Last weekend's Transparency Camp was all about making data accessible to citizens. Their use of that data can range from playing gotcha to discovering new economic development resources to predicting votes in Congress. A new tool may assist in doing the latter on a coming vote in the House. Update: The Center for Responsible Lending has apparently revised its figures. When we review the revision, we'll update our own post according [end update]
Congress Matters's David Waldman noted noted on Friday that the House will be voting on H.R. 1106 this week, and that many Republicans representing district with higher foreclosure rates are likely to vote against the bill. We have been told that the vote may be delayed.
Waldman wrote:
Forty-one districts have 9,000+ projected foreclosures for the year. Fourteen are represented by Democrats. Twenty-seven of them (66%) are currently represented by Republicans. Discounting districts represented by first or early second term Democrats -- i.e., areas that were previously and traditionally Republican -- the number approaches 75%.
Waldman's analysis is drawn from the Center for Responsible Lending that lists Congressional-District-Foreclosure-Projections.
Top districts for foreclosure in Minnesota, where all districts are lucky even to be under the threshhold that Waldman examined? They're suburban, with the Second leading the way with a projected 7,154 foreclosures in 2009. In the Third, it's 6,614 homes, while the Sixth is third with 5,734. The least number of foreclosures are predicted in the Seventh (3,470) and the First (3,652).
We suspect that the differences in foreclosure rates in Minnesota districts reflect overall home buying and building patterns within the state, rather than the ideology of their representatives and residents. A mere hypothesis since we haven't looked at this that closely.
However, both the Seventh and the First also still enjoy fairly sound, locally controlled community banks. Late last summer, the president of my bank told me not one of the home buyers who had secured funding through his bank was in foreclosure. Not sure how the subsequent downturn has effected that figure.
The Mankato Free Press reports in Open Door to get $1.3M grant:
On Monday, Open Door officials found out that some of that money was coming to Mankato. Learning the news from a reporter, clinic Administrator Sarah Kruse declined to comment until she could verify that the funding decision was final.
“It was almost a too-good-to-believe kind of thing,” Kruse said.
The $1.3 million will be provided over two years and will result in hiring or contracting with a variety of health care providers including doctors, dentists, nurses, dental hygienists and others, she said. And it will mean the ability to serve countless people in need of care but without the means to pay the entire cost — a population that’s growing as the economy deteriorates.
“We’re already seeing more calls from people who have lost jobs and lost insurance or have lost jobs and can’t afford COBRA,” she said.
Open Door, with a budget of about $1.1 million last year, served about 3,000 people. Some received free care, while most are charged on a sliding-fee scale based on their ability to pay.
The clinic had been seeking the grant funds for years, last applying in December of 2007. Kruse said she learned that the most recent application qualified for funding but there wasn’t enough money appropriated to cover all of the qualifying grants. With the new money provided through the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services went through the applications that were well regarded but not funded, according to Meredith Salsbery, communications director for Congressman Tim Walz of Mankato.
. . .While Kruse wasn’t ready
to estimate Monday how many jobs would be created, she said there’s no
doubt that the funding would have a meaningful effect on the lives of
southern Minnesotans. Open Door has rarely marketed its services
because word of mouth has kept its paid staff and volunteers fully
booked.
The new money will allow the clinic to
reach out to those who need health care but are unaware of Open Door.
Kruse said it will be a challenge for the clinic staff to deal with a
sudden and unexpected increase in Open Door’s budget of more than 50
percent — one they’re thrilled to meet.
KAAL-TV also reported Walz Announces Funds to Open Door Health Center. In TheHill.com - The Noble Warrior agenda, Indiana Republican Steve Buyer writes:
Finally, I am delighted that soon Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) will join me in introducing a bill to increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for surviving spouses of seriously disabled veterans and military personnel who died while on active duty.
The Rochester Post Bulletin Healther Carlson notes the new National Journal vote ranking in her Political Notebook:
Ranking conservatives and liberals
National Journal Magazine is out with its annual rankings of U.S. Senate and House members. The magazine ranks members of Congress on a conservative-to-liberal scale based on 2008 votes. First District Democratic Rep. Tim Walz falls toward the middle of the pack, ranked 175th when it comes to liberal lawmakers in the 435-member House. By comparison, St. Paul Democrat Rep. Betty McCollum tied for first place with 11 other House members for the most liberal spot.
Second District Republican Rep. John Kline ranks among the most conservative members of the House, according to the report. Kline is ranked the 33rd most conservative member of the House.
In the Senate, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar was in the middle of the pack. Klobuchar was ranked 37th on the liberal scale in the 100-member Senate. The publication also included Norm Coleman, whose recount battle with Democrat Al Franken in the U.S. Senate race continues with news that seems to favor Franken as the eventual winner. Coleman was 39th on the conservative scale.
Walz's 2005 participation on Camp Wellstone gets a mention in Chhis Steller's article in the Minnesota Independent. We took part in the citizen activist training track of Camp Wellstone in 2005 and recommend it to everyone, regardless of political stripe. Knowing effective methods of persuading elected officials is a useful skill for citizens. The Farm Policy blog mentions Walz's reaction to Obama's proposed changes to the Farm Bill.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's School Beat mentions the re-introduction of the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act. Walz is one of three original co-sponsors; the bill is supported by the National Geographic Society. Last year, Walz was given the 2008 Geography Legislator of the Year Award by the group's Education Foundation. The Zumbrota News Record notes that Walz stopped at the Pine Island Economic Development Authority to hear updates about biobusiness. In today's video, Alberta Hunter dispenses a little advice:
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