SOURCE: STAR TRIBUNE
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
Last update: October 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - With support from a lone Republican, a key Senate committee Tuesday approved a middle-of-the-road health care plan that moves President Barack Obama's goal of wider and affordable coverage a giant step closer to becoming law.
Maine Republican Olympia Snowe said she was laying aside misgivings for now and voting to advance the bill, a sweeping $829-billon, 10-year health care remake that would help most Americans get coverage without creating a new government insurance plan. "When history calls, history calls," said Snowe.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called his bill "a commonsense, balanced solution." A distance runner, Baucus has endured months of marathon meetings to get this far. It's not the finish line.
Health care legislation is expected to be on the Senate floor the week after next, said a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. But it won't be the Baucus bill. Reid will combine the Finance version with a more liberal proposal from the health committee — with unpredictable results.
The vote in the Finance Committee was 14-9, with Snowe joining all 13 Democrats in support. In a sign of long political battles ahead, every other Republican voted against it.
The ultimate fate of the legislation hinges on how lawmakers decide dozens of unresolved issues, from letting government sell insurance to abortion coverage. Even some senators who voted for the Baucus bill said they have concerns it will deliver on providing access to affordable coverage for all.
As Snowe made clear, "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."
The Baucus plan would, for the first time, require most Americans to purchase insurance and it also aims to hold down spiraling medical costs over the long term. Questions persist about whether it would truly provide access to affordable coverage, particularly for self employed people with solid middle class incomes.
The Finance Committee's top Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, gave voice to the GOP's concerns about the bill, saying it was "moving on a slippery slope to more and more government control of health care."
"There's a lot in this bill that's just a consensus that needs to be done, but there are other provisions of this bill that raise a lot of questions," Grassley said, contending the legislation would mean higher costs for Americans.
The committee approval marked a personal victory for Baucus. Four other congressional committees finished their work before August, and for months all eyes had been on the Finance panel, whose moderate makeup most closely resembles the Senate as a whole.
Snowe kept Washington guessing about how she would vote until she announced it late in the debate Tuesday. Democrats, aware that Snowe could be the only Republican in Congress to vote for their health care overhaul, have spent months addressing her concerns about making coverage affordable and how to pay for it.
The committee's centrist legislation is also seen as the best building block for a compromise plan that could find favor on the Senate floor.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is whether the legislation would slow punishing increases in the nation's health care costs, particularly for the majority who now have coverage through employers. The insurance industry insists it would shift new costs onto those who have coverage.
Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, under questioning by Republican senators, acknowledged that the bill's total impact on the nation's health care costs is still unknown. The CBO has been able to establish that the legislation would reduce federal government deficits, but Elmendorf said his staff has not had time to evaluate its effects on privately insured people. Government programs pay about half the nation's annual $2.5 trillion health care tab.
Once the Finance Committee has acted, the dealmaking can begin in earnest with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., working with White House staff, Baucus and others to blend the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Baucus' bill includes consumer protections such as limits on copays and deductibles and relies on federal subsidies to help lower-income families purchase coverage.
Insurance companies would have to take all comers, and people could shop for insurance within new state marketplaces called exchanges.
Medicaid would be expanded, and though employers wouldn't be required to cover their workers, they'd have to pay a penalty for each employee who sought insurance with government subsidies. The bill is paid for by cuts to Medicare providers and new taxes on insurance companies and others.
Unlike the other health care bills in Congress, Baucus' would not allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies, a divisive element sought by liberals.
Last-minute changes made subsidies more generous and softened the penalties for those who don't comply with a proposed new mandate for everyone to buy insurance.
The latter change drew the ire of the health insurance industry, which said that without a strong and enforceable requirement, not enough people would get insured and premiums would jump for everyone else.
A major question mark for Reid's negotiations is whether he will include some version of a so-called public plan in the merged bill. Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders are working to finalize their bill, which does contain a public plan, and floor action is expected in both chambers in coming weeks. If passed, the legislation would then go to a conference committee to reconcile differences.
___
Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label US Senate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Senate. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Senator ends his 'tireless march'
To the American public, he was probably best known as the last brother in a family known for its political power.
By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times
Last update: August 26, 2009
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.
The death was announced early this morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.
"Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply -- died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port," the statement said. "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. ...He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him."
Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. His doctors determined the cause had been a malignant glioma, a brain tumor that often carries a grim prognosis. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death.
By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times
Last update: August 26, 2009
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.
The death was announced early this morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.
"Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply -- died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port," the statement said. "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. ...He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him."
Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. His doctors determined the cause had been a malignant glioma, a brain tumor that often carries a grim prognosis. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dead at 77
(CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died Wednesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He was 77.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died Wednesday at 77.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."
Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.
But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
"Senator Ted Kennedy's legacy in the United States Senate is comparable and consistent with the legacy of his entire family for generations," Kennedy's biographer, Ted Sorensen, said.
Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his state's two Senate seats. Watch why Kennedy sought change in state law »
Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.
Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter, dated July 2. Read Kennedy's letter
Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe.
Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes.
"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.
Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate, then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon.
Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second most-senior senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.
He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the unexpired Senate term of his brother, who became president in 1960. He won his first full term in 1964.
He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.
After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.
In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore. Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning.
Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to report the wreck immediately "indefensible."
Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when Republicans controlled the chamber.
Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change."
"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."
Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.
His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.
Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."
The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen, was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 1986 after more than 50 years in mental hospitals.
Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November 1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37.
"I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel (Robert's widow) will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."
Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.
In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.
Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island congressman.
Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before entering politics.
Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick, Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin from his second.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died Wednesday at 77.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."
Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.
But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
"Senator Ted Kennedy's legacy in the United States Senate is comparable and consistent with the legacy of his entire family for generations," Kennedy's biographer, Ted Sorensen, said.
Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his state's two Senate seats. Watch why Kennedy sought change in state law »
Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.
Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter, dated July 2. Read Kennedy's letter
Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe.
Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes.
"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.
Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate, then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon.
Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second most-senior senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.
He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the unexpired Senate term of his brother, who became president in 1960. He won his first full term in 1964.
He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.
After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.
In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore. Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning.
Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to report the wreck immediately "indefensible."
Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when Republicans controlled the chamber.
Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change."
"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."
Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.
His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.
Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."
The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen, was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 1986 after more than 50 years in mental hospitals.
Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November 1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37.
"I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel (Robert's widow) will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."
Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.
In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.
Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island congressman.
Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before entering politics.
Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick, Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin from his second.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Al Franken swearing in replay
If you missed watching Al Franken being sworn in on TV earlier today, there is a place that you can watch it online.
Al Franken swearing in on CSPAN
Al Franken swearing in on CSPAN
Monday, July 6, 2009
Senator Al Franken: Goodbye to the Class Clown
By all accounts, Sen.-elect Al Franken will downplay humor and focus on policy when he takes his seat.
By KEVIN DIAZ and PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: July 4, 2009 - 8:49 PM
After Al Franken is sworn in to the U.S. Senate this week, the nation will be watching to see how the former entertainer performs in a theater where cooperation trumps controversy and wise politicians survive wiseguys.
Preparing for his new role, one of the first people Franken sought out was Tamara Luzzatto, chief of staff for Hillary Clinton when she was in the Senate.
"A number of people have told me to study the Hillary model of being a senator," Franken said after they met last February. "Put your head down and do the work."
Franken appears determined to establish credibility as a serious lawmaker. No acerbic wit. No bombastic attacks on conservatives.
Goodbye Stuart Smalley, the goofy, mincing self-help guru from "Saturday Night Live." Hello, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
"We're going to see a new Al Franken," said analyst Steven Schier, who teaches politics at Carleton College. "Or at least the same Al Franken we've seen in recent months, an Al Franken on Valium, so to speak -- very low-key."
Franken's attempts at a muted tone will likely be tested by the news media horde that will greet his arrival in the Capitol, along with a jam-packed legislative agenda.
"It's going to be about as crazy as one can imagine," said longtime Franken friend and Congress observer Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Without a chance to catch his breath and ease into the job, Ornstein said, Franken's arrival will be "like being dropped into the middle of a tsunami."
He will also have to contend with an emerging Republican strategy to treat him as a symbol of the filibuster-proof super-majority that his victory could deliver to the Senate's Democratic caucus.
"What each party needs is a piñata from the other side," Schier said. "Clearly the Republicans are looking for a flamboyant, inviting target for their fundraising and media strategy, and Franken probably suits that role better than anybody on the Senate side."
Republicans will get plenty of help from conservative pundits outside Congress who want to keep a target on Franken's back.
"They're going to have some eager allies," Ornstein said, "Because [conservative talk show hosts] Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly have all felt his barbs."
Franken first made a splash as a political satirist with his 1996 book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (And Other Observations)." He initially dubbed his liberal talk radio show on Air America "The O'Franken Factor," just to goad O'Reilly. Fox News sued over the name and Franken won.
Franken's temperament also could be tested inside the Senate, which still places a premium on an old-school collegiality. One of his assignments is the Judiciary Committee, where some of the Senate's biggest egos delight in taking on judicial nominees and, occasionally, one another.
"If Franken can turn his edginess into a sort of frank authenticity, I think he can do well," said St. Olaf College political science Prof. Dan Hofrenning. "Some people might say that on the campaign trail he wasn't funny enough, wasn't edgy enough."
But on one occasion, he might have been a bit too edgy.
A former leader of Carleton College Democrats recalls Franken crossing the line in exchanges with a conservative student, Peter Fritz, over economic issues during a 2008 appearance in Northfield.
"Franken was aggressively challenging Peter on why he supported tax cuts," recalled Pablo Kenney, 22, who was president of Carleton Democrats. "He was ... dismissing his arguments in a very, in a light way, in a mocking way. I thought it was inappropriate ... the tone that he took with him."
Franken was "playing to the crowd," when he "probably should have just walked away from that conversation," said Kenney, who voted for Franken.
After Franken's appearance, spokesman Andy Barr was quoted in an e-mail saying that Franken recalled having a "spirited" conversation with a "College GOPer" at the urging of some of the student's Democratic friends. "Seemed like everyone was having a good time, or as good a time as you can have debating Reaganomics," Barr wrote.
Constituent work first
In Franken's first months in the Senate, battles over weighty national issues may take a back seat to the more parochial matters of constituent service.
Advisers such as Drew Littman, who organized Clinton's Senate office, have counseled Franken to focus on Minnesota issues and the details of policy.
"It's tempting in the Senate to see it as a place where you can work on any national issue," said Littman, Franken's new chief of staff. "He's going to dig in on the local stuff."
Clinton, who played down her celebrity as former First Lady, answered many of her early critics by working hard in the Senate and doing well for her adopted state of New York.
"With her, it was about whether she'd be a work horse or a show horse," Franken said, adding that he wants to copy Clinton's no-nonsense style, even at the risk of being boring.
"She came to her committee meetings well-prepared, she worked across party lines, and found areas of agreement. She impressed her colleagues as someone who was going to work, not take the spotlight."
Will he also copy her run for the White House?
"Not that part," Franken said.
To Littman, it's all about building relationships in the Senate. "Despite what they say on the campaign trail or in their fundraising letters, they don't care how ideological you are, as long as you're a reasonable person they can work with and you won't embarrass them."
Stance on health care
Franken has, at times, been decidedly left-of-center on health care, and once said he wanted to be a senator "so we can go to universal health care." During the campaign he said he supported a hybrid system where states cover their residents using federal funds and all minors fall under a single-payer system like Medicare, although he stopped short of an all-out endorsement of universal single-payer health care.
In an interview last week, Franken said he supports universal care that is "accessible and affordable."
Franken wrote in 2008 that he supports a cap-and-trade system for regulating carbon emissions, and he criticized the Bush administration for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol -- an international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
He would also like the country to launch an Apollo-style effort to fund research of renewable fuels -- especially corn and cellulosic ethanol, which have become a major business in Minnesota.
Franken's Judiciary Committee assignment will put him at the center of the looming confirmation debate over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Though it will not likely be an issue in that confirmation, Franken told Minnesota Public Radio in 2007 that he would "most likely vote against" a nominee opposed to Roe vs. Wade, the landmark abortion rights decision.
However Franken positions himself on the issues, his advisers say he will generally leave humor aside -- a prospect, they say, that might ultimately cause the national media to lose interest.
"It's basically about countering a set of expectations," Ornstein said. "I don't think he's going to have enormous difficulty overcoming that, because he is basically a policy wonk."
kdiaz@startribune.com • 202-408-2753 pdoyle@startribune.com • 651-222-1210
By KEVIN DIAZ and PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: July 4, 2009 - 8:49 PM
After Al Franken is sworn in to the U.S. Senate this week, the nation will be watching to see how the former entertainer performs in a theater where cooperation trumps controversy and wise politicians survive wiseguys.
Preparing for his new role, one of the first people Franken sought out was Tamara Luzzatto, chief of staff for Hillary Clinton when she was in the Senate.
"A number of people have told me to study the Hillary model of being a senator," Franken said after they met last February. "Put your head down and do the work."
Franken appears determined to establish credibility as a serious lawmaker. No acerbic wit. No bombastic attacks on conservatives.
Goodbye Stuart Smalley, the goofy, mincing self-help guru from "Saturday Night Live." Hello, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
"We're going to see a new Al Franken," said analyst Steven Schier, who teaches politics at Carleton College. "Or at least the same Al Franken we've seen in recent months, an Al Franken on Valium, so to speak -- very low-key."
Franken's attempts at a muted tone will likely be tested by the news media horde that will greet his arrival in the Capitol, along with a jam-packed legislative agenda.
"It's going to be about as crazy as one can imagine," said longtime Franken friend and Congress observer Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Without a chance to catch his breath and ease into the job, Ornstein said, Franken's arrival will be "like being dropped into the middle of a tsunami."
He will also have to contend with an emerging Republican strategy to treat him as a symbol of the filibuster-proof super-majority that his victory could deliver to the Senate's Democratic caucus.
"What each party needs is a piñata from the other side," Schier said. "Clearly the Republicans are looking for a flamboyant, inviting target for their fundraising and media strategy, and Franken probably suits that role better than anybody on the Senate side."
Republicans will get plenty of help from conservative pundits outside Congress who want to keep a target on Franken's back.
"They're going to have some eager allies," Ornstein said, "Because [conservative talk show hosts] Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly have all felt his barbs."
Franken first made a splash as a political satirist with his 1996 book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (And Other Observations)." He initially dubbed his liberal talk radio show on Air America "The O'Franken Factor," just to goad O'Reilly. Fox News sued over the name and Franken won.
Franken's temperament also could be tested inside the Senate, which still places a premium on an old-school collegiality. One of his assignments is the Judiciary Committee, where some of the Senate's biggest egos delight in taking on judicial nominees and, occasionally, one another.
"If Franken can turn his edginess into a sort of frank authenticity, I think he can do well," said St. Olaf College political science Prof. Dan Hofrenning. "Some people might say that on the campaign trail he wasn't funny enough, wasn't edgy enough."
But on one occasion, he might have been a bit too edgy.
A former leader of Carleton College Democrats recalls Franken crossing the line in exchanges with a conservative student, Peter Fritz, over economic issues during a 2008 appearance in Northfield.
"Franken was aggressively challenging Peter on why he supported tax cuts," recalled Pablo Kenney, 22, who was president of Carleton Democrats. "He was ... dismissing his arguments in a very, in a light way, in a mocking way. I thought it was inappropriate ... the tone that he took with him."
Franken was "playing to the crowd," when he "probably should have just walked away from that conversation," said Kenney, who voted for Franken.
After Franken's appearance, spokesman Andy Barr was quoted in an e-mail saying that Franken recalled having a "spirited" conversation with a "College GOPer" at the urging of some of the student's Democratic friends. "Seemed like everyone was having a good time, or as good a time as you can have debating Reaganomics," Barr wrote.
Constituent work first
In Franken's first months in the Senate, battles over weighty national issues may take a back seat to the more parochial matters of constituent service.
Advisers such as Drew Littman, who organized Clinton's Senate office, have counseled Franken to focus on Minnesota issues and the details of policy.
"It's tempting in the Senate to see it as a place where you can work on any national issue," said Littman, Franken's new chief of staff. "He's going to dig in on the local stuff."
Clinton, who played down her celebrity as former First Lady, answered many of her early critics by working hard in the Senate and doing well for her adopted state of New York.
"With her, it was about whether she'd be a work horse or a show horse," Franken said, adding that he wants to copy Clinton's no-nonsense style, even at the risk of being boring.
"She came to her committee meetings well-prepared, she worked across party lines, and found areas of agreement. She impressed her colleagues as someone who was going to work, not take the spotlight."
Will he also copy her run for the White House?
"Not that part," Franken said.
To Littman, it's all about building relationships in the Senate. "Despite what they say on the campaign trail or in their fundraising letters, they don't care how ideological you are, as long as you're a reasonable person they can work with and you won't embarrass them."
Stance on health care
Franken has, at times, been decidedly left-of-center on health care, and once said he wanted to be a senator "so we can go to universal health care." During the campaign he said he supported a hybrid system where states cover their residents using federal funds and all minors fall under a single-payer system like Medicare, although he stopped short of an all-out endorsement of universal single-payer health care.
In an interview last week, Franken said he supports universal care that is "accessible and affordable."
Franken wrote in 2008 that he supports a cap-and-trade system for regulating carbon emissions, and he criticized the Bush administration for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol -- an international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
He would also like the country to launch an Apollo-style effort to fund research of renewable fuels -- especially corn and cellulosic ethanol, which have become a major business in Minnesota.
Franken's Judiciary Committee assignment will put him at the center of the looming confirmation debate over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Though it will not likely be an issue in that confirmation, Franken told Minnesota Public Radio in 2007 that he would "most likely vote against" a nominee opposed to Roe vs. Wade, the landmark abortion rights decision.
However Franken positions himself on the issues, his advisers say he will generally leave humor aside -- a prospect, they say, that might ultimately cause the national media to lose interest.
"It's basically about countering a set of expectations," Ornstein said. "I don't think he's going to have enormous difficulty overcoming that, because he is basically a policy wonk."
kdiaz@startribune.com • 202-408-2753 pdoyle@startribune.com • 651-222-1210
Monday, June 15, 2009
Klobuchar to introduce 'dig once' bill
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Associated Press
Last update: June 15, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS - Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she doesn't want drivers to be inconvenienced by road construction any more than they have to be. So she's introducing a "dig once" bill.
Klobuchar's bill would require that underground broadband conduits be installed at the same time as any federally funded transportation project.
The conduits house fiber-optic cables that carry high-speed, high-capacity communications.
Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, says the Federal Highway Administration estimates that 90 percent of the cost of deploying broadband is due to digging up and repairing the road.
Her bill initially will be heard by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Klobuchar is a member of that committee.
Associated Press
Last update: June 15, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS - Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she doesn't want drivers to be inconvenienced by road construction any more than they have to be. So she's introducing a "dig once" bill.
Klobuchar's bill would require that underground broadband conduits be installed at the same time as any federally funded transportation project.
The conduits house fiber-optic cables that carry high-speed, high-capacity communications.
Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, says the Federal Highway Administration estimates that 90 percent of the cost of deploying broadband is due to digging up and repairing the road.
Her bill initially will be heard by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Klobuchar is a member of that committee.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Minn. court orders Coleman to pay $95,000 to Franken
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Associated Press
June 10, 2009
Republican Norm Coleman owes Democrat Al Franken $94,783 stemming from his Minnesota Senate election lawsuit, with the amount subject to interest.
A Ramsey County court administrator officially entered the judgment on Wednesday. It's a holdover from the two-month trial that ended with Franken up by 312 votes.
Minnesota law required Coleman to cover some of Franken's court costs because he didn't change the outcome of the race. The judgment excludes Franken's attorney fees.
Franken's lawyers had pressed for as much as $161,500.
The one-page declaration says interest will accrue from the day the judgment was entered until it's paid off.
The Minnesota Supreme Court is still considering Coleman's appeal and hasn't said when it will rule. The court held oral arguments in the case on June 1.
Associated Press
June 10, 2009
Republican Norm Coleman owes Democrat Al Franken $94,783 stemming from his Minnesota Senate election lawsuit, with the amount subject to interest.
A Ramsey County court administrator officially entered the judgment on Wednesday. It's a holdover from the two-month trial that ended with Franken up by 312 votes.
Minnesota law required Coleman to cover some of Franken's court costs because he didn't change the outcome of the race. The judgment excludes Franken's attorney fees.
Franken's lawyers had pressed for as much as $161,500.
The one-page declaration says interest will accrue from the day the judgment was entered until it's paid off.
The Minnesota Supreme Court is still considering Coleman's appeal and hasn't said when it will rule. The court held oral arguments in the case on June 1.
Monday, April 13, 2009
FRANKEN WON AND COLEMAN LOSES.
According to court today, Al Franken has won after grueling 7 weeks in court. Judges have announced that Franken is the winner. As for Norm Coleman, he decided to appeal at the Minnesota Supreme Court.
For months I have been not involved with US Senate race drama because I just don't want to be involved.
KARE 11 on court's decision.
Since the election certificate isn't signed, Franken can't be Senator unless Coleman drop his appeal.
For months I have been not involved with US Senate race drama because I just don't want to be involved.
KARE 11 on court's decision.
Since the election certificate isn't signed, Franken can't be Senator unless Coleman drop his appeal.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Update on Kennedy's condition
Update on Kennedy story I broke out earlier today. US Senator Ted Kennedy had mild seizure at today’s luncheon but are expected to be discharged tomorrow after overnight of observation at a hospital.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale was sitting at same table as Kennedy and they was trading stories about US Senate then somehow he suddenly had seizure.
Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and John Kerry D-Massachusetts accompanied Kennedy to an ambulance.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale was sitting at same table as Kennedy and they was trading stories about US Senate then somehow he suddenly had seizure.
Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and John Kerry D-Massachusetts accompanied Kennedy to an ambulance.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Franken Camp requested certificate to take seat
Al Franken's campaign requested Governor Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to grant him certificate so he could be in United States Senate. Right now Minnesota have only one Senator, Amy Klobchar just for now until the court settle down on lawsuit that was bought by Former US Senator Norm Coleman.
Attorneys for Franken said that 7 days waiting period has passed and Franken was supposed to get signed certificate so he could go to Washington DC. The State law says that a candidate have seven day waiting period after final counting.
Gov. Pawlenty rather not to issue Franken the certificate until Coleman's lawsuit action are done and then they will see what will happen. A trial on lawsuit shall be taken up within three weeks after a person filed a lawsuit according to state law. As for Coleman's case, He will have three judges hearing his case and they haven't selected judges yet.
Attorneys for Franken said that 7 days waiting period has passed and Franken was supposed to get signed certificate so he could go to Washington DC. The State law says that a candidate have seven day waiting period after final counting.
Gov. Pawlenty rather not to issue Franken the certificate until Coleman's lawsuit action are done and then they will see what will happen. A trial on lawsuit shall be taken up within three weeks after a person filed a lawsuit according to state law. As for Coleman's case, He will have three judges hearing his case and they haven't selected judges yet.
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