It's the holiday season, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with friends and family. When we reach December, my thoughts always go to the soldiers serving around the world who aren’t able to spend Christmas and New Year's Day with their families. I spent some time this week writing notes to our troops stationed overseas that will be delivered by Red Cross volunteers. It's not much, but hopefully the words of encouragement and support will remind our brave military members we appreciate their service.

Recently, I've worked on making it easier for service members to be reunited with the military working dogs they serve alongside. Here’s the good news: the President just signed my bill into law as part of this year's defense authorization. Now, the military will be required to retire these dogs in the United States, bringing them home after their service is completed. With 1,200 families on a waiting list to adopt these dogs, this was the right decision for the canines, our troops, and our veterans.

On another note, I attended the opening of the new Highway 101 Minnesota River crossing. No longer will this road close because of annual river flooding -- and four lanes of traffic will move vehicles more efficiently. Hopefully, we will see more projects like this in the future after Congress finally passed a new highway transportation bill for roads and bridges. This five year funding bill is the first long-term infrastructure initiative passed in a decade and it happened with broad, bipartisan support.

Have a great week and if I can be of help to you or your family, please give my office a call. Join the conversation online by visiting my website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and please watch my latest Erik's Correspondence Corner video.

Returning Local Control for Education

I supported, and the House passed, the Every Student Succeeds Act with a big, bipartisan vote this week to repeal and replace the No Child Left Behind law, which has been the standard for education since 2002. While the goals of No Child Left Behind were well intentioned, the federal mandates and one-size-fits-all approach were unpopular with teachers, principals, local school boards, and states. As the husband of a teacher and father to four girls in the Eden Prairie school system, I've always believed that the best education is achieved when local parents, teachers and school boards are making the decisions. 

Protecting Access to Medical Technology

An alarming trend has emerged at the agency that oversees Medicare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are repeatedly making decisions to limit access to important medical technology. Some of the troubling proposals by CMS that I have worked to stop include limiting patient access to lower limb prosthetics, as well as preventing ALS patients from getting speech-generating devices. I’m leading the effort to ensure patients are able to access innovative treatments and devices. Fortunately, we’ve been able to reach positive conclusions on those issues with the passage of the Steve Gleason Act and CMS's decision to not implement their proposed prosthetics rule. I'm proud of the work I led in Congress that helped lead to those outcomes.

However, in the last month, we've had two more troubling proposals. The first would limit patients ability to have Medicare cover the use of pneumatic compression pumps for a condition called lymphedema. You can read more about this in a recent Star Tribune article. Now, similar proposals are being made in regards to Complex Rehab Technology like wheelchairs that are individually tailored. I spoke on the house floor about the need to chart a different course when it comes to medical technology.

National Adoption Month 

November was National Adoption Month when we recognized the role that adoption has played for countless American families. The research is clear when it comes to what it means for a child's future when they are raised in a home where they are loved and adoption makes this possible for thousands of children. The same also goes for our foster care system and the need to make sure that the system is working for our youth. This is something I’ve gotten more involved in as I've worked to combat sex trafficking. That’s because human traffickers often prey on young children that come from foster care or broken homes. I wrote a column about some of this work to protect vulnerable youth and why it's worth mentioning as part of National Adoption Month.

Congressman Paulsen signing Christmas card notes for American troops stationed overseas.

Erik listening to constituents on his recent telephone town hall meeting.

Hockey fans might recognize Jim Craig, the 1980 Miracle on Ice U.S. Olympic goalie who met with Erik to talk about medical technology.

###