Chris Schafer
Editor
Princeton Union-Eagle

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has heard plenty of concern from Minnesotans as she traveled the state last week.

Speaking before the ECM Editorial Board at the ECM Corporate Center in Coon Rapids on May 31, Klobuchar said the war in Iraq, gas prices and health care are the most common topics of concern. Iraq is especially concerning for citizens in greater Minnesota who have a higher percentage of loved ones in service, she said.

Klobuchar said the Democratic Congress is making progress on both issues.

In speaking on Iraq, Klobuchar said she has been frustrated with the lack of change in the situation and that she wanted timelines in the last war spending bill.

The approved bill contained no such time lines and Klobuchar said she reluctantly voted for legislation because the bill will deliver much-needed funds for veterans services.

Klobuchar is optimistic that legislation regarding a gradual troop withdrawal from Iraq, will be revisited soon. “A lot of Republicans are saying ‘the summer is it,’” Klobuchar said, adding that these same Republicans have pledged to look more critically at the war in the fall.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has only 49 votes, meaning Democrats need to pick up 10 more members to stop a filibuster and 18 more votes to override any veto by President Bush.

Regarding the gas issue, Klobuchar said she supports a price-gouging penalty for oil companies and that the government should take back the tax breaks the industry currently receives. Klobuchar said Congress will be pushing for higher gas mileage and environmental standards in new vehicles as well.

“We are currently spending $200,000 a minute on foreign oil,” she said, adding that the country must become more energy independent.

Beyond holding oil companies accountable, Klobuchar said the country must look at alternative fuel options. She said she has drafted a bill on Cellulosic Ethanol, which is made from switch grass and prairie grass and can be grown on marginal farmland.

She has also been a leader on the E-85 pump bill which will place more E-85 pumps in locations across the country. This will be a possible financial boon for Minnesota’s 16 ethanol plants, Sen. Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar said there has been “tremendous bipartisan support,” in Washington for environmental issues.

She added that she has been impressed with the bipartisan support in the senate overall.

“We spend a lot of time together,” she said, adding that some committees and even lunch tables force senators to sit in an alternating manner, Democrats and Republicans blended together.

She credits the bipartisan support with the passing of bills such as a minimum wage increase, the passing of the 9/11 recommendations, a pay-as-you-go budget and more math, science and technology classes in American schools.

She expects most bills from this legislative session will be signed into law by President Bush.

Now she is looking for more bipartisan support regarding the removal of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Klobuchar is one of a growing number of senators who have called for Gonzalez’s resignation.

For Klobuchar the issue is especially personal as her former Minnesota colleague, U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, was at one time targeted for termination by Gonzalez’s office. Klobuchar has called for an investigation into the Heffelfinger situation.

The debate on Gonzalez continues.

Klobuchar said her first session in Washington was marked by the family driving past million dollar homes, in their Saturn, on the way to their 1000 square-foot apartment and she still laughs when she speaks of her husband’s new-found roll in the congressional spouses’ club.

But the senator also said she is eager to return to Washington where she expects the fight to continue regarding Iraq, oil and Gonzalez.

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