A no-win vote on the AMT: 'It's an ad made in heaven'
WALZ: Navigating the tricky political middle ground
By KEVIN DIAZ, Star Tribune
With Congress rushing to adjourn for the holidays, Tim Walz confronted the kind of uncomfortable choice that defined his first year in the U.S. House.
The Minnesota Democrat could vote to stop the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax from catching up with 20 million taxpayers next year. Or he could vote to kill a so-called temporary "patch" that would suspend the tax but blow a $50 billion hole in the federal budget.
Walz voted against the patch, and against the tax relief that went with it, taking an unpopular stance he knew would lose soundly while still playing into the hands of his Republican opponents.
"It's an ad made in heaven for them," Walz said, sighing.
(More here.)
By KEVIN DIAZ, Star Tribune
With Congress rushing to adjourn for the holidays, Tim Walz confronted the kind of uncomfortable choice that defined his first year in the U.S. House.
The Minnesota Democrat could vote to stop the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax from catching up with 20 million taxpayers next year. Or he could vote to kill a so-called temporary "patch" that would suspend the tax but blow a $50 billion hole in the federal budget.
Walz voted against the patch, and against the tax relief that went with it, taking an unpopular stance he knew would lose soundly while still playing into the hands of his Republican opponents.
"It's an ad made in heaven for them," Walz said, sighing.
(More here.)
Labels: Tim Walz
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1 Comments:
Did you also see Diaz’s story on Keith Ellison ? Did you notice difference between how Diaz has compared Ellison and Walz :
Ellison “scored a 96 percent record of voting with his Democratic majority”
“Republicans can bolster that case by pointing to Walz's 96 percent record of voting with Democratic leadership positions over the past year”
Those two comparisons are not the same
Ellison is compared to the Democratic majority while Walz is the Democratic leadership … the difference is if you define Pelosi as the Democratic leadership, I believe that you will find that Walz and Pelosi both have voted opposite of the Democratic majority. For example Roll Call 1183 (the AMT vote) was 157 to 64 for the Dems. Ellison voted with the Democratic majority but Walz / Pelosi / Hoyer / Emmanual voted against the Democratic majority. In the Hastert/Delay world, very few Republicans would ever vote against the majority of the caucus. Pelosi has let issues be voted on by the members without fear of retribution
Walz has voted on a number of key votes against the Democratic majority … which in my minds says that he is an “independent leader for Southern Minnesota
And in reality with 1186 roll call votes to date, how many are truly important? Diaz should have pointed to just the most significant votes. Why didn’t he compare how Bachmann/Ellison/Walz approached funding and response for disasters in the state … we’ve had a few … it should have been easy but not as easy as interviewing a few critics who can supply all the ammo needed
As a point of comparison, Diaz should look at Bachmann. There are many examples where she (and John Kline) voted in opposition to a majority of Republicans … so Walz is outside Minnesota values but Bachmann doesn’t even get a mention even though she is so far outside that she even Republicans don’t agree with her on the issues.
I wrote about Dick Day’s comment and my support for Walz’s vote in my
Fiscal Responsiblity in Minnesota's First District ... FINALLY !
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