Rochester Post-Bulletin: Walz wants increase in farm finance
Today's Post Bulletin reports that Walz wants increase in farm spending:
Freshman Rep. Tim Walz, a Democrat representing Minnesota's 1st District and recently appointed to the House Agriculture Committee, says he wants farm spending increased, not decreased, as called for in President Bush's proposed farm bill.
Bush's proposal, issued Wednesday, would reduce overall farm payments by $18 billion over five years. Walz, who will have a hand in the House's farm bill legislative process, said he sees the need to spend more, not less. "Some of the rural development programs have been seriously under-appropriated," he said.
Like Bush, Walz favors the current farm bill's approach and does not support radical changes. The farm bill -- really a series of federal programs -- gives farmers payments and other help to supplement their incomes, support crop prices and manage supplies. . . .
. . .Walz said he would like to see additional spending on renewable fuels programs and conservation. "Obviously we want to see that energy title strengthened," he said, along with changes to the Conservation Security Program. . . .
Campaign finance: Walz FEC report
While bloggers on the right and left engaged in heavy breathing over reports in Roll Call and The Hill about the state of freshman representives' fundraising, we read Tim Walz's end-of-year report. The summary page of receipts and disbursements indicates that the Walz campaign began the reporting period with a mere $3754.14 in hand and ended the year with $29,528.17 cash in hand.
Walz reported just over $51,000 in net contributions for the period, while paying off bills. Check out the report itself for additional details. Updates: At Minnesota Monitor, Joe Bodell provides an analysis of how efficiently campaign dollars were spent. The Rochester Post Bulletin takes a look in Walz turns in year-end campaign finance report.
GOP Mark Meyer's exploratory committee's "Statement of Organization" is online at the FEC as well.
Novak: Gil Gutknecht's moving sale
Robert Novak repeats the old news about Meyer's interest in MN-01 at Human Events, while dishing about former Rep. Gil Gutknecht's moving sale:
The decision by Rep. Gil Gutknecht to sell his well-located Capitol Hill condo and leave everything behind -- including all of his furniture and even his Select Comfort bed -- gives a strong impression that he will not be running to get his seat back any time soon. Democrat Tim Walz defeated Gutknecht by a wide margin in one of the big surprise upsets of 2006.
Netroots
I Don't Hate America looks at the DM & E decision in Final FRA Decision on DM&E - Within “90-days”. Minnesota Monitor looks at Minnesota in the News, Feb. 1.
OLLIE OX UPDATE: CQ Politics on national congressional campaign committee FEC reports
CQ Politics' Bob Benenson reports:
The year-end 2006 campaign finance reports from the major parties’ congressional campaign committees, which were filed with the Federal Election Commission by Wednesday’s deadline, show at least one thing: the amount of debt a committee accumulates is not always directly proportional to its electoral success rate.
For example, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) — stung by the 30-seat loss last fall that cost the GOP its House majority — also ended 2006 deepest in debt among the parties’ four congressional campaign committees, according to analysis by CQ’s Political MoneyLine.
The NRCC, which reported taking out a $1 million loan Nov. 30, ended the year with debts of $14,386,926. The committee reported $1,401,618 cash on hand as of Dec. 31. NRCC Report
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which gained more House seats than in any election cycle since 1974, also ended the year with a fairly heavy debt load, though not as large as that of the Republicans. The DCCC reported debts of debts of $9,311,416 and cash on hand of $776,981 as of Dec. 31. DCCC Report
Comments