Three lawmakers from Minnesota have requested extensions for filing mandated financial disclosure reports. The reports, by Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Chip Cravaack and Sen. Al Franken, will now be due on Aug. 12. It’s the second extension each of the three have requested since the original June deadline.
At a hearing on the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken took issue with the testimony of Tom Minnery, the head of Focus on the Family’s political arm, CitizenLink. After Minnery cited a government study he said showed that the children of married gay and lesbian couples fared worse than married opposite-sex couples, Franken flatly stated that Minnery was wrong and called into question any further testimony from Minnery.
On Tuesday, two groups called on Sen. Amy Klobuchar to sign on as a cosponsor of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) noting that she is the only Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee who has not taken that step.
This spring, House Republicans opposed to rules intended to safeguard the free-flowing egalitarian quality of the internet, voted to strip the Federal Communications Commission of the cash it would need to enforce the rules. On Wednesday, a small band of senators, including Minnesota’s Al Franken, sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) objecting to the House action and asking the committee to strip out the budget amendment that would hold back the FCC funds.
Senators discussed the “human toll and budget consequences” of senior hunger at subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging Tuesday. Arguing for increased funding for the Older Americans Act of 1965, Sen. Al Franken and committee chair Bernie Sanders said that the Older Americans Act saves money. “It allows seniors to stay in their homes, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to stay in their homes,” Franken said. Sen. Rand Paul countered that “only in Washington, D.C., can you spend two billion dollars and claim that you’re saving money.” His solution: Letting charities deal with senior citizens.
As Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s bill to amend U.S. copyright law to make it a felony to stream copyrighted material online heads for a vote on the Senate floor, more attention is being paid. The nonprofit government transparency group MapLight notes that backers of the measure — which includes the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, NBC and CBS, among others — have given more than $85 million to sitting senators in the last six years. And the progressive group Demand Progress is challenging Klobuchar’s assertion that the bill will only target “criminals” hoping to make big money from copyright infringement.
In his keynote speech Saturday morning at the Netroots Nation conference in Minneapolis, Sen. Al Franken noted the growing income disparity between the middle class and the rich, a trend that began in the late-1970s. The Minnesota Independent sat down with Sen. Franken to get some thoughts on that disparity and how the American middle class might once again benefit from economic growth.
A bill introduced last month by Sen. Amy Klobuchar could make it a felony criminal act to stream copyrighted “performances” online without permission. The bill — “To amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes,” or S. 978 — assigns a maximum 5-year prison term for those convicted of streaming “10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period.” Critics call the measure “horrible” and say it could stifle innovation online.
A survey released by Public Policy Polling on Thursday shows that Sen. Amy Klobuchar maintains a formidable lead going into the 2012 election cycle. She maintains a high favorability rating and would best any announced candidates and rumored candidates by large margins, including Minnesota’s presidential duo Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Updated: Don’t mess with Medicare and Social Security: That’s the message that progressive groups are gleaning from a new poll of swing state voters. Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), Democracy for America, MoveOn.org and Credo Action, the survey’s results show overwhelming opposition to cuts in both areas. In fact, in Minnesota, 72 percent of respondents were opposed to Social Security cuts, while a majority of Minnesotans polled said they were less likely to back Sen. Amy Klobuchar next election if she votes to reduce Social Security benefits.
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