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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Glen Stubbe. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about 2nd District

White House threatens to veto Kline's student loan bill

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: May 22, 2013 - 5:33 PM

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The White House has threatened to veto a student loan bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., which would replace the current fixed rates with floating rates tied to government borrowing costs.
 
Kline expressed disappointment in the White House action, saying his bill is based on President Obama’s own proposal to move to a market-based interest rate, rather than one dictated by Congress. The House is scheduled to vote on Kline’s plan on Thursday.
 
But Democrats and student groups worry about subjecting students to variable interest rates without easier repayment terms and other protections in the White House plan.
 
Democrats have rallied around a plan to freeze the current government-mandated rate of 3.4 percent for two years to buy time for the long-term solution both sides say they want. Without some agreement, the rate is scheduled to double to 6.8 percent on July 1.

Democrat Sona Mehring will not challenge Kline for Congress

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: April 24, 2013 - 4:40 PM

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Sona Mehring

Sona Mehring

Sona Mehring, a political newcomer who founded the CaringBridge website, won national attention this month earlier this month when she said she would challenge Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline. 

Now, just three weeks into a run, the Democrat says she is dropping out of the race.

"The level of enthusiasm and people’s confidence in me was humbling," she said in a statement. "However, I realize my true passion still was with CaringBridge... I came to the tough conclusion that my work with CaringBridge was not done and I needed to end my candidacy for Congress."

U.S. Rep. John Kline

U.S. Rep. John Kline

Mehring said in early April that she had stepped down from CaringBridge, which helps people who are ailing connect with their loved ones, to run for Congress. Now, she will return.

She said she will return any campaign contribution she has received.

Her departure leaves, for now, the Democratic race against Kline to Mike Obermueller, a former state representative who challenged Kline last year. 

In the weeks since Mehring first said she would run, Kline decided he would run for re-election. He had previously left open the possibility that he would make a bid for Minnesota governor against Democrat Mark Dayton or U.S. Senate against Al Franken.

Mike Obermueller

Mike Obermueller

Republicans reject mininum wage push on Kline jobs bill

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: March 15, 2013 - 5:20 PM

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The U.S. House on Friday rejected a Democratic attempt to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, with all three Minnesota Republicans and one Democrat siding against the increase.
 
The 233 to 184 vote represented a defeat for a significant element of President Obama’s State of the Union agenda, though the White House had called for a smaller increase – from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour.
 
DFLer Collin Peterson was among six Democrats from conservative-leaning districts who voted against the measure, which Democrats tried to attach to a jobs bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.
 
Peterson, however, ended up voting against the underlying GOP workplace bill.
 
Kline, along with Minnesota Republicans Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen, voted against the wage increase.
 
The Democrats’ plan would have raised the minimum gradually over three years, which they say would benefit 30 million workers and improve the economy by increasing consumer spending power.
 
Republicans argued that the measure would do just the opposite.
 
"We need jobs out there,” Kline said. “The best approach right now is to get federal spending under control and government out of the way of the nation's job creators."
 
Kline’s bill, called the SKILLS Act, would consolidate 35 federal programs for job training, adult education and literacy education into a single, broad-based workforce program to be administered by the states.
 
That overall bill passed on a 215-202 largely party-line vote, with Peterson switching back to vote with the Democrats.

Kline under fire over fundraiser for scandal-plagued Tennessee congressman

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: March 14, 2013 - 4:06 PM

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U.S. Rep. John Kline, a six-term Minnesota Republican who is seen as a potential statewide candidate, came under fire from Democrats Thursday for lending his name to a fundraiser for an embattled Tennessee congressman accused in court papers of pressing his mistress to get an abortion.
 
Kline and Tennessee Republican Scott DesJarlais run as opponents of abortion rights.  DesJarlais, a medical doctor, won a second term in November just as reports surfaced from a decade-old divorce case alleging that he had had an affair with a patient and pressured her to have an abortion.
 
Court papers released by the Tennessee Democratic Party shortly after his November re-election over Democrat Eric Stewart show that while practicing medicine, DesJarlais dated several patients, arranged with one to get an abortion, and agreed to an abortion for his then-wife.
 
"Congressman Kline's support for disgraced, Tea Party hypocrite Scott DesJarlais is just one more example of how out of touch Kline is with Minnesota,” said Andy Stone, a spokesman for the House Majority PAC, a Democratic aligned Super Pac that is targeting Kline in next year’s congressional elections.
 
Kline’s office said he was never scheduled to attend the March 19 fundraiser, and does not plan to attend. Kline’s name, however, appears as a host, along with GOP Reps. Darrell Issa of California and Frank Lucas of Oklahoma. A copy of the invitation, obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, lists tickets at $500 per person and $1,000 for political action committees.
 
All three listed hosts chair House committees. Kline is chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, which includes DesJarlais.
 
Kline spokesman Troy Young suggested that Kline’s role as host was merely an outgrowth of their committee work. “Kline has a working relationship with all of the members on his Education and the Workforce Committee,” he said.
 
But House Democrats argue that even if Kline doesn’t directly raise cash for DesJarlais at the event, lending his name is a show of support that sends a message to potential donors seeking influence with a powerful committee chairman.
 
"Congressman Kline has gone Washington,” said Brandon Lorenz of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). “Not only is he supporting a scandal-plagued Tea Party extremist like Scott Desjarlais, he's also helping him line his campaign war chest.”
 
DesJarlais told Nashville television station WKRN in January that "God has forgiven” him, and asked "constituents and fellow Christians to do the same."
 
According to the Times Free Press, he already faces a 2014 GOP challenge from state Sen. Jim Tracy, and a “likely challenge” from state Rep. Joe Carr.

U.S. House Democrats walk out on Kline job training agenda

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: March 6, 2013 - 11:41 AM

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Democrats walked out on U.S. Rep. John Kline’s Education and the Workforce Committee Wednesday morning to protest a GOP bill that would consolidate federal job-training programs.
 
The Minnesota Republican, who chairs the committee, accused the Democrats of putting politics ahead of business:  “Democrats abdicated their responsibility and demonstrated their unwillingness to engage in the legislative process,” he said. “Rather than present their ideas, Democrats offered a rote defense of the status quo and political theatrics.”
 
Ranking Democrat George Miller of California argued that the GOP jobs and training bill would indiscriminately cut program funding. Democrats also raised procedural objections.
 
The bill would consolidate 35 programs into a Workforce Investment Fund, with money distributed to states through block grants.

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