this centennial celebration, I'm authoring legislation, H.R. 627, to allow the U.S. Mint to issue a National Park commemorative coin for collectors, with all of the proceeds going to help the National Park Foundation and support our national parks. The bill has no cost to taxpayers, has strong bipartisan support, and is one more way to provide additional resources to help our national parks.

Protecting and preserving these beautiful spaces – our national parks, monuments, and Civil War Battlefields – for future generations is important.  Over the years, my family and I have enjoyed camping and hiking in parks across the country, creating special memories. Check out some of my old family photos below.

Paulsen Pics