John Kline

U.S. Rep. John Kline knows his buttons. As a Marine, he stayed at the side of Presidents Reagan and Carter, carrying the satchel known as the “nuclear football” that holds the how-to kit for pressing the most fearsome button of all. Now he’s once again the go-to guy, carrying the ball for Republicans who want [...]

Bowing to pressure from some parents in the district, the superintendent of schools in Fergus Falls is directing teachers not to show President Obama’s live “Back to School” speech to students next week. But while some call the speech unprecedented, in 1991 the roles were reversed: a Republican president was blasted by Democrats for the same type of address to students.

U.S. Rep. John Kline says he won’t hold any town halls on health care reform because elsewhere they have “become a forum for protest.” But citizens in the Second Congressional District who own radios can tune in Saturday to hear Kline give the Republican response to President Obama’s weekly address. Spoiler alert: On the current [...]

Several Minnesota members of Congress have recently held their noses and agreed to hold town hall meetings of one kind or another — despite misgivings about such public forums. The lone holdout: U.S. Rep. John Kline. “They are a circus,” Kline told a small group of constituents at his office yesterday. “They have been a [...]

Rep. Tim Walz figured out a novel way to blunt outrage at town hall meetings on health care reform: the First Congressional District Democrat invited Republican Rep. John Kline of the adjacent Second District to join him. Since Kline has no town hall forums scheduled, it’s a perfect fit, right? Not for Kline: He declined.

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 Congressional delegation was up to this week.

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 inside.

Only two of Minnesota’s House contests are likely to be competitive in 2010, according to the latest analysis from CQ Politics. Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen potentially face the most challenging races in this election cycle.

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. 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 [...]