Minnesota’s congressional delegation, as well as its likely presidential candidates, responded to last night’s news that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed in an American surgical raid near Islamabad. Reactions ranged from thanks to the military and calls for continued vigilance against the terrorist threat to rare kudos for President Obama from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
A bill to continue a defunct school voucher program in Washington, D.C., passed the U.S. House on Wednesday afternoon by a largely party-line vote. Reps. Michele Bachmann, Chip Cravaack, John Kline and Erik Paulsen voted for the measure while Reps. Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz voted against the bill. The controversial program has been criticized as ineffective and essentially a tool to funnel taxpayer money to religious schools. President Obama stated on Tuesday that he opposes the measure.
Several members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation were quick to respond to President Obama’s Monday night speech on military action in Libya. Rep. John Kline called for more clarity while Rep. Betty McCollum said the Libyan people must remove Qaddafi. Rep. Michele Bachmann, always prepared to throw verbal bombs at the president, said that “President Obama is taking sides with Palestine over Israel” by supporting NATO action in Libya.
Rep. Betty McCollum and Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have given measured support for the United States’ military operations in Libya as a part of an international coalition of force in the region. McCollum wants congressional oversight before more operations commence while Franken is concerned about the costs. The rest of the delegation, some of whom were critical of perceived inaction by President Obama, have largely remained silent on Libya.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is one of only two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who have not signed on to a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and that committee is only two votes away from passing the bill out of committee. Klobuchar and Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl are seen as the two key votes on the committee and both have said they haven’t decided which way they will vote when the bill is taken up in the coming weeks.
Reps. Michele Bachmann, Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum voted against a resolution on Tuesday that would continue federal spending for the next three weeks and avoid a government shutdown. The resolution passed with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Bachmann opposed the bill because it did not defund health care reform while McCollum and Ellison have opposed it because of defense spending they view as wasteful.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting Rep. Michele Bachmann following a vote to defund the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Though the Democrats are targeting Bachmann, her Democratic colleagues, Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson, joined the Republicans on the vote Thursday. Bachmann and Rep. Chip Cravaack both represent districts with a high rate of foreclosures.
Billionaire newspaper publisher and right-wing philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife came out Sunday strongly in opposition to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has been among the most vocal proponents of the effort.
“Dumb.” That’s how Rep. Betty McCollum characterized proposed cuts to federal family planning funding and a Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood. At a St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic Thursday, she also noted that Republicans refused to cut Pentagon funding for NASCAR, but remain adamant about cuts she says could have devastating effects for Minnesota women and children.
Seeking to stop the Pentagon from using taxpayer funds to sponsor NASCAR — and earning a death threat along the way — Rep. Betty McCollum sponsored an amendment to ban such funding. By a House vote of 148 to 281, that measure failed on Friday afternoon.
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