Photo: Graham Moomaw, Washington Independent

In headlining Thursday’s “House call” protest against health-care reform, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann was going rogue on her own party’s leaders, who had hoped to focus the day’s attention on their own 12-hour, online health-care “town hall.”

David Weigel, of the Washington Independent (a Minnesota Independent sister site) writes:

This isn’t a surprising turn of events. In the run-up to the Sept. 12 march on Washington, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) were surprise guests at a Sept. 10 rally outside the Capitol. That event was actually identical to this one–protesters fanned out after the rally to talk to their members of Congress. But the crowd at that rally was smaller and more controlled, with most protesters holding FreedomWorks signs that had been passed out. The crowd at this rally was far less on-message. By the end of the day, the images that made it out of the rally were of protesters waving signs comparing health care reform to the Holocaust, and the video that made it out of the protest was heavy on Bachmann — one of the people Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) seemed to be referring to in a cryptic October comment about how to deal with a “problem member” who keeps making news.

Boehner and Cantor were writing to disgruntled Republican blogger Andy Aplikowski, a resident of Bachmann’s district, who had taken the two to task for the Politico article.

“Sources say,” Politico wrote, “they have been especially wary of the possible damage inflicted on the party’s reputation by bomb-throwing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who last fall called for an investigation into whether members of Congress are ‘pro-America or anti-America.’”

Boehner and Cantor strongly disagreed with Politico’s characterization. “We wanted to respond to your letter to us last week and to assure you that regardless of what inside-the-beltway media writes or what unnamed “sources” it quotes, we are proud to serve with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann,” they wrote.

But shortly after posting it to the House Minority Leader website…

…the letter disappeared:

But Aplikowski has the whole exchange on his blog.

Here’s the full text of Boehner’s and Cantor’s letter:

Dear Andy,

We wanted to respond to your letter to us last week and to assure you that regardless of what inside-the-beltway media writes or what unnamed “sources” it quotes, we are proud to serve with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

She has been a consistent and strong voice for the American taxpayer in Washington from the day she took office. And, despite the taunts and insults that the media elites and liberals hurl at her, she never wavers in her commitment to fiscal responsibility.

Republicans in Congress – buoyed by the American people who have risen up against the Democrat tide in Washington – are fighting against bad policies. Their health care prescription is bad policy. Their cap and trade national energy tax is bad policy. Their tax-and-spend agenda is bad policy. We’re strong in our opposition and vibrant in the alternatives we offer.

Republicans have real solutions. And, that includes Congresswoman Bachmann, who has introduced positive solutions for health care reform, budget reform, energy independence, and more. We’re the Party of real hope and change.

When the other side can’t come up with arguments to defend their policies, they turn to personal attacks against their detractors. Congresswoman Bachmann stands shoulder to shoulder with her constituents and that really seems to irk some on the left. We fully expect that despite the best attempts of the media and the liberals, Michelle will continue to be a strong voice for freedom, smaller government, and better solutions.

Sincerely,
John Boehner
Republican Leader

Eric Cantor
Republican Whip

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning…

ST. PAUL: Show-off wedding party gets shown the door. The St. Paul couple whose dance to the wedding altar charmed the nation via YouTube got the bum’s rush at a New York hotel after they appeared on NBC-TV despite ABC paying their lodging.  [Pioneer Press]

MINNEAPOLIS: Somalis tricked into returning? The missing men who fought for insurgents in their homeland might not have known much of what they were getting into. [Associated Press]

ST. CLOUD: Emerald ash borers avoid traps, trees. The invasive buggers haven’t spread out of St. Paul yet, leaving the state’s sticky traps empty, except for hundreds of other insects. [St. Cloud Times]

MINNEAPOLIS: Dozen seek mayor’s job. They include Joey Lombard of the “Is Awesome” party.  [MinnPost]

WILLMAR: Chief justice calls court’s budget-crunch solution “least bad.” The state’s high-court head honcho is touring courthouses to see where bad judicial cuts are hurting. [West Central Tribune]

ST. PAUL: State’s courts only getting busier. Those cuts are coming as a new report shows Minnesota’s district courts took care of 1.9 million actions in 2008, a record. [Associated Press]

Kline unveils anti-EFCA bill in February. Photo: house.gov

U.S. Rep. John Kline will take over the ranking Republican seat on the House Education and Labor Committee, the GOP Steering Committee decided today.

Kline was one of two or three Republicans vying for the top post, according to The Hill, which called his close ties to House Minority Leader John Boehner a key advantage.

The opening at the 50-member panel’s GOP helm was due to President Obama’s appointment of Rep. John McHugh to be secretary of the Army. McHugh’s slot as ranking member of the Armed Services Committee fell to Rep. Buck McKeon, who then vacated his post as ranking member on the Education and Labor committee.

The GOP Steering Committee passed over two more senior but less conservative Republicans on the committee to make Kline top dog.

Well, that didn’t stop Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) from hopping on board the Boehner train. This morning, she wrote an op-ed in the Star Tribune that kept Boehner’s distortions alive, and then some. She argued:

Any way you look at it, it’s low- and middle-income Americans who will pay dearly for this. According to an analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the average American household could expect its yearly energy bill to increase by $3,128 per year. Using an analysis by Peter Orszag, President Obama’s budget director, that number would be closer to $4,000.

I can’t speak for Peter Orszag, but I have a feeling he would take issue with these numbers, too. A report issued by the Congressional Budget Office, of which Orszag was director until he was tapped for his new post, estimated that low-income families would see their bills increase by $680 annually. But since Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme, as outlined in his budget proposal, would give these families an $800 rebate, they’d actually come out ahead.

Take a look at the first figure in this CBO chart:

Aaron Weiner is a reporter at the Washington Independent.

Minnesota’s congressional delegation voted for the bills except for Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen.

The Lilly Ledbetter Act changes existing law cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that cases of discrimination in the workplace have a 180-day statute of limitations in which someone can make a claim. Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for 18 years in Alabama, and she discovered just before her retirement that she had been paid less than all of the other men in her workplace. Because she didn’t have access to her co-workers’ salaries, she had no way of knowing that they were being paid more for doing the same job.

For that reason, she couldn’t have filed a discrimination complaint within 180 days, even though the evidence showed she did indeed suffer discrimination in pay.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg made that point in her dissent in Ledbetter v. Goodyear: “The problem of concealed pay discrimination is particularly acute where the disparity arises not because the female employee is flatly denied a raise but because male counterparts are given larger raises. Having received a pay increase, the female employee is unlikely to discern at once that she has experienced an adverse employment decision. She may have little reason even to suspect discrimination until a pattern develops incrementally and she ultimately becomes aware of the disparity.”

The Lilly Ledbetter Act changes that statute of limitations. Instead of having 180 days from the time a discriminatory action is made by an employer, employees would instead have 180 days from each paycheck. Each paycheck would constitute a new action of discrimination.

The Paycheck Fairness Act makes it illegal to reprimand employees for discussing salary and compensation; it also puts gender discrimination on par with other forms of discrimination.

The Ledbetter bill passed at 247-171 and the Paycheck Fairness Act at 256-163 with almost all Republicans voting against them. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said it didn’t have anything to do with gender discrimination, but instead handouts to lawyers. “It’s the first step to begin rewarding the special-interest allies who helped give the Democratic Party control of Washington,” he said.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, “The speaker had to give a partisan voice that poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get to go south.”

Pelosi’s speech chastised the Bush administration for its part in the economic crisis, something Boehner said was responsible for them abandoning conviction and switching their vote.

But Bachmann flatly rejected Boehner’s rationale. “I want to assure you that was not the case. We are not babies who suck our thumbs. We have very principled reasons for voting no,” reported Roll Call Monday evening.

Her comments were almost identical to those of Democratic leaders. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said, “Here’s the story: There’s a terrible crisis affecting the American economy. We have come together on a bill to alleviate the crisis. And because somebody hurt their feelings they decide to punish the country.”

Politico questions McCain’s temperament:

On Thursday afternoon, McCain swept into Washington, walked to his office with pal Joe Lieberman, said little at a contentious White House meeting, did a few TV interviews, sped off to his home and proclaimed, through a spokesperson, that he was “optimistic” about bringing House Republicans “on board.”

McCain’s high-wire intervention in the financial crisis is his latest showstopper move – and his riskiest. He might succeed, but the candidate’s penchant for the dramatic has also raised anew potentially damaging questions of his age, executive abilities and, most of all, his temperament.

Here’s Joe Klein’s analysis:

McCain’s erratic, and irresponsible, behavior this week isn’t happening in a vacuum. This isn’t just politics–even George W. Bush, who never failed to take a partisan advantage in his presidency, realizes that. It is a time for leadership, a time for John McCain to explain to his fellow Republicans that this is one moment where government activism is absolutely necessary, that they have to get behind the Paulson compromise–and also try to explain to the general public, as Bush did on Wednesday night, that their savings and mortgages may be at stake if federal action isn’t taken. We’ve seen nothing like that from McCain. Just histrionics.

John Judis is even more brutal:

It is simply unpatriotic–it’s an insult to flag, country, and all the things that McCain claims to hold dear–for McCain to hold this financial crisis hostage to his political ambitions. McCain doesn’t know a thing about finance and is [in] no position to help work out an agreement. If we do suffer a serious bank run, or a run on the dollar, it can be laid directly at his feet. As I said to friends last night, if McCain had been president at this point, I would have wanted to impeach him.

Then there’s this hilarious bit from First Read:

During a speech on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) urged President Bush to “respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out of town. He’s not helping.” …

He added, “When you inject presidential politics into some of the most difficult negotiations under normal circumstances, it is fraught with difficulty. Before McCain made his announcement, we were making great progress. Now after his announcement, we are behind the 8 ball. We have to put things back together again.” …

“So this is a plea to President Bush, for the sake of America, please get your party in line. Get the House Republicans to be more constructive; get Sen. McCain to leave town and not throw fire on these flames. And maybe we can get something done.”

From AP’s Jennifer Loven, word that there’s a tentative Capitol Hill deal on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. The terms are entirely sketchy, but it sounds like no agreement has been reached on helping distressed mortgage holders, only their bankers’ bankers:

The tentative accord would give the Bush administration just a fraction of the $700 billion it had requested up front, with half the money subject to a congressional veto, congressional aides said. Under the plan, the Treasury secretary would get $250 billion immediately and could have an additional $100 billion if he certified it was needed. The last $350 billion could be blocked by a vote of Congress under the arrangement, designed to give lawmakers a stronger hand in controlling the unprecedented rescue…

There were signs that the conservative-leaning House Republican Caucus was not on board. Both of Congress’ Republican leaders, Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell, issued statements saying there was not yet an agreement. But Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Republican Sen. Bob Bennett, among others, said negotiators from Congress and the administration had arrived at a deal that could win approval.