I hope everyone's fall is off to a good start. One highlight of the week was participating with the rest of the Minnesota congressional delegation in a social media campaign to raise awareness for the 2016 Medal of Honor Convention being held in the Twin Cities next week. We are honored to host these heroes and recognize them for their tremendous bravery and compassion. Please join me in welcoming these Medal of Honor recipients and showing our gratitude for their sacrifices. If you're interested in learning more, please visit www.mohtwincities.com.

As always, please let me know whenever I can be of assistance to you or your family. Join the conversation online by visiting my website, Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram, and please watch the latest Erik's Correspondence Corner video.

Innovation and Employee Ownership

Startup companies are the birthplace of innovation and the next "big idea," and it's important to ensure that this vital part of our present and future economy attracts a talented workforce. A bill I authored, the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act, will help startup companies and the good news is that it just passed the House with good bipartisan support. You can watch some of the debate on the House floor here.

The initiative encourages innovation and enhances employee ownership by giving startup employees the ability to take advantage of stock options as part of their compensation. Currently, many rank-and-file startup employees are burdened by an immediate tax liability that they can't afford. They end up missing out on a significant financial opportunity, because they don’t have the cash needed to pay the tax bill that comes with exercising their stock options.

By giving employees the flexibility to defer their taxes and own a piece of the company we can encourage economic growth in innovative new industries for top talented inventors and entrepreneurs. And, promoting employee ownership at these cutting-edge companies with a commonsense fix to our tax code will keep America on the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship.

I recently wrote an opinion article with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy about the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act in the San Jose Mercury News, which can be found here.

Honoring Our Firefighters

Last weekend, I spoke at the Minnesota Fallen Firefighter Memorial Service at the State Capitol with the Governor and members of the firefighter community. It's an annual event that takes place the last Sunday in September to honor and remember the more than 200 firefighters who have perished in the line of duty, the latest just a year ago in 2015. It was humbling to participate in such a powerful and meaningful event.

I recently authored a new law to ensure that survivor benefits for family members of fallen public safety officers are not subject to federal taxes.

Combating Opioid Abuse