amy klobuchar

With 7,000 Americans exhausting their unemployment insurance (UI) each day, Senate Democrats are hoping this week to pass legislation extending those benefits nationwide — a bill that’s been held up for weeks while upper-chamber leaders haggle over a series of controversial Republican amendments. First, though, those Democrats are taking every opportunity to place the blame [...]

The hospitals have pledged more than $150 billion over a decade. Drug makers have chipped in another $80 billion. And the medical device manufacturers’ voluntary contribution to health reform? $0.
Indeed, as The Washington Post reported over the weekend, that failure to lend a financial hand for the sake of fixing the broken health care [...]

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, introduced the cloture vote on Cass Sunstein’s nomination by addressing some of the conservative movement-driven attacks on him and rebutting them with letters from conservative supporters. “This is one of those nomination,” said Lieberman, “that I think has become unnecessarily controversial.” [...]

Here’s a brief summary of the day’s health care news.
President Obama is slated to address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 9 to lay out more detailed demands for health care reform, ABC News reported today. The move — which came on the heels of a written invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [...]

From The Minnesota Independent:
“The Census has a profound impact on Minnesota’s communities,” [Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)] said in a statement. “It’s important that every Minnesotan is counted, so we get our fair share of congressional seats and federal funding.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has vowed not to fill out a full census because the Association of [...]

If you’re among the 98.3 percent of the U.S. population that resides outside The North Star State, you’re probably confused by the “DFL” label you keep seeing alongside Al Franken’s name. (You also probably didn’t know that Minnesota was The North Star State — isn’t this educational?) So let me give you a quick history [...]

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune points out today what we did yesterday: Senate Democrats — having made state-based election certification a mandatory condition for seating Illinois appointee Roland Burris — might be waiting awhile for the arrival of Minnesota Democrat Al Franken. From the Star-Tribune:
Democratic leaders made Burris’ claim on the seat contingent on his ability to [...]