So far, this is how Rep. Rick Nolan’s first week in Congress has gone: Get sworn-in on Thursday, take three votes on Friday, and then adjourn for a week.
In fact, the House is scheduled to be in session only six more days this month. Plus 11 days in February, for a grand total of 17 work days between now and the next “fiscal cliff” deadline on automatic (“sequester”) spending cuts.
“Farm interests and the lawmakers who excel at legislating them were rolled in the last-minute congressional haggling over a package to avoid the fiscal cliff.That appears to be Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson’s message after Congress passed a short-term extension of current farm policy instead of taking up either a longer-term bill or a more nuanced approach to federal support for dairy producers.
“As part of the fiscal cliff bill Congress passed on Tuesday, current farm policy is extended for nine months, setting a Sept. 30 deadline for legislative action on a long-term bill. The Senate passed a five-year farm bill over the summer, and the House Agriculture Committee did the same, but the bill never came to the House floor for a vote.” via MinnPost.
Reps. Peterson and Kline cross party lines on Fiscal Cliff vote.
A climactic showdown in the House on Tuesday night divided the Minnesota House delegation evenly, with centrist DFLer Collin Peterson joining Republicans Michele Bachmann, Chip Cravaack and Erik Paulsen in casting dissenting votes.
On the other side, Republican John Kline joined Democrats Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and Tim Walz in voting yes on the bill, which was approved in a bipartisan 257 to 167 vote.
“An effort aiming to establish a health center to serve underinsured and uninsured low-income residents was curtailed this year when Congress cut funding available for their creation.”
“Local supporters, however, still plan to move forward. They have developed a plan to improve the care offered to that target population,” reports the Bemidji Pioneer.
