WaPo: Lacking influence, Bachmann may need to hone new skills to get bridge funds

Despite skillfully using the media in “boosting her personal brand,” Rep. Michele Bachmann has little influence on Capitol Hill, the Washington Post wrote in a profile Sunday. Of the 45 or so measures she’s introduced in her federal career, many are “small in scope and of great interest to conservative ideologues” — and few have gone anywhere. But one project — securing funding to replace the lift bridge over the St. Croix River in her hometown –”will test whether one of the most recognizable elected officials in Washington can fulfill the most basic duty of members of Congress: delivering for the voters in their district.”

Philip Rucker and Paul Kane write that, of Bachmann’s legislative efforts, “all have met with little to no success, except for a handful of symbolic resolutions, such as one commemorating Minnesota’s 150th anniversary of statehood and the one supporting the cause of hydrocephalus awareness.”

The profile notes Bachmann’s fundraising prowess and her savviness with the media, but in looking at the practical side of constituent services, the pair writes that the 6th Congressional District Republican is “unwilling to adopt many of the skills traditionally associated with success in Congress — inside maneuvering, charming committee leaders and trading favors with colleagues.”

Bachmann may need to employ those skills to clear the way for a new Stillwater bridge, which has been a contentious project for decades. The National Parks Service has gone back and forth on approving the plan, most recently rejecting it out of concerns for the “scenic” impacts on the protected waterway, while St. Paul Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum opposes it out of concern for cost during tough economic times. Bachmann has blamed “radical environment groups” for the lack of success on the project.

This time, she expects more success. She’ll testify at a Wednesday Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands hearing about her bridge bill. When she introduced the measure last year, it drew no cosponsors and fizzled in subcommittee. This time around, however, the bridge project is backed by a handful of Republicans as well as Gov. Mark Dayton and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.