In No moves yet for Walz in Congress, the Post Bulletin's Ed Felker reports:
Southern Minnesotans decisively returned Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato for his second term . . .
With the dust of the campaign barely settled, it appeared Walz was set on keeping his current committee lineup and will not seek a leadership post in the new Congress.
Meredith Salsbery, Walz's press secretary, said Wednesday that he wants to remain on the Agriculture Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The transportation committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Chisholm, plans to write a new national highways and transit bill next year that will offer committee members a chance to include local projects. "It's relevant and needed," she said of the highways bill.
Though rumors have circulated that the House might include local projects in an economic stimulus bill when it returns for a session the week of Nov. 17, Salsbery said Walz understood the opposite. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that House Democrats will stand by the $61 billion stimulus bill passed by the chamber in September, which includes infrastructure money for states but no projects, and see if the Senate and outgoing Bush administration agree to enact the measure.
If not, the Democratic majority will write a new stimulus bill when it returns in January for the 111th Congress and deals with Democratic President-elect Barack Obama.
Salsbery said Walz has no plans to run for a leadership spot when the Democratic caucus meets during the lame duck session. He was a co-president of the Democratic freshman caucus during this first term.
Walz worked on the Farm Bill and major legislation to improve vets' benefits in his first term; spending time on the new transportation bill should appeal to his work ethic and boundless energy.
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