Minnesota Independent

Klobuchar to vote for DOMA repeal

By Andy Birkey | 03.24.11 | 11:12 am

Sen. Amy Klobuchar will support a bill that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) when it comes up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on which Klobuchar serves, state Sen. Scott Dibble has indicated. DOMA currently prevents same-sex couples legally married in five states, Washington, D.C., and one tribal nation from receiving the federal benefits of marriage. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder decided in February to halt defense of DOMA citing its probable unconstitutionality.

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Photo: Bachmann for Congress, Facebook

Bachmann cosponsors bill to condemn Obama for DOMA decision

By Andy Birkey | 03.15.11 | 9:34 am

Rep. Michele Bachmann is one of 81 cosponsors of a House resolution that would condemn President Obama for his decision to discontinue the federal government’s defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder reached a conclusion that parts of DOMA were unconstitutional and therefore the federal government could no longer defend the act.

Bachmann calls for Eric Holder’s resignation over Wikileaks

By Andy Birkey | 12.02.10 | 1:00 pm

“The time has come for Eric Holder to step down as Attorney General of the United States,” Rep. Michele Bachmann wrote Thursday, expressing concern over the release of thousands of cables by Wikileaks earlier this week. “As a member of Congress and a mother of five children, I am concerned about the very real threats facing our country.”

Franken urges Obama administration not to appeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal

By Andy Birkey | 10.13.10 | 1:00 pm

Sen. Al Franken is urging Attorney General Eric Holder not to appeal a United States District Court decision on Tuesday that ruled the military’s ban on openly serving gay and lesbian servicemembers unconsitutional. In a letter, signed with 18 other senators, Franken wrote that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “not only weakens our military, but neither is it an effective use of our government resources or taxpayer monies.”

AM.MN: This highway brought to you by the medical industry

By Chris Steller | 10.28.09 | 8:30 am

Businesses have been so effective with Adopt-A-Highway efforts that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expanding the program — to Build-A-Highway. T-Paw’s two examples of public-private road projects involve UnitedHealth and Burrill & Co., suggesting a novel reason to…

Obama won’t prosecute medical marijuana users in states where it’s legal

By Andy Birkey | 10.19.09 | 11:35 am

Although medical marijuana use is still illegal on the federal level, the Obama administration said today that it won’t go after patients or their providers in states where it is legal.

Holder on race: America is ‘a nation of cowards’

By Chris Steller | 02.18.09 | 2:03 pm

“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” said Attorney General Eric Holder today in…

Weekend warriors: Pawlenty jets to Munich, Klobuchar stays back, Franken stumps for Rybak

By Chris Steller | 02.09.09 | 8:50 am

No, it wasn’t the Grammys, but for public figures like Gov. Tim Pawlenty hard at work building up political prestige, going to Munich for a big international security conference beat partying in Los Angeles with Coldplay and Li’l Wayne.
Still, from…

Klobuchar on board for Holder, not yet with Feinstein on waterboarding?

By Chris Steller | 01.28.09 | 10:17 am

Sen. Amy Klobuchar will support Eric Holder’s appointment as attorney general today. Now peace activists want to know whether she’ll also support a bill to restrict torture. Meanwhile, the House is set to vote today on its version of Klobuchar’s bill to delay the national conversion to HDTV.

Klobuchar, Holder talk U.S. attorney process but not names ’til he’s confirmed

By Chris Steller | 01.15.09 | 5:55 pm

Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has talked to Eric Holder, President-elect Obama’s pick for attorney general, about the process for naming a U.S. attorney for Minnesota. As Minnesota’s only senator (pending former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s court challenge of…