News
DFL Senate District News
Getting tired of the half-truths and scare tactics in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's television commercial?
You can thank their Regional Executive Vice President, Douglas Loon, who's an Eden Prairie resident ... and husband of House District 42B Representative and former collection agency lobbyist Jenifer Loon.
State Rep. Loon's win touted by the organization where she lobbied
ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, issued a news released Monday, November 10. As she did throughout the campaign, she calls her work making it easier for credit and collections agencies to pursue payment from deployed military personnel, and college students with loans "promoting small- or medium-sized business". Representing a house district will be different from her lobbying experience, as well as her partisan positions in Congress. We'll be watching her activities in the Legislature this session to see that she not only focuses on real small business that generate new ideas and jobs, but issues important to consumers using products and services produced by those small businesses.
Jenifer Loon endorsed by Conservation Minnesota even though she didn't support the Clean Water Amendment
In the final few weeks of the election, many of us received a series of postcard mailings from Conservation Minnesota stating that Jenifer Loon supported environmental issues. For those of us who attended the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, or watched it on television, we found this a concerning endorsement where she specifically stated that she didn't support the Clean Water Amendment. Why did an environmental organization spend multiple thousands of dollars supporting a candidate that didn't support this initiative and not endorse one who did? If you'd like to know, here's a link where you can e-mail the organization and ask them.
Sen. Hann States Minnesota's Roads are in Great Shape
At the confirmation hearing for Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, Sen. Hann not only says that Ms. Molnau is doing a great job, and it's political assassination to not confirm her. He also states Minnesota's roads are in great shape. Visit this page to hear his statement.
Sen. Hann Holds "Press Conference" Calling Senate Hearing on Atrazine Based on Delusion
On October 17, 2007, Sen. David Hann released a press commentary at a "press conference" at the Minnesota Capitol stating that a recent Senate Health, Housing and Family Security committee hearing "unreasonably implied government conspiracy" and compared concern with groundwater contamination by pest atrazine as comparable to people believing in alien abductions or that Elvis alive.
Atrazine is a pesticide banned in much of Europe due to its ability to enter the drinking water supply. According to the EPA, short term exposure to levels above the MCL cause congestion of heart, lungs and kidneys; low blood pressure, muscle spasms, weight loss and damage to adrenal gland. Long term exposure has the potential to cause weight loss, cardiovascular damage, retinal and some muscle degeneration and cancer.
At the end of this taping, Rep. Ken Tschumper, a farmer from southern Minnesota, contests Sen. Hann's statements. Take a look at the number of people in the room, and when Sens. Hann and Fischbach leave who leaves with them to get an idea of how much media was really attending.
Here's a link to the Minnesota Senate website where you can watch the video in either Real Media or Windows Media formats.
Sen Hann Calls Women's Earnings Gap "Absurd, Illogical and Irrational"
On May 17, 2007, our State Senator, David Hann stood on the Senate floor during discussion of SF1061 to ask if the bill was presented seriously. He stated he didn't believe in the gender earning gap. And, that he believes that if there is wage disparity it is because "women have children." If unmarried men's and women's income is compared, there is no disparity. He made this statement on Gender Equity day ... the date a typical woman has to work to in order to make an equal amount with a typical man. Don't believe us? Visit this page to listen.
Check out these websites for more facts on women's earnings compared to men:
American Association of University Women
Digital Commons @ Bryant University
Sen. Hann Votes Against Increasing Minimum Wage
The week of April 16, the Minnesota Senate voted on Senate File 875, which would increase the state’s minimum wage. This action is needed to ensure the state’s lowest paid workers see their income keep pace with the rising cost of living. Unfortunately, Sen. Hann voted against the increase, siding with big business rather than the people of Minnesota.
The minimum wage increase Sen. David Hann voted against was modest. It would incrementally increase the minimum wage to $7.75 for large employers and $6.75 for small employers by August of next year. By way of comparison, had the federal minimum wage set in 1968 kept pace with inflation, it would now be worth over $9.25 an hour.
Strengthening the minimum wage helps to ensure that working adults can take care of their families without relying on government programs. What’s more, raising the minimum wage actually stimulates local economies, since the lowest-wage workers typically spend every dollar they earn. What is Sen Hann most to: safe and secure families, less government spending, or improved local economies?
Sen. Hann 1 of 3 Voting Against Giving Dept. of Health Ability to Set Firmer Health Risk Limits
On April 17, the Senate voted 60 to 3 to describe the possible health effects from perflourochemicals found in water supplies and fish in the Twin Cities. Sen. Hann was one of three senators voting against the bill stating, "It furthers a sense of concern and hysteria that is not warranted."
New guidelines released April 16 state that due to concentrations of the chemicals perflurooctane sulfonate (PFOs) and perfluorchemicals (PFCs, people who eat bluegill sunfish from Lake Calhoun and several connected lakes limit their consumption to 1 meal per month. PFOs have also been found in bluegill, carp, channel catfish, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, white bass, northern pike and walleye in the Mississippi River. The Department is considering issuing more restrictive guidelines for women who are or who may become pregnant or children under age 15. To read the full Department of Health report, visit their website.
Sen. Hann Co-Host to"Climate Change" Symposium
On March 8, our state Senator and three other Republican Legislators acted as co-hosts for a Climate Change Symposium held at the Minnesota History Center. Speakers included Patrick Michaels, a fellow with the Cato Foundation; Prof. E. Calvin Beisner and James Taylor. All are on record as believing that what humans are doing isn't affecting the planet's weather. This matches what Sen. Hann stated at the 2006 League of Women Voters debate. See for yourself.
Minnesota News
ORTMAN, KOCH AND REPUBLICANS SAY:
KEEP THESE “THREATS” OUT OF MINNESOTA!
The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act:
- Ends pre-existing coverage exclusions
- The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act prohibits health insurers from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for children. The prohibition on pre-existing conditions expands to all Americans beginning in 2014.
- Closes the Medicare (Part D) “doughnut hole”
- Reduces the size of the “doughnut hole,” raising the ceiling on the initial coverage period by $500 in 2010, and sets 50% price discounts on brand-name drugs and biologics purchased by low and middle-income Medicare beneficiaries.
- Establishes small business tax credits
- Tax credits of up to 35% of premiums will be immediately available to firms that choose to offer coverage; later, when exchanges are operational, tax credits will be up to 50% of premiums.
- Ends lifetime limits on coverage
- Prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits.
- Ends annual limits on coverage
- The use of annual limits will be banned when exchanges are operational.
- Ends policy cancellations due to claims
- Stops insurers from rescinding insurance when claims are filed, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact.
- Prohibits discrimination based on salary
- Prevents group health plans from establishing any eligibility rules that discriminate in favor of higher-wage employees.
- Guarantees Patient Freedoms
- Protects patients’ choice of doctors by allowing plan members to pick any participating provider, prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization before a woman sees an ob-gyn, and ensuring access to emergency care.
- Emphasizes prevention
- Requires coverage of prevention and wellness benefits and exempts these benefits from deductibles and other cost-sharing requirements in public and private insurance coverage. Beginning on January 1, 2011, Medicare beneficiaries will receive a free, annual wellness visit and will have all cost-sharing waived for prevention services.
- Provides reinsurance for retiree health benefit plans
- Creates immediate access to reinsurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees. This reinsurance will help protect coverage while reducing premiums for employers and retirees.
- Makes sure more premium dollars go to health care
- Establishes standards for insurance overhead and requires public disclosure to ensure that enrollees get value for their premium dollars. Plans in the individual and small group market must spend at least 80% of premium dollars on clinical services and quality activities, and 85% for plans in the large group market.
- Extends dependent coverage for young adults
- Permits children to stay on family policies until age 26.
- Increases affordable coverage for the uninsured with pre-existing conditions
- Provides immediate federal support for a new program to provide affordable coverage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions.
- Expands access to quality care for vulnerable populations
- The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands investments in community health centers, expanding access to health care in communities where it is needed most.
Source: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Immediate Benefits http://dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill46.pdf
National News
Is Rep. Erik Paulsen supporting the middle class in Congress?
Not according to non-partisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy's themiddleclass.org.
As of February 10, 2010, here the grade he receives for supporting the middle class with his votee:
28%
Not very good. Want to check for yourself? Here's a link.
International Red Cross Report on US Torture
You've heard a lot about this in the news. Here's your chance to read the actual report showing that the Bush Administration did sanction torture.
The Truth About Tax Rates and the Current Cries of Socialism
In the March 8, 2009, issue of Washington Monthly, a truly stunning article appeared debunking the current Republican stance that President Obama's proposal to raise the top marginal tax rate to 39.6% (what it was during the Clinton years and where it was intended to return in 2011 with the Bush plan). The article included this chart:
The far right column shows the proposed rate from the Obama administration.
Take a look at the rate during President Eisenhower ... 91%. How about President Nixon ... 70%. Even President Reagan's first term ...50%.
And, keep in mind, that the Obama tax plan cuts taxes for 95% of working family, closes tax loopholes for oil companies, hedge funds and corporations that shop jobs overseas. Sounds like a good way to get the economy back on track, doesn't it?
The GOP had better get serious
My former Republican colleagues in the US House are headed to the wilderness for another 40 years if they continue their current path.
Following the lead of extremists like Rush Limbaugh is a prescription for disaster. But that's the course Republican leaders set when their whip declared the House Republican strategy will be to "Just Say No" to President Obama.
To se the folly of their strategy, Republican members need look no further than the Third Congressional District of Minnesota, which I was proud to represent for 18 years. In 2004, former President George W. Bush won our district by three percentage points. And then, base politics from the Karl Rove playbook became even more pronounced.
Four years later, President Obama swept our district by six points, a nine-point swing.
Thoughtful, Discerning voters are sick and tired of the politics of division. They want both sides to work together in a bipartisan, pragmatic and common-sense way on the critical problems facing our country.
It's time for my former colleagues to put right-wing base politics aside and work with the new Administration to grow the economy, create jobs, reform healthcare, education and energy policy, as well as successfully prosecute the war on terror.
Otherwise voters will continue to trust President Obama by an astonishing 35 points more than they trust congressional Republicans on the most pressing issues of the day.
That can only portend a long stay in the wilderness for the loyal opposition.
Jim Ramstad, former 3rd CD Rep. from 1991 to 2009
Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 6, 2009