The LaCrosse Tribune reports in As Bush targets earmarks, area lawmakers defend their spending:
. . .Area lawmakers tend to agree the process needs reform, such as new rules that require sponsors put their names on earmarks and attest they and their families won’t directly benefit.
Still, they claim they — not Washington bureaucrats — are best qualified to determine the needs and merits of projects.
“I’m not one who subscribes to the notion that all earmarks are evil,” said Rep. Ron Kind,
D-La Crosse. “The (Congress-ional) representative knows the community and what the needs are. The president doesn’t know that. Bureaucrats don’t know that.”
Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, cites the example of the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University.
The first-of-its-kind program, which trains prosecutors and others in handling child abuse cases, had applied to the Department of Justice for funding. It was ranked fourth on a list of 137 programs deemed worthy of funding, but an administrator passed it over for a lower-ranked project to use golf to teach children life skills.
In 2007, Walz sponsored a $1.22 million appropriation for the center.
While the president has targeted the issue under a Democrat-controlled Congress, earmark spending actually peaked in 2005 when Republicans were in charge, according to the White House budget office.
“It’s a bipartisan problem,” said Kind, who is working on legislation to create a bipartisan commission to crack down on earmark spending.
In the Worthington Globe, Congressman reviews trip to Iraq. Walz writes:
A few weeks ago, as I landed in Afghanistan during a nine-day visit to the Middle East and Central Asia, I saw Army engineers unloading some important cargo from the plane I’d traveled on: the first Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle to arrive in Afghanistan.
Because an ambulance can’t carry heavy armor the same way a Humvee can, injured soldiers in Afghanistan were being transported from the battlefield to the medic’s station in vehicles that were insufficiently protected. The plane I hitched a ride on was carrying new MRAPs that will serve as battlefield ambulances, ensuring that our soldiers get the best care possible, from the very moment they are injured.
The soldiers at Baghram Air Base were clearly excited to finally be getting their hands on these state-of-the-art vehicles that they had been waiting for. What wasn’t so clear to me was why—nearly six and a half years after the war in Afghanistan began—we are just now getting around to providing them with armored vehicles to serve as ambulances.
It occurred to me that the delivery of that MRAP was emblematic of the changes that are taking place within military health care: we have all the resources our injured soldiers need, but unacceptable delays and needless bureaucracy have made the recovery process longer than it should be.
My visit to Afghanistan was part of a longer trip, which also took me to Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Germany. I traveled with two of my colleagues – a Democrat and Republican, as well as the Surgeon General of the Army, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the military’s health care system. . . .
We look forward to the Owatonna People's Press condemn the delivery of the ambulance as a waster of jet fuel. After all, the paper got pretty pissy about any money or jet fuel being spent on that trip. We anticipate Dick Day's promises he'll walk everywhere if elected to Congress since his hometown paper decided that flying is naughty. In the Political Party blog, Ed Felker wonders About Walz's border trip.
In a letter to the Hastings Star Gazette, Second DFL contender Steve Sarvi contrasts Walz's and Kline's approach to earmark reform:
. . .Last year, when the new Democratic leadership took office, the process underwent review. The new leadership sought reform. Strangely, in light of his current position, Rep. Kline opposed reform. Now, he has simply opted out altogether, leaving his constituents to dig deeper into their own pockets for the necessary resources to get urgent work done.
On the other hand, Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz provides an example of how to work for change while still serving his district. Rep. Walz attaches his name to all funding requests and supports greater transparency in the process on the whole. This kind of needed change will be wrought by pulling people together to agree to solutions. By contrast, Rep. Kline’s position is to simply push away from the table. This is not leadership. . . .
The Minnesota Daily reports in Faculty donations buck trends that:
According to the data, in the first three reporting quarters of 2007, University faculty and staff donated $13,600 to Democratic Senate hopeful Al Franken, $5,800 to Democratic Rep. Tim Walz and $5,000 to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.
Mountain Lake Observer/Butterfield Advocate editor Kris Langland asks How low can they go? in reviewing one of FOX's John Gibson's radio shows. Answer: pretty low.
The Winona Daily News decides anti-chicken ordinances are nothing to crow about in Winona, don’t fence us in.
Finally, in Class honoring their hero, the Marshall Independent has news of ways former high school classmates plan to remember Matthew Kahler and help his family. Killed by suspected friendly fire in Afghanistan, Kahler leaves behind a wife and four-year-old daughter.
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