Thursday digest: life preserver edition

The New Ulm Journal takes note of the "life preserver" metaphor in its headline, Walz likens bill to a ‘life preserver":

First District Congressman Tim Walz isn't a big fan of mammoth government spending or economic bailouts. He voted against the financial industry bailout bill, and the auto industry bailout because of bloat in the proposals and lack of protection for taxpayers who pony up the funds.

But with tens of thousands of job layoffs announced on almost a daily basis, the nation is badly in need of an economic "life preserver," he said. That's why he voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act proposed by President Barack Obama that is speeding through Congress this week.

"I never thought I'd use the word 'depression' in anything other than a historical context as it applied to the United States," said Walz in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

"I think many of us over the past few months have come to very sobering conclusion that our failed economic policies of the past have put us in a serious situation. We lost 70,000 jobs just yesterday; we lost over 2 1/2 million just in the last year of President Bush's administration; and we've run our national debt up, doubled it to $11 trillion. We've seen pain across southern Minnesota and across the country in terms of people who have already lost their jobs, of businesses that are contracting, and people who are worried about what's next." . . .

The congressman will be listening to local officials over the next two days, the Journal reports:

Walz said the implementation of the stimulus is a big concern for him. He wants to see oversight of the details.

Walz will be hosting listening sessions on the economy today and Friday in Mankato, Rochester and Luverne. He'll be meeting with school district, city, township and county officials to discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Mankato Economic Recovery Listening Session will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the South Central College, Conference Center A, 1920 Lee Boulevard in North Mankato.

The Rochester session will be 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Rochester Public Library Auditorium, 101 2nd St., SE, Rochester.

The Luverne session will be 1 p.m. Friday at the Blue Mound Conference Center in Luverne.

The Mankato Free Pree reports Walz affirms House spending package:

An enormous spending and tax-cutting package that aims to revive the flagging U.S. economy passed the U.S. House Wednesday with the support of Congressman Tim Walz, who said the legislation was imperfect but necessary.

“This isn’t the solution to the economic situation we’re in,” Walz said. “This is the life preserver.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is the first major initiative of the Obama administration, passed the House 244-188 and would provide $819 billion for a range of tax credits and spending.  . . .

. . .Walz said he wasn’t comfortable with the enormous level of deficit spending in the bill and wished more of the spending was aimed at transportation projects and other construction.

“I think we would have been better served by having a lean and mean and understandable bill,” the Mankato Democrat said.

Instead, it’s a 670-page piece of legislation that aims money at health care for the poor and jobless, relief for cash-strapped state governments, funding for K-12 schools, grants to employ police officers and upgrades to the nation’s energy infrastructure. And there’s hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts and credits including $500 for all middle-and-lower-income workers, $1,000-per-child tax credits for the poor and $2,500 tax credits for college tuition.

But Walz, citing mounting layoffs nationwide including 75,000 announced in a single day this week, worried that the nation appeared to be headed toward a depression if Congress didn’t act.

“Our economy is in crisis and people are hurting,” Walz said in a statement released after the vote. “... This is one of those times in our history when doing too little poses a greater threat than doing too much.” . . .

KEYC-TV reports House Passes Stimulus Plan. The Winona Daily New says in Walz, Kind support $819 billion bill:

Walz, a Democrat who represents southern Minnesota, said he is “disappointed” that the stimulus plan will help boost the federal deficit to more than $1 trillion in fiscal-year 2009. Walz also admitted the measure doesn’t fund enough transportation projects and contains provisions that don’t belong in a stimulus bill, like an expansion of Medicare entitlements. But the bill would provide $685 million for transportation projects in Minnesota as selected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, according to a Walz statement.

Blueman Hal Kimball, who works as a cable guy, reacts to  Walz Votes Against DTV Date Change.