Who’s doing what this Congressional recess

[Note: this story originally appeared in the July 31 edition of The Weekly Report.]

Vacation, all [they] ever
wanted, vacation, had to get away."
Minnesota members of Congress may be getting
away from Washington, but they sure won’t be
getting away from their work. With Congress’
August recess now underway, we checked in
with our MN delegation to see what they’re
all up to until reconvening in September.

[Neither U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's
(D-MN) nor U.S. Sen. Al Franken's
office (D-MN) returned our three phone calls
to each office.]

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN1). Walz plans
to be very busy in his district with one
exception. He’ll be delivering a speech to
the American Legion’s national convention,
which is in Louisville, Kentucky. [Walz is a
Legionnaire and member of the House Committee
on Veterans Affairs.] One focus of his
in-district travels will be to check out how
the projects he earmarked are progressing.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu will
join Walz August 3 in Rochester to examine
three renewable energy projects: a mobile
ethanol plant, solar cars from MSU-Mankato
and a wind turbine training facility. For a
little entertainment, he’ll watch the
(Favre-less) action at Vikings
training camp in Mankato with his kids,
Hope, 8, and Gus, 3.

U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-MN2). Kline,
too, has a busy district meeting schedule. As
the new ranking member of the U.S. House
Education and Labor Committee, Kline will
focus on meeting with the interest groups and
places in his district with issues under the
jurisdiction of this committee.

U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN3).
Paulsen will be busy with roundtable
discussions throughout August. His Third
District constituents will chime in on a
variety of topics, including health care,
small business and medical technology. His
office says he’ll meet with mayors from the
Third, as well as visiting local businesses
and advocacy groups. There may be just enough
time for some classic Minnesota summer fun,
too: a camping trip with his wife and four
daughters.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN4).
McCollum will spend August recess checking in
with her constituents and the new projects
funded in her district. This coming Monday,
she’ll be on site in the city of Oakdale at
the construction of an amphitheater funded in
part by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act. August 6 will find her in
Roseville, meeting with local leaders on the
House-approved $1 million land use changes in
the Twin Lakes area. McCollum is sure to
enjoy the festivities as she oversees the
proceedings at New Brighton’s Stockyard Days
Parade as grand marshal.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5). The
Minneapolis congressman has a ton on his
plate for August, starting with a health care
forum August 1. He’ll be heavily involved
with the media; his office has scheduled
editorial meetings with the Star
Tribune, Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder, La Prensa,
Lavender and others, plus interviews
on the calendar with KMOJ, M’Shale, Comcast
Newsmakers, Access to Democracy, Insight
News, KFAI and the African American Registry.
Ellison is scheduled to speak to the JCRC,
Hopkins and Golden Valley city council
meetings, and more. He’s in demand by lots of
groups and orgs, and will meet on Minneapolis
economic development, global poverty, police,
business and more. There’ll be family time,
of course, and Ellison will catch up on his
CLEs (that’s Continuing Legal Education) to
maintain his law license. His office tells us
that C-SPAN has expressed interest in
following Ellison for a couple of days at
some of these events.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6).
Bachmann will be making the most of her
August with a variety of appearances. She’ll
begin the recess with a trip to Israel with
about 20 other members of Congress. Back in
Minnesota, she has a series of appearances
scheduled in her district. There’ll be
meetings with constituents, a town hall on
health care and speeches. Bachmann also is
planning a women’s forum on Social Security
in St. Cloud, the second such event in her
district this year.

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN7).
Sorry, we can’t help ourselves: The one thing
Peterson won’t be doing is holding town
meetings. However,
Peterson does plan to spend the entire time
in his district meeting with constituents and
interest groups.

U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8).
Oberstar is still solidifying plans for the
recess. He is planning a trip to the Twin
Cities in early August to discuss the federal
stimulus, intends to travel the Eighth
District talking about health care, and will
attend a transportation conference in New
York. There may be a couple of days left over
for riding his bike, but Oberstar "won’t be
sitting back with bonbons."