Betty McCollum

Al Franken didn't want to talk gun control on Friday; Betty McCollum did

In the wake of a tragedy, when is it appropriate to start talking about its political implications?SEE ALSO:-- Betty McCollum speaks out on Arizona shootings [VIDEO]-- Al Franken doesn't want mobile app companies to sell your location data without permission Unfortunately, that's a question electe ... More >>

With Bachmann leading charge, controversial Stillwater bridge project approved by U.S. House

​We gotta give her credit -- Michele Bachmann got it done.Last week, Gov. Dayton wrote Bachmann a letter informing her that the state would reallocate money currently set aside for a new Stillwater bridge if the project wasn't approved by the U.S. House before March 15. With only a handful of legi ... More >>

New Stillwater bridge: As deadline and redistricting loom, pressure is on Bachmann

​After the upcoming election, Michele Bachmann will no longer represent Stillwater. Nonetheless, she remains "absolutely committed" to building a new Minnesota-to-Wisconsin bridge in the Stillwater area.Time is running short for the bridge design currently under consideration. In response to a let ... More >>

Bachmann may face tough reelection battle

Bachmann: From presidential front-runner to out of Congress in 14 months? It could happen.​Though it won't be for the office she was hoping for, Michele Bachmann may still face a tough election fight this November. Sometime between now and early June, Bachmann must decide whether to seek reelectio ... More >>

Betty McCollum wins military band spending battle

McCollum says the Pentagon doesn't need anymore band aid.​Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum looks at the $324 million requested by the Pentagon to fund its 5,000 professional musicians in 154 military bands, and she sees the possibility of saving the taxpayers some money. And the Republicans in ... More >>

Republican House redistricting map means more safe seats, "isn't about politics"

Rep. Sarah Anderson: It's not about politics. Seriously. It isn't.​Few people seriously believe Republican Rep. Sarah Anderson when she insists that the GOP's congressional redistricting plan "isn't about politics." The Republicans' proposed map unveiled in St. Paul yesterday is clearly redra ... More >>

Feds signing over $478 million in Central Corridor funds today

Federal funds grease the rails.​So it turns out the $478 million check really was in the mail. We were a little leery last week when St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman used his State of the City address to declare federal funding had been approved to cover half the cost of the Central Corridor ligh ... More >>

Betty McCollum doesn't hate NASCAR, just the Army sponsoring NASCAR

McCollum has touched a NASCAR nerve.​DFL Rep. Betty McCollum insists she does not hate NASCAR, she just can't figure out why taxpayers need to help sponsor a NASCAR driver and team already worth millions of dollars. Republicans have squelched her amendment to defund the $7 million program. Sh ... More >>

Betty McCollum promises to fight Michele Bachmann's bridge

McCollum promises to stymie Bachmann.​We have a congressional border spat. DFL Rep. Betty McCollum wants to know why, if Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the federal government are all broke, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann wants to build a $700 million bridge over the St. Croix River. Bachmann, who complain ... More >>

Downsize the Army NASCAR sponsorship: Comment Of The Day

Your tax dollars at work.​Rep. Betty McCollum isn't backing off her efforts to defund the U.S. Army's NASCAR sponsorship. Booyah, says commenter commonsensebroad. "If some business wants to waste their money "sponsoring" some sports thing, that's their problem - they have to answer to their ... More >>

Betty McCollum hits gas on defunding Army's NASCAR budget

NASCAR and the Army: Your tax dollars at work.​Rep. Betty McCollum found herself the target last week of a racist fax message after she tried to defund the U.S. Army's budget for sponsoring a NASCAR car, and Republicans put the kibosh on her effort. But the St. Paul Democrat has switched gear ... More >>

Betty McCollum guards Sesame Street and Republicans go Gonzo

Big Bird: Not worthy of your tax dollars?​Rep. Betty McCollum and some other House members stood on the Capitol steps with Elmo and Big Bird yesterday, deriding Republicans for trying to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's $451 million operating budget. PBS is an oasis in the va ... More >>

Betty McCollum threatened by racist fax after NASCAR comment [DOCUMENT]

Tax dollars for NASCAR? Betty McCollum says no.​Rep. Betty McCollum has become the target of some vile hate mail from a NASCAR fan. The St. Paul congresswoman just tried unsuccessfully to defund the U.S. Army's $7 million NASCAR car sponsorship, labeling it as a waste of taxpayer money. For ... More >>

Betty McCollum wants to defund Pentagon NASCAR sponsorship

McCollum isn't worried about NASCAR dads.​The biggest drags on the national debt are entitlements and military spending, and Rep. Betty McCollum thinks the Army's $7 million sponsorship deal with NASCAR is a fine place for the Pentagon trim spending. "It's just a waste of money," McCollum chi ... More >>

Al Franken issues hot dish challenge to Minnesota politicians

Politics makes strange kitchen mates. Who won Minnesota' congressional hot dish cook-off?​Politics in Washington can be pretty polarized these days, but among Minnesota's congressional delegation yesterday, it wasn't rhetoric that was heated, it was casserole. In the new and no doubt temporary s ... More >>

Betty McCollum speaks out on Arizona shootings [VIDEO]

Betty McCollum calls for an end to incendiary rhetoric in this video.​Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) on Monday decried the kind of heated political rhetoric that some are blaming for the Arizona shootings. McCollum held office hours Monday for people to express their sympathy and support for ... More >>

DADT passes House with help from Walz, Ellison, McCollum and Oberstar

Tim Walz speaks out in favor of repealing DADT.​The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Gay folk are one step closer to being able to serve their country in the military openly. Minnesota Democrats Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar and Tim ... More >>

Michele Bachmann likes earmarks. Just call them something else

This woman wants a bridge.​Tim Pawlenty got away with not raising taxes by redefining a "tax" as a "user fee." Now Michele Bachmann supports a redefinition of earmarks she likes, because those earmarks aren't really earmarks. They're, well, something else.

Jim Oberstar loses to Chip Cravaack in CD8

The race up north.​By the time we cut out early this morning, the Republicans were on their way to historic sweep in the House of Representatives, tossing out Democrats by the fistful. But  as the dust settled in seven out of the eight Minnesota congressional races, exactly nothing changed. ... More >>

Betty McCollum coasts to sixth House term [UPDATED]

Ready, steady Betty -- no surprises in District 4.​Rep. Betty McCollum has won a decisive victory in the 4th Congressional District against Republican Teresa Collett with 99 percent of the precincts reporting. Since this outcome was so unsurprising we figured we'd ask -- did anything about th ... More >>

John Kline and Erik Paulsen turn up noses at Michele Bachmann's tea

Bachmann hasn't yet convinced Kline and Paulsen to drink the tea ​Tea for thee? As of 9:30 a.m. today, no other member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota has signed on as a member Michele Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus, the official "receptacle" of people pissed off that democratic e ... More >>

Bachmann slams Obama on BP, so we follow the money

Photo: USCG/FlickrDeepwater Horizon's fiery demise​Rep. Michele Bachmann got her crazy on again this week, lobbing a factually-challenged verbal assault on the president for persuading BP to establish a $20 billion independent escrow account to administer claims against the oil giant for its d ... More >>

Betty McCollum seeks resolution for Peter Erlinder's release

McCollum reminds the Rwandan government of U.S. generosity in foreign aid​Will this help? Rep. Betty McCollum has introduced, and Keith Ellison has cosponsored, a U.S. House resolution calling on the Rwandan government to release accused genocide denier William Mitchell law professor Peter Erl ... More >>

Keith Ellison rates a "Most Wanted" in teabagger card deck

Keith Ellison, Nancy Pelosi and John McCain are among the "Most Wanted"​Looks like Rep. Keith Ellison's in trouble with some self-described constitutional experts at something called the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots in Virginia. He's one of 54 members of Congress, "Republicans and De ... More >>

Michele Bachmann defends "gangster" line to Geraldo Rivera (Video)

Beware of gangsters bent on saving the auto industry​Michele Bachmann has found a suitably attention-grabbing moniker for the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House: "Gangster government." And at various points in the past few weeks, she's drawn fire from the likes of everyone from Bi ... More >>

Jack Shepard for Congress? Fugitive felon wants in

​We could have had vampire Jonathon Sharkey for governor, but he took off for Florida. Maybe fugitive felon Jack Shepard for District 4 congressman? What could possibly go wrong? From Shepard's Web site, somewhere in Italy: "If you support: 1) The Legalization of Medical Marijuana, 2) An imm ... More >>

Sean Hannity and Michele Bachmann slag Bill Clinton and Betty McCollum

​It was open mic night again for Michele Bachmann last night on the Hannity show. The theme: How dare Betty McCollum and Bill Clinton fight back when we tar them and their party as anti-American socialists doing the bidding of a Chicago gangster running the White House? McCollum, you remember ... More >>

Betty McCollum hammers Michele Bachmann

Via WikipediaThe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after Timothy McVeigh's act of anti-government terrorism.​U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum raised eyebrows last week when she took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to ask certain unnamed colleagues to cool their overheated right-wing ... More >>

Betty McCollum calls out extremists ahead of OKC anniversary

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum​For a change of pace, we have a Minnesota congresswoman asking her colleagues to calm down and see the nation's affairs with a little perspective: Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum on the House floor Tuesday in support of a resolution marking the 15th anniversary of ... More >>

McCollum gets condom in mail and Ellison is smeared as "sambo"

​Keeping it classy, someone angry about the passage of health care reform -- and unwilling to identify themselves -- has mailed a condom to Rep. Betty McCollum's St. Paul district office with the declaration: "Betty McCollum you've been dry f***** by the liberal party." Maria Reppas, McCollum ... More >>

Decorum prevents Betty McCollum from calling out Joe Wilson

The good congresswoman almost took out Joe Wilson.

McCollum to host health care forum tonight in St. Paul

St. Paul welcomes all health care reform lovers, haters, and anyone who fears euthanasia by Obama.

McCollum announces service learning grant

Rep. McCollum and the Corporation for National and Community Service announced an environmental-friendly grant for middle schools.

Minnesota's U.S. House earmark requests available online

All Minnesota U.S. House members posted their requests on their site, except Rep. Michele Bachmann, according to watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. She is one of 71 members who has yet to post the data on their site.

National Journal: McCollum has most liberal voting record of 2008

How did the others in the Minnesota delegation stack up?

How Minnesota voted: House stimulus package revised

The U.S. House passed the revised $787 billion stimulus package today with a 246-183 vote.

How Minnesota voted: House stimulus package

The U.S. House passed their version of the $819 billion stimulus bill 244-188 on Wednesday. The bill passed without a single Republican vote.

Rep. Ellison on violence in Gaza, calls for U.S. to support peace

Besides Obama, Minn. Democrats didn't make any strides

Since when did the Republicans get so good at graphic design?

U.S. House passes bailout plan on second try

Bailout package: How the Minnesota delegation voted

America's leading pro-Israel lobby made a flag-pin wearer out of Obama...

Should students stand for Pledge of Allegiance?

A school board in western Minnesota is split

Minnesota's first Eritrean GOP nominee: Now you Sium, now you don't

8/5: Morning Communique

8/4: Morning Communique

Burn this bill

Tripping the Light Fantastic

At the Minnesota Fringe Festival