Rep. Betty McCollum

Rep. Betty McCollum is spearheading an effort to get nonprofit employees included in the health reform benefits being planned for small businesses. She has penned a letter to congressional leaders urging them to consider nonprofits on a level playing field with small businesses.

A letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer reads, “Nearly all nonprofit organizations are struggling to provide health insurance coverage for their employees. These mainly small employers experience the same higher costs and limited options as their for-profit, small business counterparts.”

The letter has been signed by 22 House members including Minnesota Reps. James Oberstar, Keith Ellison and Tim Walz.

Minnesota’s nonprofits employ nearly 300,000 people, or about 10 percent of Minnesota’s workforce.

Current health care reform plans include tax breaks, subsidies and access to a health insurance exchange for small businesses. If McCollum is successful, those benefits will be extended to nonprofits.

“The millions of Americans who work in the nonprofit sector must be included in health care reform,” McCollum said in a statement. “It’s only fair that nonprofit organizations receive comparable treatment to the small business sector in health care reform legislation. I am encouraged that so many of my colleagues from across the country have joined me in this effort to ensure the benefits of health care reform reach the men and women working for nonprofit organizations.”

Image: iStockphoto

Third-quarter campaign finance reports seem to show a trend: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose cable-TV and townhall tour has had her rattling off now-infamous claims about “anti-American views” and wrist-slitting to oppose health care reform, is raking in the dough today, thanks to a new fundraising appeal that calls supporters “patriots,” opponents money-grubbers, and the Obama administration “Gangster Government.” Her third-quarter take of $345,000 doesn’t include the $121,000 raised since Wednesday.

But Bachmann’s not the only case. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who screamed “You lie!” at the president during a joint session of Congress, raised $2.7 million in the third quarter — a million more than his opponent, Iraq war veteran Rob Miller, raised.

On the other side of the aisle, Florida’s Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson has seen a fundraising surge after his bold statements in favor of health care reform, although, as Mediaite puts it, his words were “a far cry” from Wilson’s decorum-busting outburst. The day after presenting his summary of the GOP plan for health care reform — Don’t get sick! And if you do get sick, die quickly! — he received $114,000 in donations, including $1,000 apiece from the campaigns of Minnesota Democratic Reps. Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar.

MnIndy file photo

Of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, only ten have missed more votes this session than Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, according to the Washington Post’s tally. Bachmann has missed 105 votes, or 13.6 percent of all votes. Fellow Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen had the state’s best record, missing only six votes in the 111th Congress, just one less than Rep. Tim Walz missed.

While California Democrat Rep. Hilda Solis had the highest rate of missed votes — she missed 59 of 78 possibles votes — the number of missed votes by party is roughly the same: Democrats missed 3.5 percent of votes, while Republicans missed 3.3 percent.

Another Minnesotan high on the list: At number 23, Rep. Keith Ellison missed ten percent of the votes, casting 695 and missing 78. Here’s how others in Minnesota’s delegation fared:

Rep. Betty McCollum: 16 missed (2.1 percent of all votes), 757 cast

Rep. Collin Peterson: 25 missed (1.9), 758 cast

Rep. Jon Kline: 12 missed (1.6), 761 cast

Rep. James Oberstar: 10 missed (1.3), 763 cast

Rep. Tim Walz: 7 missed (1.3), 766 cast

Rep. Erik Paulsen: 6 missed (0.8), 767 cast

As we reported in July, Bachmann and Ellison’s voting records were affected by personal obligations. Both missed time during the week of June 18, which had a record number of votes: Bachmann was spending time with family after a relative’s death, and Ellison was attending his son’s graduation from his Americorps program.

Via Dusty Trice.

Minnesota Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum were the only two members of the state’s delegation voting against the measure. Reps. Tim Walz, James Oberstar, Michele Bachmann, John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Collin Peterson all supported the measure, which was attached to the student loans bill.

Photos: bachmann.house.gov, oberstar.org

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s talk of stopping health care reform by fasting, praying and wrist-slitting has prompted not only lefty pundits but a top Democratic colleague to question what’s going on between her ears. Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, remarked Tuesday: “I don’t think God’s talking to her anymore. I think she’s hearing other voices.”

Bachmann said in 2006 that she was running for Congress on God’s recommendation (video), and last month said she would run for president if she “felt that’s what the Lord was calling me to do.”

It wasn’t a one-off gag line for Oberstar, who earlier called Bachmann “a sweet woman” but had this advice for elderly health care reform advocates in Duluth who were planning to visit her: ”Tell her that there are voices other than God that are informing her.” [Via Tom Elko]

It wasn’t immediately clear whether one of those voices is that of Rep. Ron Paul, who has Bachmann’s ear on financial policy and will appear with her at a town hall in her district this month.

Oberstar’s comments are of the sort more commonly heard from cable TV yakkers like Ed Schultz, whose show featured her “psycho talk” two days in a row, and Dan Savage, who linked God-inspired politics to hate rhetoric of the worst sort:

When you have a party that claims to speak for God or says God is on its side, the rhetoric heats up and the anger heats up, because it’s not just a battle about ideas and positions and what’s good for the country and bad for the country. It’s a battle about what God wants and what God doesn’t want. And it’s easier to demagogue about your enemies and to despise them and to dehumanize them in this really personal and vicious way. And the religious right is fomenting this kind of hatred in this country at our peril. I really do think that the Michele Bachmanns of the world and the Glenn Becks of the world are actively and consciously, or subconsciously, trying to get — I’m just going to say it — trying to get the president killed. This kind of rhetoric — this paranoid style on the religious right, from Birchers to birthers — doesn’t usually end well. And somebody’s got to put the brakes on it. Unfortunately in the Republican Party, there’s no adults left in the room. There are only the Michele Bachmanns and the Glenn Becks and the Rush Limbaughs running the show.

Here’s MSNBC video of Savage (via City Pages) and Schultz (via our sister site the Colorado Independent):

Photo: WDCpix

Minnesota’s members of the House of Representatives are back in their home districts gauging how constituents feel about federal issues. That feedback will also include town hall meetings for a number of Congress members including Reps. Tim Walz, Collin Peterson and Michele Bachmann. Will Minnesota’s town halls get as rowdy as ones around the nation? Time will tell. Here’s what Minnesota’s Congressional delegation was up to this week.

Rep. Tim Walz toured the new Veterans Administration Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Rochester on Monday. “This is one small part of paying back a debt that can never be paid to our veterans,” he said.

Walz hosted a kitchen-table listening session on Wednesday with constituents who have experienced severe hardships under the current health care system. “To kill health care reform is to condemn more people to the stories we just heard,” he told the media following the meeting.

Also on Wednesday, Walz joined Sen. Al Franken for a tour of St. Cloud’s VA Medical Center and held a private meeting with VA officials.

Walz has planned a two-hour town hall meeting for Thursday, Aug. 20, at Mankato East High School. Doors will open at 5:30 pm.

Rep. John Kline has been railing against No Child Left Behind in the wake of school performance numbers being released this week. “While its overall goal of ensuring children are not systematically left behind in our nation’s schools is right on target, the heavy-handed involvement of the federal government in administering the program has tied the hands of local schools and districts and prevented them from making the targeted decisions necessary to address their specific challenges,” said Kline.

Kline does not have a town hall meeting scheduled but has told the media that he is meeting with chambers of commerce and will host an education roundtable. He is also planning a telephone town hall meeting.

Rep. Erik Paulsen will be hosting a telephone town hall meeting and a get-together with various interest groups in the district.

Rep. Betty McCollum held a health care town hall in July. The Strib reports that she’s considering hosting another.

Rep. Keith Ellison, on a tour of Africa, is talking with leaders, activists and non-governmental organizations about genocide, HIV, malaria, poverty, violence against women and a host of other issues impacting the continent. On Twitter Thursday, he said he couldn’t wait to get home. “Niarobi: Mpls next. Praises! Not that I don’t love Africa. Khartoum, Darfur, Juba, Niarobi, Kisumu, Dadaab, but there’s no place like home.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann will hold a health care town hall meeting on the 27th, but details are still in the works.

Rep. Collin Peterson has scheduled a series of town hall meetings — three so far. On is on Friday in Willmar at 2 p.m. at the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services Building. The other is Monday in Bemidji.

Rep. James Oberstar chastised states this week that have been slow in implementing their stimulus projects. “Unfortunately, a few states have fallen far behind in putting their Recovery Act highway formula funds to work. Florida has been the slowest state in utilizing its funding allocation, while Hawaii and South Carolina rank 50th and 49th respectively.”

Officials in Florida have shot back saying their projects are more complicated.

Oberstar will be touring transportation projects around the state funded by the stimulus package.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar was in New Hampshire on Monday to promote tourism. Klobuchar also addressed the growing problem of cell phones in prisons. “Inmates should not be allowed to continue to commit crimes once they are locked up. We need to stop prisoners from using smuggled cell phones to continue their illegal activities.”

Klobuchar has also been working on a 20-year-old murder case involving a Minnesota woman who was killed in New York.

Minnesota’s senior senator is renewing her fight for a passenger’s bill of rights following the Continental “nightmare flight” last Friday in Rochester, in which passengers were planebound for six hours. “I think it is long overdue. Time and time again we keep being told, ‘Oh, it’s going to be OK,  you don’t need any minimum standards for passengers,’ and then something like this happens,” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar has no town halls scheduled but will tour more then 20 Minnesota counties in the next few weeks.

Sen. Al Franken was part of a dairy farmers forum on Wednesday. While the forum was open to the public, organizers noted that the meeting would stay on topic. Franken also toured the VA in St. Cloud with Rep. Tim Walz on Wednesday.

Franken toured the Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth on Thursday to talk about Great Lakes restoration projects.

Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh told the Park Rapids Enterprise that Franken will be traveling the state in coming weeks. “He’s hosting a couple of roundtables to hear from key constituencies on the health care reform debate, meeting with leaders in the agriculture community, touring the Mayo Clinic and other Minnesota businesses and institutions, and, of course, the State Fair.”

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

FARMFEST: Carol Molnau may be mulling guv run. But the first few days after the anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse can’t be the best time for the lieutenant governor (and decommissioned transportation commissioner) to announce. [Star Tribune]

FARMFEST: Republicans quash gubernatorial straw poll. Chronic election observer Jimmy Carter wouldn’t approve, but party leaders didn’t want an unsanctioned survey to usurp their official straw poll in October. [Polinaut]

BEMIDJI: Congressman declares, “This is Recovery City.” Okay, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, but then what’s Center City, home of Hazelden? [Bemidji Pioneer]

ST. CLOUD: Ex-mayor could become ex-lawyer. The Minnesota Supreme Court might suspend John Ellenbecker for losing a client’s audio cassettes, including a mix tape with that one Flock of Seagulls song. [St. Cloud Times]

DULUTH: Cops can’t take tix for golf tourney. The city attorney says accepting free passes as payment for off-duty security service at next week’s PGA Championship in Chaska isn’t kosher — though a plane-ticket gift for a city councilor to visit a Japanese sister-city was fine. [Duluth News-Tribune]

TWIN CITIES: Feds’ suit says drycleaner fired woman for getting pregnant. “Employers cannot restrict women — pregnant or otherwise — from their facilities in anything but the most unique of circumstances,” said an official. Most unique? Does that apply when women are only a little bit pregnant? [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

(WDCpix)

The plight of Minnesota’s dairy farmers occupied the time of Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Reps. Tim Walz, Collin Peterson and James Oberstar, who worked this week to find relief for farmers hard hit by economic and natural disaster. That and other highlights from Minnesota’s congressional delegation:

Rep. Tim Walz participated in an online health care discussion with the Mankato Free Press on Tuesday. “Southern Minnesotans that I’ve talked to know that something had to be done and soon, but they want to make sure that we’re getting it right,” he wrote. Walz echoed similar sentiments in a commentary at the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Walz is a co-chair of the newly reformed Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus, which was formed in 2006 but lapsed in January. Rep. James Oberstar is also mentioned as a caucus member.

Rep. John Kline says he will continue to fight a move to federalize student lending. “I have resisted and will continue to resist erasing private capital and the private sector from the student lending business,” said Kline. But he does acknowledge that the measure is likely to pass the House.

The Minnesota Daily had harsh words for Kline. “Kline and his colleagues are defending systemic cruelty toward college students, propped up by corporate subsidies for an industry which, not too long ago, was found to be in part a veritable criminal enterprise.”

Rep. Betty McCollum announced that she secured $1 million in federal money as part of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to improve the Twin Lakes area in Roseville. The money will go to create a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use site with links to Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“I am pleased to be able to secure federal funding for important infrastructure improvements at Twin Lakes and to partner with the city of Roseville,” she said in a statement.

Rep. Keith Ellison attended a meeting with Muslim leaders in Minneapolis last Saturday to discuss some of the successes and challenges the Muslim community faces in Minneapolis.

Ellison announced Monday that he had secured $500,000 to finish the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, a project that has been a century in the making. The appropriation was passed as part of the House transportation, housing and urban development appropriations bill and will connect connect St. Anthony Parkway to East River Parkway in Northeast Minneapolis.

Rep. Michele Bachmann succeeded in getting a resolution passed by the House on Wednesday. “Recognizing September as National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month will bring this disease to the public’s attention and encourage the discussions necessary to more effectively address the devastating effects of this disease and provide support to families who live with it each day,” she said in a statement.

Rep. Collin Peterson, along with Rep. Barney Frank unveiled their plan to regulate the derivatives market which is seen as a large part of the cause for the current recession. “I think we have come up with a responsible approach that bridges the differences between those members who want to completely eliminate the over-the-counter market and those who think that just greater transparency is all that is needed,” said Peterson in a statement on Friday. “Neither of those approaches is a real solution; what we are putting forth is.”

Rep. James Oberstar praised the House passage of $7 billion in highway funds. “Enactment of this legislation will ensure full funding of the highway investment levels authorized by current law, and prevent devastating slowdowns or cuts in each state’s federal highway funds,” he said on the House floor.

Oberstar continues to work end to end anti-trust immunity for airlines and sent a letter Monday to Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, that expressed “deep concern over the decline of airline competition in international markets.” Oberstar says that three airlines dominate U.S.-European travel.

Oberstar and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, both of Slovenian descent, met with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Samuel Žbogar, on Tuesday.

Klobuchar announced on Friday that she helped secure relief for dairy farmers. “Across Minnesota, dairy farmers have been stung by rising production costs and falling product prices,” she said in a statement. “Today’s announcement of immediate relief for dairy farmers will help them during this crisis by providing targeted support to help stabilize prices. Along with Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson I will continue to advocate for Minnesota’s dairy farmers during these difficult times.”

Sen. Al Franken will address progressive activists in Duluth on Saturday for the Commonweal Institute’s 2009 Progressive Roundtable.

Franken introduced a bill with Klobuchar on Thursday. The Medicare Payment Fairness Act of 2009 aims to fix regional difference in Medicare payments, a system under which Minnesota loses money.

“As Congress considers national health care reform, they have a lot to learn from how we do things in Minnesota,” Franken said in a statement. “We understand that health care quality ought to be rewarded, and that patient-centered health care is better for Minnesotans than a profit-centered system. Implementing a Value Index is not just a critical step in reforming our national health care costs, it’s also a step towards ensuring that Minnesota doctors aren’t penalized for being ahead of the curve.”

(WDCpix)

Minnesota’s congressional delegation spent a lot of time discussing health care this week, but there were other issues to deal with. Railroads, grasslands, student loans and peace in the Middle East all garnered attention from Minnesota’s members of Congress.

Rep. Tim Walz is working to secure $260 million in the federal Transportation Re-authorization Bill to route the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad south of Rochester. One concern is DM&E’s proximity to the Mayo Clinic and the potentially hazardous materials the line brings close to the hospital complex. The line would also help connect passenger rail to the proposed Minneapolis-to-Chicago high-speed rail.

“We think this project … borders on a project of national interest, of national priority,” Walz said.

Rep. John Kline railed against a plan to to abolish the Federal Family Education Loan Program and end subsidies for private student loan lenders by folding the program into the federal government.

“I have to ask: Is there any industry not on the verge of federalization?” said Kline who is the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee.

“We’ve already seen the federal government step in and take control of banks, insurance companies and even iconic American auto companies,” Kline said. “The speed with which Democrats are orchestrating a full government takeover of our classrooms and communities is astonishing,” he added.

Rep. Betty McCollum announced on Tuesday that she had secured $400,000 for energy efficiency upgrades for the city of Oakdale. The city will install a cost-saving geothermal heat pump system and light-emitting diode lamps.

McCollum also announced a $900,000 grant on Thursday for Twin Cities middle schools called “Generator Go Green” that will boost energy efficiency, student volunteerism and science learning at disadvantaged schools.

Rep. Keith Ellison is trying to secure $750,000 for a light-rail hub in Minneapolis’ Warehouse District and a light-rail line or rapid bus transit line through north Minneapolis to the northwest suburbs called the Bottineau Transitway.

Ellison also introduced a corporate governance bill that directs publicly held companies to set up independent oversight boards for risk management and executive compensation.

“Runaway executive pay and weak corporate boards were two key ingredients in the current financial crisis,” Ellison said in a statement on Wednesday. “Ensuring that investors have a voice on executive pay packages and that boards are independent, strong and qualified is critical to restoring confidence in the way our companies are run.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann is holding a press conference on health care on Friday with other Republican congresswomen.

“The press conference will also be attended by working mothers who will share personal stories about how the Democrats’ health care legislation will hurt women and affect their day-to-day lives,” the group said in a statement Thursday.

Rep. Collin Peterson is working to ban certain kinds of credit default swaps, specifically those that contributed to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but large corporations are balking at the idea.

Peterson is urging the Department of Agriculture to change incentives that allow farmers to tear up grasslands to increase yields, a problem he says is exacerbated by the federal government.

Peterson also defended his work on climate change legislation, specifically cap-and-trade for which he has begun to take heat in his district.

“I decided to get involved and work with my colleagues in Congress to be sure that agriculture and rural America had a seat at the table when this climate change legislation was written. As a result, we were able to amend several important provisions that made the bill a better deal for agriculture and rural America.

Rep. James Oberstar got pressure from the online poker players’ lobby to vote to make online poker legal and regulated.

Oberstar was praised this week for his advocacy of bicycling and bike trails. “You get on a bike and you can go anywhere,” Oberstar told the Hill.

Oberstar’s advocacy for transportation, especially sustainable transportation, was praised by Transportation for America, a smart growth transportation lobby.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced Miguel Humberto Diaz at his nomination hearings for U.S. ambassador to the Vatican on Wednesday. She called the St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict theology professor “a gifted theologian, a respected scholar, a natural teacher and a dedicated bridge-builder. He knows and loves America, and he knows and loves the Catholic Church.”

Klobuchar held a hearing on metal on Wednesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs.

“Metal theft has become a serious nationwide problem with potentially dangerous and far-reaching consequences because of the threat it poses to public safety and our critical infrastructures,” she said in a statement. “We need a nationwide metal theft prevention strategy, so we can combat, prosecute and prevent metal theft crimes.”

Sen. Al Franken’s office is holding open meetings around the state.

Franken also met with Jewish leaders and fellow senators on Wednesday to discuss peace in the Middle East.

Rep. Betty McCollum

Rep. Betty McCollum says she won’t vote for a health care reform bill unless it fixes Medicare formulas that penalize Minnesota’s above-average health care system by imposing higher premiums. And she’s created a coalition of unlikely allies on the issue — Minnesota’s congressional delegates. The group has wildly divergent views on health care reform, but there’s one thing they all agree on: Minnesota shouldn’t get the shaft. Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken joined McCollum along with Reps. Tim Walz, John Kline, Erik Paulsen, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and James Oberstar, in penning a letter to President Barack Obama.

“All Americans pay equally into Medicare, yet beneficiaries in Minnesota are severely disadvantaged in the essential benefits they receive when compared to citizens in other states, such as Florida, New York, or California,” the group wrote. “Why are Minnesotans paying higher premiums for prescription drugs, dental, vision and hearing services while residents of other states receive those benefits free of any additional cost?”

McCollum said she wouldn’t vote for a bill that didn’t fix the inequity.

“I cannot in good conscience vote for a health care reform bill that further harms Minnesotans who pay equally into Medicare. These inequities should not be extended into a public insurance plan if our goal is better health care outcomes,” Congresswoman McCollum said in a statement Wednesday.

Full text of the delegation’s letter (pdf):

July 22, 2009
Dear President Obama:

As your Administration advocates for health care reform legislation moving forward in Congress, we want to make you aware that Minnesota is a state in which the quality of care exceeds the national average and per-beneficiary fee-for-service Medicare costs are substantially lower than the national average. Our “low-cost, high-quality” state is setting the national standard for Medicare, yet we are penalized by the current geographic payment inequities in the Medicare reimbursement formula. This inequity is no longer tolerable and we urge you to work with us to fix this problem in any health care reform legislation voted on in Congress.

All Americans pay equally into Medicare, yet beneficiaries in Minnesota are severely disadvantaged in the essential benefits they receive when compared to citizens in other states, such as Florida, New York, or California. Why are Minnesotans paying higher premiums for prescription drugs, dental, vision and hearing services while residents of other states receive those benefits free of any additional cost? This flawed Medicare formula continues to penalize Minnesota taxpayers, patients, providers, hospitals, counties, and the entire health care sector that provides high- quality, low-cost care.

Furthermore, any public insurance option that is based on Medicare’s current reimbursement formula would only further penalize Minnesota and undermine the very success our state has attained in delivering efficient, quality care. Please know that we view any health care reform legislation that perpetuates or extends the current inequity in Medicare as harming Minnesota’s health care system which is obviously unacceptable to us and our constituents.

Mr. President, we must ensure that any health care reform legislation includes benefits for our constituents and the state of Minnesota. We look forward to working with you in the upcoming weeks to find a solution to this important issue.

Sincerely,