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Sen-Elect Klobuchar's Agenda

Minnesota’s first female Senator, Amy Klobuchar, on what she plans to do in her freshman term as US Senator:

Start bringing the troops home from Iraq. Clean up Washington. End the tax cuts for the rich. And visit each of Minnesota’s 87 counties every year for the next six years. [...]

She expects senators to spend more time in Washington next year, working longer and harder: “It’s going to be a different Congress. It’s not going to be a two-day-a-week Senate. ... We were elected for a reason, and that’s to get some things done.”

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With Slim Pickings, GOP Freshmen Pick 'Idiot' as President

This is funny (via Daily Kos); from the AP:

Idaho Representative-elect Bill Sali has been elected president of the incoming freshman G-O-P class in the U-S House. Spokesman Wayne Hoffman says the 13 Republican lawmakers who will start their first two-year terms in January chose Sali because of his background in the Idaho Legislature.

Who is Bill Sali? “Republican Bruce Newcomb, the former speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, recently called Sali “an absolute idiot.” Mike Simpson, a Republican who holds Idaho’s other House seat, once threatened to throw Sali out the window of the Capitol after Sali called him a liar.”

So in other words, someone who can’t get along with members of his own party. As the AP article noted, though, the Republicans’ poor election showing didn’t offer them much choice.

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Tim Walz Confuses Karl Rove

Small and funny tidbit from the Minnesota Congressional delegation’s newest member, Rep-Elect Tim Walz (MN-01):

On Monday, he attended a new-members reception at the White House, where he met President Bush and political adviser Karl Rove, who was convinced Walz would lose. “He said, ‘we had the numbers on you, we thought we had enough, but where did you find the voters?’” Walz said.

Meanwhile, Rep-elect Keith Ellison snubbed the President—choosing instead to meet with labor leaders.

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Rick Santorum Doesn't Care If We Offend Our Allies

Republican Senator Rick Santorum spoke with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and let this nugget out:

Bush dropped references to Islamic fascists when the State Department “went ballistic because we are offending our allies in the Middle East,” Santorum said. “I don’t care if we offend our allies in the Middle East.”

You have to commend Santorum for his refreshing honesty. Unlike some Republicans who will barely acknowledge they’re Republicans (Mark Kennedy, Michael Steele), Santorum is a far-right conservative and unafraid to say it (who else would release a ‘women shouldn’t work’ book like he did?). And with an increasingly unpopular war with a scant coalition of the willing, Santorum’s not afraid to say he doesn’t care if the US offends our allies who are already hesitant to help us in the Middle East in the first place.

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Internal Memo: Hastert Would Wreck GOP Electoral Chances

From FOX News, Republicans on the Hill are worried that if Hastert stays, their chances to keep control of Congress goes:

House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.

“The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker,” a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. “And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss.” [...] The GOP source told FOX News that the internal data had not been widely shared among Republican leaders, but as awareness of it spreads calculations about Hastert’s tenure may change.

Even if Hastert does go, one noted elections analyst notes that much of the damage may have already been done for the GOP.

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Inadequate equipment, health problems face Iraq, Afghanistan veterans: poll

VoteVets.org, which has been running ads in battleground states against Senators who have voted against body armor funding for soldiers, just released the results of a new poll on whether soldiers are being adequately equipped. The results:

The poll by VoteVets.org, a political action committee made up of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, showed that nearly half (42 percent) of all veterans who served in either country felt that their equipment did not meet military standards.

It also said that 35 percent of veterans reported that their trucks had no armor protection, while 10 percent said the trucks were “up-armored” with scrap metal.

You can read more on their report here.

Their ad against Conrad Burns for opposing body armor.

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Answer: Things Dennis Hastert Should Have Done BEFORE the Foley Scandal Broke

Dana Bash reporting for CNN:

We understand that there was actually a meeting here on Capitol Hill just a short while ago with Republican press secretaries where the Speaker’s staff told the Republican press secretaries that they’re going to try very hard to change the mood, change the atmosphere, go on the offense.

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Bad Memories

Via Wonkette

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Patty Wetterling Releases TV Ad on Foley Coverup

MVP-supported candidate Patty Wetterling, running in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District against single-issue candidate Michele Bachmann, just released this ad calling for an investigation into whether the Republican leadership tried to cover up the Mark Foley scandal.

View it here.

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Mark Foley: Democrat, Says O'Reilly Factor

Just in case you were wondering what party he belonged to. HT: Sweet Jesus I Hate Bill O’Reilly

Update: AP also joins in the Mark Foley = Democrats theme.

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Not a Midwest Value: Covering Up Sexually Explicit Emails Between a Member of Congress and a Underage Boy

See Think Progress for a timeline.

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They Said It, Not Us: Torture

In the debate over how to treat terrorism suspects, Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland earlier this week made a mistake. Instead of towing the administration line—don’t mention the word torture, use terms like aggressive interrogation techniques – the George Republican “proudly boasted to a local Chamber of Commerce that he had “voted for torture”.” Link

Later, Westmoreland said “he probably should have “put that another way”.”

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Gov. Ann Richards, 1933 - 2006

Associated Press:

The silver-haired, silver-tongued Richards said she entered politics to help others _ especially women and minorities who were often ignored by Texas’ male-dominated establishment.

“I did not want my tombstone to read, ‘She kept a really clean house.’ I think I’d like them to remember me by saying, ‘She opened government to everyone,’” Richards said shortly before leaving office in January 1995.

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Conrad Burns Has a Good Idea

Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana) has a good idea: activate the state Army National Guard to help Montana firefighters battling fires. It’s such a good idea that Gov. Brian Schweitzer did it a month before Burns requested the Gov. Schweitzer do it:

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns urged Gov. Brian Schweitzer to declare a fire state of emergency Thursday and activate the Montana Army National Guard for firefighting—more than a month after Schweitzer had already done so.

In a brief letter faxed to the governor’s office Thursday, Burns expressed his concern about the 156,000-acre Derby Mountain fire near Columbus.

“Entire ranches have been consumed and homes have been lost,” Burns wrote. “Based on these conditions, I am requesting that you declare a state of emergency.”

However, Schweitzer had declared such a state of emergency on July 11 – thus activating the Montana Army National Guard. He issued a second declaration on Aug. 11.

Heh, what a silly man. Previous Conrad Burns items.

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True

“I can self-destruct in one sentence. Sometimes in one word.”

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) in the Billings Gazette.

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Bloomberg: Higher Minimum Wage No Longer Seen as Sure-Fire U.S. Job Killer

Clip from the financial news wire:

Prominent economists of all ideological persuasions long believed that raising the U.S. minimum wage would retard job growth, creating unintended hardship for those at the bottom of the ladder.

Today, that consensus is eroding, and a vigorous debate has developed as some argue that boosting the wage would pull millions out of poverty. [...]

``My thinking on this has changed dramatically,’’ says Alan Blinder, a former Federal Reserve vice chairman who teaches economics at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. ``The evidence appears to be against the simple-minded theory that a modest increase in the minimum wage causes substantial job loss.’’

And studies of states that have raised the minimum wage above the federal level have found no job losses.

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Democrats Seek Funding for Army Shortfall

The problem:

Up to two-thirds of the Army’s combat brigades are not ready for wartime missions, largely because they are hampered by equipment shortfalls [...] In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that “nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready” for combat. The figures, he said, represent an unacceptable risk to the nation.

Democrats propose a solution:

Murtha and Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said they would like to see an emergency appropriation of $17 billion, but they will at least be asking for an increase of $10 billion in the $50 billion supplemental funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that the administration requested for the first few months of the 2007 fiscal year.

Despite the dangers that funding shortfalls pose for Army brigades, President Bush seems oblivious to the problem—today on Fox News, Bush declared: “We have a very strong military and we can deal with any threat to the homeland there is and will if we have to.”

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Republican Senators Vote Against Cures

Yesterday, the House and Senate voted on three stem cell bills, passing two of the three. One bill, outlawing the non-existent practice of “fetal farming,” is considered minor legislation because, well, the use of tissue from an embryo implanted or developed in a woman or animal for research purposes hasn’t happened. That passed both Houses unanimously.

The other two bills deal with embryonic and non-embryonic stem cells, such as adult stem cells. The House and Senate passed the bill that would expand federal support of medical research using embryonic stem cells by a vote of 63 to 37. Unfortunately, Bush is set to veto the pro-cure bill.

Several vulnerable Republicans up-for-re-election voted against the pro-cure bill: Jim Talent (MO), Conrad Burns (MT), Mike DeWine (OH), Rick Santorum (PA), and George Allen (VA). Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman also voted against it; Democratic Senator Mark Dayton voted to expand research.

On the issue of voters, re-election concerns is exactly why Senator Rick Santorum introduced an alternative bill that would encourage scientists to use non-embryonic stem cells in research. Of course, the move is largely symbolic since, as the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research has pointed out, the NIH already funds such research. Hence, the bill doesn’t change policy, and just gives cover to charges that the ‘Nay’ Senators are anti-stem cell research.

It’s a helpful reminder that the 37 Senators are voting against the will of the country, that even traditionally “pro-life�? Senators such as Orrin Hatch and Bill Frist voted for the bill.

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Two Pieces of Good Congressional News

This is a rarity!

Number 1: Senate Approves Funds For Stem Cell Research

Number 2: House Rejects Gay Marriage Ban Amendment

Of course, Bush has pledged to veto the Stem Cell bill, and Republicans will renew the gay marriage ban fight next year, and use it as a wedge issue this November. But with this Congress, you can’t be picky.

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Republican Congressman on Republicans and Stem Cell Bills: A Study in Obfuscation

This week, the Senate is debating three stem cell bills. All three are likely to be passed and sent to President Bush, but one, the most relevant for stem cell researchers, is likely to be vetoed by Bush. It would be his first veto.

The Associated Press has a summary of the three bills, and why they’re being debated now:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who supports the [embryonic stem cell] bill and has spent a year trying to bring it to the floor, succeeded last week by promising opponents to also hold votes on two other stem cell measures they could support and Bush could sign.

In a delicate election-year balancing act, Frist also will bring up a measure that would ban so-called “fetal farming,” described as growing fetuses for the sole purpose of harvesting tissue. The other would fund research for stem cells derived from adults.

The House of Representatives would then act quickly to pass the two non-controversial bills and all three would be sent to Bush for his signature. Bush would veto the embryonic bill and sign one or both of the others, giving him and social conservatives in Congress fresh evidence to present to voters this fall that they support stem cell research.

Rep. Mike Castle (Republican from Delaware) calls the strategy “a study in obfuscation.”

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A Midwest Value: Common Sense

The contents of this front page story in The New York Times seems to defy one of our values here at MVP: common sense:

The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.

In addition to the petting zoo, in Woodville, Ala., and the Mule Day Parade in Columbia, Tenn., the auditors questioned many entries, including “Nix’s Check Cashing,” “Mall at Sears,” “Ice Cream Parlor,” “Tackle Shop,” “Donut Shop,” “Anti-Cruelty Society” and “Bean Fest.” [...]

Montana, one of the least populous states in the nation, turned up with far more assets than big-population states including Massachusetts, North Carolina and New Jersey.

Key serious Homeland Security spokesperson: “We don’t find it embarrassing,” said the department’s deputy press secretary, Jarrod Agen. “The list is a valuable tool.”

To find the latest trends in beanery?

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Director for Lessons Learned

As Think Progress notes, yes, there actually is a “Director for Lessons Learned” at The White House. And a “Director of Fact Checking”—the second easiest job after Rush Limbaugh’s “Director of Fact Checking.”

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Report: US Carbon Emissions Have Doubled Since 1960

Via Think Progress, the non-partisan U.S. Public Interest Research Group reports that carbon emissions have doubled between 1960 and 2001 “jumping from 2.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 1960 to almost 5.7 billion metric tons in 2001.” More:

• Regionally, carbon dioxide emissions rose most rapidly in the Southeast and Gulf South between 1960 and 2001, increasing by 163 percent and 175 percent, respectively.

• Among the states, Texas ranked first in the nation for the highest emissions of carbon dioxide in 2001, releasing 12 percent of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions. In 1960, Texas emitted 240.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide; by 2001, the state’s emissions had grown to 668.5 million metric tons, an increase of 178 percent.

• Twenty-eight (28) states more than doubled their carbon dioxide emissions between 1960 and 2001. The 10 states that experienced the largest overall increases in emissions in this period include Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Missouri, and Arizona.

You can read PIRG’s full report here, including recommendations from the group on how to curb emissions nationwide.

(Disclosure: I interned for USPIRG, and contributed to its 2002 report)

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Who's "Tough" on Immigration?

This morning’s Washington Post has this funny statistic:

In 1999, under Clinton, the number of companies that were fined for hiring illegal immigrants: 417.

In 2004, under President Bush, the number of companies that were fined for hiring illegal immigrants: 3.

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Good News: Bush to Create World's Largest Marine Preserve

Today at the White House, President Bush announced the creation of the country’s 75th national monument, one that would protect 140,000 square miles of “largely uninhabited islands, atolls, coral reef colonies and underwater peaks known as seamounts to be managed by federal and state agencies.”

“It’s the single-largest act of ocean conservation in history. It’s a large milestone,” Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said. “It is a place to maintain biodiversity and to maintain basically the nurseries of the Pacific. It spawns a lot of the life that permeates the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

According to the PEW Charitable Trusts, “the region contains almost 70 percent of the tropical shallow water coral reefs in the United States.”

If the Bush administration does something good, we’ll gladly note it. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough of this kind of news during the past six years, especially on the environment. In the future, we can only hope they take the same approach to other areas they’ve neglected. Environmental issues should not be a partisan issue. Indeed, former Republican heads of EPA have broken with the Bush administration on the environment.