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Op-Eds

Here you can find pieces Erik has authored for various publications.

  • Red Alert Politics: Congress should pass Trade Promotion Authority, ‘make sure that everybody plays by the same rules'

    Part of what makes the United States special is our ability to innovate, to stay on the cutting edge in a world that is constantly changing. By being unafraid to embrace bold, new opportunities, America has solidified its place as a world leader in the global marketplace. However, as the world continues to evolve and change, now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. We must continue to find ways to lead.
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  • WSJ Opinion: Step One in Defanging ObamaCare

    The medical-device tax, a job-killing, growth-stalling mess, is ripe for bipartisan cancellation.
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  • Star Tribune Op-Ed: How many more students have to die?

    Andy Marso was a college kid with a bright future. He left Minnesota to study journalism at the University of Kansas. He was three weeks away from graduating and had a job waiting as a sportswriter for the local paper. Then one day he literally felt a shiver up his spine.
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  • Chanhassen Villager Commentary: Big demand for new charter schools

    Twenty-two years ago, Minnesota began a bold experiment by opening the first charter school in the nation. The growth in public charter schools in the state has added to a public education system that is among the best in the country. Since the founding of our great nation, Americans have worked hard to provide a better future for our children. However, failing schools often present an obstacle that is simply too large to overcome. Parents are left with an impossible choice: trying to pay for unaffordable private schools or keeping their children in a school they know is failing.
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  • Exploiting Our Daughters: Fighting Sex Trafficking

    The stories sound too horrible to be true. One woman tells of the boyfriend she loved forcing her to perform sex acts on strangers to pay for the rent. Another young girl says she was kept in abandoned warehouses and was shipped with dozens of other women in the back of trucks like cattle. News reports detail the story of a teenage girl who had her pimp's initials forcibly tattooed on her eyelids to show that she was his property. Sadly, the personal accounts of sex trafficking are as common as they are horrific.
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  • Remembering President Lincoln's Words

    Congressman Paulsen (MN-03) pens a special Veterans Day message in this week's Chaska Herald
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  • Remembering the meaning of Independence Day

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  • Empowering families and protecting workers

    At one point or another, most of us have faced the dilemma of having to take time off of work to be with our families. Whether you're a working father forced to use limited sick time to care for an elderly relative, or a young mother who must use up p
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  • Politico: Trade pact right for U.S. and EU

    Democrats and Republicans alike want to see strong economic growth and good jobs for Americans, even if at times we may disagree about how best to achieve these objectives.
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  • Medical-device tax needs to go

    An encouraging thing happened last month in the U.S. Senate. An overwhelming number of Republicans and Democrats came together in taking a step toward ending a policy that is having unintended consequences on job creation and innovation.
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  • The Hill: Restoring financial flexibility in healthcare

    Three years to the day after President Obama signed into law his massive healthcare overhaul, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure to repeal two provisions limiting families' freedoms. For a brief moment in Washington, politics took a back sea
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  • Roll Call: Paulsen, Bilbray and Gerlach: Kill the Excise Tax on Medical Devices

    While the Supreme Court debates the 2010 health care law's constitutionality, what is not up for debate is the crippling effect that the medical device excise tax, a provision within the law, will have on patient care, health care affordability and ou
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  • Star Tribune: Device tax, if not stopped, will stifle

    Congress can preempt this burden on medical innovation and jobs.
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  • Remember the sacrifices of veterans

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  • Paulsen and Gerlach: Medical Device Tax Hinders Innovation

    At a time when our greatest priority needs to be creating jobs for our unemployed citizens, the government is on the verge of implementing a new medical device excise tax that will eliminate more than 40,000 well-paying jobs and imperil America's glob
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  • $14.7 Trillion Debt - It's an American Problem

    "A nation that does not control its debt does not control its destiny"
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  • We All Win With Wellness in Workplace

    It's a nonpartisan way to get rising health care costs under control.In these tough economic times, spiraling health care costs continue to bust the budgets of families and businesses alike. If we don't get these rising costs under control, all of us will suffer the consequences.
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  • Pass Free Trade Agreements Now

    Global markets have changed and competition has increased over the last 60 years but the United States remains the world's largest manufacturer and provider of services. In fact, much of our economic growth in recent years can be attributed to robust international trade. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, more than 1 in 5 American jobs depend on international trade.
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  • Why is government closing businesses?

    Imagine owning a successful business you've built from the ground up. Maybe you provide several dozen people with good-paying, full-time jobs or are one of only a few businesses left in a small community. You've likely made difficult decisions just to keep your business afloat and employees on staff during these tough economic times.
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  • Dubious Date for the Feds

    Debt Day is the day during the fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, on which government spending exceeds total revenues. In short, about halfway through the fiscal year, Washington has run out of money.
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  • Washington Must Act on Bonuses

    Public outrage over the AIG bonus payments has reached a crescendo, and rightfully so. Many in Congress, particularly those already concerned about the sweeping government invention into private markets, share that outrage.
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