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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, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about Minnesota congressional

Bachmann takes another shot at Obamacare

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 4, 2013 - 12:17 PM

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Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann began her fourth term in Congress Thursday by immediately filing another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act “in its entirety.”
 
There was no press announcement. Nor was it mentioned in a swearing-in day press release announcing staff changes, office locations, and a new Web site design.
 
The news came via her Twitter account: “At noon today, I introduced the first bill of the 113th Congress to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.”
 
The GOP-controlled House passed repeal legislation in the last session of Congress, though it wasn't the version authored by Bachmann, who often describes herself as the "tip of the spear" in the repeal effort. In any case, the bill never went anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
 
On the presidential campaign trail in 2011, Bachmann often told audiences in Iowa that defeating President Obama was the last best chance of undoing his signature health care law. But that doesn’t mean she won’t keep trying.
 
 

Peterson warns Boehner of 'fool's erand' on farm bill

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 4, 2013 - 11:44 AM

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Hopping mad about a stop-gap nine-month extension of current farm programs under the “fiscal cliff” deal, rural Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson fired off letters to House GOP leaders saying he sees “no reason why the House Agriculture Committee should undertake the fool’s errand” of writing another five-year farm bill in the new session of Congress.
 
Peterson’s letters to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thusday follow repeated refusals by GOP leadership to consider the Agriculture Committee’s bipartisan five-year farm bill during the last Congress and a “last-minute, backroom” nine-month farm bill extension that ignored the work of the House and Senate farm committees.
 

Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said that this time he wants an up-front written commitment from House leaders that any new farm legislation coming out of the committee will get a vote of the full House.

The letter is here:

 

Collin Peterson letter to Boehner

Bachmann casts a late vote for Speaker Boehner

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 3, 2013 - 6:01 PM

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U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann caused a minor stir during Thursday’s election for U.S. House Speaker, when she did not appear during a roll call vote to elect Ohio Republican John Boehner.

 
The Minnesota Republican’s name was called twice.
 
Boehner has had well-known troubles with the Tea Party wing of the Republican caucus over the “fiscal cliff” deal, and his reelection was less of a sure thing than these pro-forma session-opening votes usually are.
 
By the end of the roll call, 14 members had still not voted, and Boehner was still short of the 218 needed to remain House Speaker.
 
But the absent or not-voting members were called again, and on the second round Bachmann was on the House floor. She cast her vote for Boehner, and joined him later for the traditional swearing-in photo-op.
 
Message sent? Not according to Bachmann spokesman Dan Kotman. "There's nothing to read into it," he said.

Klobuchar and Franken vote 'yes' on fiscal cliff deal

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: January 1, 2013 - 7:39 AM

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Minnesota’s two Democratic senators cast yes votes on the late-night “fiscal cliff” agreement, which passed 89-8.
 
Sen. Al Franken, who faces reelection next year, expressed reservations about the reach of the deal in reducing debt and helping farmers. But he praised provisions such as tax cuts for the middle-class and the extension of unemployment insurance for the jobless.
 
He added that it was “crucial” to him that the deal worked out between the White House and Republican leaders did not make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
 
“While I don’t think this package raises sufficient revenues toward paying down the debt or to make the investments in infrastructure, education, and research and development needed to grow our economy, I knew that no bill would have 100 percent of what I wanted,” he said in a statement. 
 
 Sen. Amy Klobuchar also said she had wished for more.
 
“I voted for this compromise because the last thing we should be doing this New Year’s is sticking middle class families with a tax hike,” she said. “I fought for and wanted a larger, more comprehensive plan that balanced revenues and spending cuts.” 

Bachmann says Congress should forego pay raise

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 31, 2012 - 5:09 PM

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Staring into the abyss of the fiscal cliff deadline, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced legislation Monday that would rescind the portion of President Obama’s executive order that gives members of Congress a pay raise.

“At a time when families across the country are cutting back we should not increase government spending and add to the debt burden by giving members of Congress a pay raise," the Minnesota Republican said.

The announcement came as House leaders indicated they would not have a budget deal done by the midnight deadline, plunging the nation off the fiscal cliff.

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