Tim Walz talks really fast, so I'm leaving out the many jokes.
Walz begins by mentioning the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Capital for Hal Borlaug. Borlaug was able to get governments to move on complex questions. The ability to get things moving was part of the process with drafting the Farm Bill, which the House Ag Committee approved last night. Walz praises the many people who work together in coalitions who are in the room.
Walz makes a distinction between politics and government. He points out how important it is to remember that while people's politics differ, it's important to get people together to talk about problems and come up with solutions. That's government. He goes through a litany of issues that need resolving, focusing on health care. Since it won't be fixed by the next election, people don't want to talk about the problem.
Walz talks about the need to have open and honest discussions of issues. He moves to discussing the need to talk about the goals of education. Next he moves to a discussion of the Farm Bill. He supports paygo rules but believes that they shouldn't dictate against investment. He wanted more on conservation in the Farm Bill, but noted some of the changes that did happen in the bill, such as the new income caps.
He turns to specific projects such as the Lewis and Clark Water System. The ledger might say, move to a different town, but we need to see if there's another way to look at the problem so that investments are made and the area grows.
He asked for an earmark for Lewis and Clark--"those, evil, evil things--but doesn't feel projects like Lewis and Clark, or Highway14 are pork, but rather the projects that people have come together and seen as part of a vision for the area. It's better to have projects funded that are generated ffrom a local area's needs and vision than having bureaucrats in Washington decide what's important.
The gathering is about the discussion and vision that required for the district. He hopes to be a consensus builder in Congress who can bring ideas from the district forward to his colleague.
He takes questions. The first is about national Renewable Energy Standards, the Udall bill. He supports it, but wants make sure we don't create unfunded mandates. He supports public-private partnerships.
Someone from the Izaak Walton League thanks him for his work for conservation in Farm Bill. He mentions Walz's understanding of conservation as a tool for economic development.
Georger Crocker asks about tax structure and renewable energy. Walz says tax credits should help people invest their money to do things that benefit us all. He mentions how the current tax code allows only passive income to be invested in wind, and that should be changed. This is situation is what caused Walz and Peterson to introduce their bill to allow more people to gain tax incentives from investment in wind.
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