In Walz highlights economy this term, Post Bulletin political reporter Heather Carlson reports:
Every four years, Tim Walz would make sure to turn on the TV in his social studies classroom so students could watch the presidential inauguration live.
This time around, the 1st District representative will get a chance to see an historic inauguration in person. He and his wife will be among those watching as President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Tuesday. To celebrate, his office is hosting an open house featuring warm drinks and snacks for Minnesotans making the trek.
"It will be a good time, and we're just going to welcome people here and take in the historical nature of it," he said.
The Mankato Democrat has blazed his own trail in Minnesota's political history since defeating six-term incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht in 2006. After a decisive re-election win in November, Walz returns to the nation's Capitol for his second term. In an interview with the Austin Post-Bulletin, Walz said his priority this session will be doing what he can to help the nation's ailing economy. That will include supporting Obama's efforts to pass an economic stimulus package.
"I want to see the stimulus package build and create jobs, but what I don't want is a hodgepodge of projects that don't fit together in a long-range vision," he said. . . .
Carlson notes that Walz isn't happy with the bank bailout, pt. 2:
. . .Obama has asked President Bush to request Congress release the remaining $350 billion of the $700 billion financial bailout money. But Walz, who voted against the initial bailout proposal along with the auto rescue plan, said he is not convinced the money will end up freeing up the credit markets and helping ordinary citizens. His office is working to try to get accountability measures included in the plan to make sure the money is used wisely. Even so, Walz said he is unlikely to vote for it.
"I am very skeptical that I would be able to support this, but I think it is going to pass," he said....
Read the entire article at the Post-Bulletin. Update: the Winona Daily News has posted Walz ‘skeptical’ of bailout’s second round, a short teaser from a forthcoming article by political reports Mark Sommerhauser:
Rep. Tim Walz criticized what he called the bailout "boondoggle" last
week, putting him again at odds with President-elect Barack Obama, who
has championed the $700 billion rescue of America’s struggling
financial sector.
Walz, DFL-Minn., didn’t agree with Democratic
leaders and then-Senator Obama’s support for the bailout bill last
fall, and Walz isn’t buying Obama’s new request to access the remainder
of the funds when he becomes president.
For more, see Tuesday’s Daily News.
We'll digest and link to the article; Sommerhauser is a solid, diligent reporter.[end update]
Farm and Dairy reports in Lots of new faces on ag committee that Walz is one of the returning faces on the committee chaired by Seventh District chair Collin Peterson.
In A change We(nona) can believe in, the Winona Daily News editorial board praises the Winona County commissioners voting to freeze their own salaries and end per diems. Writing for the board, WDN editor Darrell Ehrlick notes that their congressman also turned down a pay raise:
Last week, congressional pay hikes went into effect. It’s been pointed
out that only elected officials get to choose what they make and can
vote themselves a pay raise.
It is worth noting that U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, who represents southern Minnesota, returned his raise.
It's also worth noting that, with Collin Peterson, Walz is co-sponsoring a bill to stop congress's automatic raise in 2010.
And since it's Martin Luther King Jr's official birthday, how about Mahalia Jackson (who worked with King and sang at his funeral) singing one of the great songs of the Civil Rights era? Her words at the end of the video are a deep expression of the religious roots for an ethos of service to others.
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