Exclusive: Emmer faces full plate in Washington
WASHINGTON – St. Cloud’s first new member of Congress in almost a decade is set to take the oath of office Tuesday, and Rep.–elect Tom Emmer will have a full plate from the start.
House leadership says members will be voting this week on three pieces of legislation, including a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline, and two whittling away at some provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The Delano Republican has additional responsibilities with his spots on the House agriculture and foreign affairs committees.
“I’m incredibly relaxed for whatever reason,” Emmer said in an interview Monday in his new Capitol Hill office. “It feels good. I’m ready to work.”
He hadn’t expected the foreign affairs appointment. He had initially requested assignment to committees overseeing financial services and transportation, an issue that was a cornerstone of his campaign. So over the next few weeks, he will be attending intensive briefings on foreign policy covering everything from North Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan and the battle against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Emmer says he has general opinions on those fronts, but wants to learn more before casting a vote or taking public positions.
“I don’t have the benefit of the information that a lot of people here have,” he said. “I would guess that within the next couple of weeks at the minimum and probably within the next month as a maximum, I’ll be able to say, ‘This is where I’m at.’”
In agriculture, Emmer says he plans to look out specifically for Minnesota’s dairy industry, noting that Stearns County ranks first in Minnesota and 21st in the nation for dairy production. He said he hopes to help protect the industry’s interests in trade pacts being negotiated with Europe and almost a dozen Asian-Pacific countries.
“There are issues when it comes to a fair playing field,” he said.
As for the transportation projects he had hoped to fight for, including funding for expanding Interstate Highway 94 from Rogers to St. Cloud, Emmer said he still plans to do that by working with other members on transportation and funding committees. He said he has already spoken with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who sits on the Senate committee overseeing transportation.
As for the House votes this week, Emmer has already taken public positions in favor of the Keystone pipeline and against the Affordable Care Act. One measure would revise the hourly threshold over which businesses have to provide workers health insurance from 30 hours to 40 hours per week. Another would allow businesses to hire veterans with existing coverage and not have them count toward the threshold over which businesses must provide insurance.
Before Emmer gets down to work this week, though, there are the swearing-in events. Emmer’s wife and their seven children traveled to Washington for the festivities, which began Sunday evening with a Capitol Hill reception for supporters, future staff members and even Democrats Klobuchar and Rep. Collin Peterson.
“I appreciate that he wants to work on bread-and-butter issues,” Klobuchar said at the reception, adding that she is impressed that Emmer has already reached out to her and other Minnesota Democrats.
Emmer said he has been impressed by the congeniality within the congressional delegation. The delegation is listed as a co-host of another welcome party for him Tuesday at the Capitol. But perhaps the most unexpected gestures weren’t planned. Peterson offered to give Emmer his only guest ticket to the official swearing-in ceremony Tuesday so that more of Emmer’s family members could attend. Incumbents get only one ticket for a guest, while new members get two.
“He calls the office, or has somebody call the office and says, ‘Hey does Tom want my extra ticket?’” Emmer said. “I said, you know, that’s a guy who understands, we wear different jerseys or whatever you want to call it, but at the end of the day, we’re just all people and it’s really a nice gesture.”
After learning about Peterson’s offer, Reps. Erik Paulsen, R-Eden Prairie, and Betty McCollum, D- St. Paul, also offered Emmer their guest tickets.
— Contact dslack@usatoday.com. Follow @donovanslack.