As the lockout of 1,300 workers drags on, Franken warns it could erode congressional support that’s helped protect the booming sugar beet industry.
President Obama will return to Minnesota at the end of August to address the national meeting of the American Legion. Obama was in Minnesota on Monday as a part of his jobs tour. Also speaking at the American Legion meeting will be Michele Bachmann, considered in the top tier of Republican presidential candidates vying to defeat Obama.
Long a holdout in signing on to back the Respect for Marriage Act, Sen. Amy Klobuchar indicated this week she’ll sponsor the bill, which would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Klobuchar is the last Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to back the measure after Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin expressed his support in April.
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.
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.
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.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Keith Ellison toured parts of North Minneapolis and Fridley on Monday following a tornado that ripped through the area leaving two dead and two dozen injured. Minnesota’s elected officials have offered their support in the wake of the disaster, and community organizations have outlined ways that Minnesotans can help those affected.
Sen. Al Franken and the White House both issued statements on Monday regarding a proposed anti–gay marriage amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. Obama’s message was lukewarm; he said leaving the issue to the states was the best idea, while Franken said the amendment would write discrimination into the Minnesota Constitution.
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