Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

Speech to the Minnesota Pipe Trades on Jobs

Thank you for allowing me to speak to you for a few minutes.  It has been a great pleasure to work with your groups and particularly Carl Crimmins and Tom Hansen before he retired on issues at the capitol.

During his 1960 campaign, John Kennedy spoke here in Minnesota and he defined the challenge facing the country this way:

The reason Minnesota has suffered recent recessions is because the economy has not been moving.  Other countries have outproduced us economically, not because they have more capacity, but because they are using their capacity to the fullest.  We have not used our economic capacity or the capacity of our citizens in an imaginative way.  This country – and I would say this state – cannot possibly maintain itself unless it moves here at home, unless we maintain full employment and we meet our responsibilities to our own citizens.”

Kennedy was right.  The key to our success; the key to our prosperity is making sure we use all our resources and every Minnesotan to his or her fullest capacity.

Minnesotans want to work; they value labor and skill. My family has been in the state since the 1860s working as farmers and laborers and teachers and railroadmen.  Minnesotans are all about hard work.

We need to create a state where hard work and high skill can be put to good use. Read Full Entry…

Introductory Remarks at Jewish Community Center Forum on Health Care

Thank you for inviting me to participate in this forum and for your willingness to come out and listen and discuss health care in Minnesota.

I firmly believe that how we handle the challenge of health care (along with the issue of energy and climate change) will be the defining domestic issue of our time.

Getting it right is an economic imperative and a political imperative.  But I am pleased at the context in which tonight’s discussion is taking place, because getting health care right is above all a moral imperative.

Just as past generations in this country have worked for and made progress toward economic security and racial equity and justice, in our time we must move forward toward health care for all.

We often frame that discussion as a matter of “universal coverage” and focus on the fact of how many among us remain uninsured.

And that is important; indeed, it could be a matter of life or death.  According to an analysis by Families USA, three working age Minnesotans die each week due to lack of health insurance.  This is a problem we have to solve. Read Full Entry…

Speech to Minnesota Council on Disabilities

Thanks for the invitation and opportunity to speak with you.  I know many of you and look forward to working with more of you.

This is an exciting time for me and for the state.  It is one of those rare moments when we can seriously consider the many opportunities we have to move good public policy forward in the state, before other realities sink in.

Let me make sure to state as well that I and our DFL caucus – both leadership and members – takes the responsibility of governing very seriously.  We understand the need to move beyond political expedience to real results.

I will also say that we cannot achieve that without your input and the input of other Minnesotans from across the state.  We often discussed during the campaign the role of the legislature in engaging Minnesotans in real and productive conversations about our state and it people and its future.  Not everything will lead to new laws.  But it has been too long since we have had those broader conversations and the time is right to do so.

Our doors will be open to new ideas, to concerns and to constructive criticism. Read Full Entry…

Speech on Children’s Health

Our goal in gathering here today is simple:  we want to ensure that all children in Minnesota get the health care they need from a system that is efficient, effective and fair.

And I cannot imagine there is a single person in the state who would disagree with the merits of that goal.  There are so many reasons to do so:

1.    Healthier kids and Healthier Families

There is no question that being able to see a doctor and visit a dentist when needed makes you healthier.  We could cite study after study that shows that – although we shouldn’t need to since it is just plain common sense. Preventive care, immunizations, well-child visits – these are the best tools we have in our effort to rein in escalating health care costs. Beyond the immediate benefits to kids, however, access to affordable quality health care makes for a healthier, happier family life.  Imagine the incredible stress fathers and mothers feel when forced to choose between taking their daughter to the doctor or buying their son medicine and paying the utility bills or going deeper into high-interest debt.  Yet that is the choice faced by thousands of families across Minnesota.  It should not and does not have to be that way. Read Full Entry…

Speech on AIDS Action Day

Thank you for coming today. Your presence here at your Capitol and continued advocacy and engagement is more important than you know.

The promise of our country – that every person’s voice is important and worthy – is only achievable if people in fact do show up, stand up and speak out. Thanks for doing your part to bring reason, reality and honesty to the public discussion of HIV and AIDS.

There is much to be done. People need accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases. We must ensure all people have access to high quality health care. But I want to talk specifically today about the HIV prevention and health care access bill.

I am proud to be carrying this legislation in the House of Representatives and to play a small part in moving the discussion of effective HIV treatment forward. It is not everyday a person gets to work on such a smart and compassionate piece of legislation.

The idea of the bill is simple: to make investments that ensure that every person living with HIV or AIDS has access to the most effective and most current treatment available. We are living in a different era. People with HIV and AIDS are living longer. That happy fact should not be turned on its head and made a justification for refusing to make needed community investments to ensure all people have access to effective treatment. Read Full Entry…