by Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

August 8, 2024

WASHINGTON — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, spent 12 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives before winning election to his home state’s highest office.

That tenure on Capitol Hill gives him insider knowledge about many of the lawmakers who will be instrumental in advancing or blocking Vice President Kamala Harris’ legislative agenda, should she become president.

Walz, who was elected in 2006 to represent Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, was particularly active on issues before the House Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committees. He also sat on the Armed Services and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

During his dozen years on Capitol Hill, Walz developed a reputation for working across the aisle while supporting his party’s priorities on health care and the Iraq war.

Walz, who represented a rural swing district, was rated as one of the more bipartisan and effective members of the House during his last term in the chamber.

The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University ranked Walz as the 88th most bipartisan out of the 436 members who served at one time or another in the House during the 115th Congress.

Walz earned an even higher score from The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a partnership between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that measures how successful members are at advancing their bills and other legislative proposals.

It rated Walz as the seventh most effective among the 203 Democrats in the House during his last term.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this week following Harris’ selection of the Minnesota governor as her running mate that Walz was a “heartland-of-America Democrat” who was in the ideological center on policy decisions.

“It’s mystifying to me to see someone that I worked with, shall we say, right down the middle, characterized on the left in this regard,” Pelosi said, referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump calling Walz “liberal.”

Iraq concerns and ACA support

Walz joined Congress halfway through President George W. Bush’s second term, when there was divided control of government and significant frustration about the war in Iraq.

During Democrats’ weekly radio address in January 2007, Walz said that “as the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress and a veteran who served in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” he shared many voters’ concerns about the war.

“Our military men and women know that it is their duty to execute their mission without question,” he said. “But so too is it our duty to question the mission on their behalf.”

Walz said the United States needed “diplomatic and political solutions in Iraq, not more American troops.”

Walz was a member of the Nebraska National Guard from 1981 to 1996 and a member of the Minnesota National Guard from 1996 until 2005, according to his congressional biography.

He was still relatively new to Capitol Hill when Barack Obama won the Oval Office and Democrats secured significant majorities in the House and Senate in November 2008.

One of the more difficult tasks in the years ahead was brokering agreement within the party on what would become the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare — sweeping legislation that changed how health insurance and health care worked throughout the country.

The law passed in two parts during March 2010 and each time Walz voted to approve the final version.

“Middle class families in southern Minnesota want to visit their doctor and get the care they need without insurance company or government control,” Walz said in a statement. “They want hassle free coverage they can count on and they want peace of mind knowing that if they get sick, they will not have to worry about insurance companies dropping them.”

Stocks ban bill

Walz was one of the lawmakers pushing to approve legislation in 2012 that explicitly barred members of Congress, staff and numerous other government employees from participating in insider trading.

The law, titled the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 or STOCK Act, also required lawmakers to file regular public reports on their individual stock trading.

During House floor debate on the bill that February, Walz said the final legislation represented six years of work by several lawmakers who wanted to restore some trust in Congress as an institution.

“The perception is that members of Congress are enriching themselves — that’s not only an affront to our neighbors that we’re not playing by the rules, it is a cancer that can destroy the democracy,” Walz said. “Each member of Congress has a responsibility to hold themselves not just equal to his neighbors but to a higher standard.”

In a rarity for public officials, Walz reported owning no securities or other major assets on a state financial disclosure form that was updated in January of this year.

Walz’s last financial disclosure filing as a member of Congress showed he hadn’t traded individual stocks and that he had assets in a Minnesota Education pension plan, a 529 education savings account and some rental income from a room in his primary home in Mankato.

Bucking his party

Walz hasn’t always voted in line with his party, including in June 2012 when he was one of just 17 Democrats to vote to hold former Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena.

Walz said in a statement released at the time the vote was consistent with one he made previously.

“Five years ago, when I voted to hold President Bush’s Administration Officials in contempt, I said we have to stay consistent in our oversight of executive branch officials,” Walz said. “After reviewing the facts carefully, I have come to the same conclusions as I did in 2007. There are just too many unanswered questions surrounding ‘Fast and Furious,’ and the American people deserve to know more.”

The “Fast and Furious” operation involved federal law enforcement agencies — including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — allowing illegal purchases of weapons in an attempt to track them.

Some of the more-than 2,000 firearms sold during the operation were used in crimes in the U.S. and Mexico, including in the shooting death of Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry, according to a 2012 inspector general report.

VA waitlist

Just two years later, in 2014, Walz found himself working across the aisle as one of the lawmakers looking into the Department of Veterans Affairs lengthy waitlists as a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.

During a hearing with VA whistleblowers that July, Walz criticized the department for having a goal but no strategy to address its shortcomings.

“I would submit to all of us here, the watchdog on this and the outside agency to look at this is here, it’s us. We’re given the constitutional right to do it,” Walz said. “When I go home I’m asked about this and I should be held accountable.”

Walz co-sponsored several bipartisan bills addressing the structure of the VA in the months that followed and voted to approve legislation overhauling aspects of VA health care in July 2014 after being named to the conference committee that negotiated the final version of the bill.

“Make no mistake, this bill isn’t perfect. It will not solve all of VA’s problems, but it does allow us to take a step forward in reforming the VA to provide veterans and their families with real solutions,” Walz said in a statement released following the House’s vote to approve the measure.

Walz would go on to seek the top Democratic seat on the Veterans Affairs Committee a few years later, eventually securing the title of ranking member during his last term in Congress from January 2017 to January 2019.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Phil Roe, who was chairman of the panel at the time, released a written statement that he was “thrilled to hear that my good friend and fellow veteran” was selected by Democrats as their top member on the committee.

“Rep. Walz has been a tireless advocate for veterans, and I know he will continue that fight as Ranking Member,” Roe said. “I look forward to working alongside Rep. Walz as we strive on both sides of the aisle to improve the lives of our nation’s heroes.”

Farm bill frustrations

Walz maintained his tenure on the Agriculture Committee throughout his time in Congress, including when that panel debated the farm bill, sweeping legislation that’s written roughly every five years to address the needs of farmers as well as nutrition assistance for low-income families.

Walz was on the panel for the three separate farm bills. Toward the end of his tenure, he voiced frustration that the legislation had become another partisan battle.

In April 2018, during the committee’s markup of the bill, Walz noted that he grew up on a farm that remained in his family and that his district was one of the top food-producing regions in the country.

“I came to Congress to write farm bills, I came to get policy right, I came to work with you,” Walz said, before rebuking the GOP for excluding Democrats from writing the original version of the bill in that chamber.

“If we wonder why we rank between North Korea and headlights in popularity in Congress, this is why,” he said. “If it’s not us to fix this problem, who the hell is going to?”

Walz urged Republicans on the panel to work with Democrats to get a bill that could make it through Congress and become law.

“You are not going to get this bill through and signed into law with the way things are at, so why burn the House down and why sever friendships and why create mistrust in this, when you’re doing it simply to make a point?” Walz said.

He voted against the original bill when it came to the House floor in June 2018, writing in a statement that drafting, debating and approving the farm bill “used to be an example for how things are supposed to be done in Washington.”

“Today, Republicans chose to once again follow the lead of Speaker Ryan and steamroll the bipartisan process the Agriculture Committee once championed,” Walz wrote, referring to then-Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. “This cannot continue to be how things are done in Washington.”

Later that year, Walz was placed on the conference committee that negotiated a final version of the farm bill, which went on to pass the Senate following an 87-13 vote and the House on a 369-47 vote. Walz, who’d been elected governor a month earlier, was marked as not voting on that final version.

In a statement released in September 2018, after being named to the bipartisan, bicameral conference committee, Walz said he hoped compromise could be found.

“No Farm Bill is perfect, but if we reject radical ideology and embrace bipartisanship, I am optimistic we can pass a meaningful Farm Bill that works for Minnesotans, beginning farmers, veterans hoping to start a career in agriculture, and our environment,” he wrote.

Opposing Trump

Walz was reelected to Congress several times and remained there for half of Donald Trump’s presidency, often voicing opposition to executive orders and GOP legislative goals.

Following Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress in March 2017, Walz wrote in a statement that he did share some common ground with Trump, though he distanced himself from the more partisan rhetoric.

Walz said he agreed with the sections of the speech that called for bolstering care for veterans, helping military service members and lowering the cost of health insurance.

“But populism without a plan isn’t leadership, and unfortunately, the address lacked significant policy detail and specific plans on how to move forward,” Walz added. “That said, it is clear that we don’t agree on how to move forward with improving our health care system. The answer is not to tear it down without offering a sound plan to replace it. Instead, the answer is to build upon the gains of the Affordable Care Act by repairing the parts where folks are falling through the cracks.”

When Trump instituted a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military, Walz said in a statement that those troops are not a “burden” but “heroes.”

“After 24 years of service as an enlisted soldier, I know what it takes to build cohesive teams in our military,” Walz wrote. “This President, who hasn’t served a day of his life in uniform, does not.”

When the Trump administration began separating undocumented immigrant children from their families in the summer of 2018, Walz released a statement arguing the policy was unacceptable.

He then co-sponsored legislation to end the practice, calling it “barbaric and immoral.”

“I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing the Keep Families Together Act and want to thank Ranking Member (Jerry) Nadler for his leadership at this critical time,” Walz said in a statement in June 2018, referring to the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. “Ripping children out of their parents’ arms at the border is a human rights violation and we cannot tolerate such abuses as a nation.”

The same day, he urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign from her post in another statement.

Other positions

Walz weighed in on numerous issues outside the scope of House legislation throughout his 12 years on Capitol Hill.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2015 to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, Walz issued a statement supporting the decision.

“I’ve always believed in marriage equality and applaud the Supreme Court’s ruling,” he wrote. “Today’s decision makes clear that our LGBT brothers and sisters are entitled to the same rights as the rest of us; that the pursuit of happiness cannot be limited because of who you love. Yes, today is a landmark day in our nation’s history and I could not be more proud.”

Walz announced support for the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in August 2015, writing that his decision followed “weeks of careful consideration and study, meetings with experts, and talking with Minnesotans with passionate views on both sides.”

“This deal is far from perfect, and I harbor no illusions that the hate and violence of the Iranian regime will fade after it goes into effect. I expect Iran will continue to be a destabilizing force in the region and a threat to America and our allies,” Walz wrote. “But, I believe this agreement is our best path forward. The economic sanctions have played a critical role in getting us to an agreement, but I do not believe they are a long term solution.”

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