Congressman Erik Paulsen
Posted by Steve Frazier
Our Speaker on March 30th was Erik Paulsen, Minnesota's 3rd District Congressman, and a resident of Eden Prairie. He is in his first (freshman) term in congress, and as such has absolutely no seniority. And, as he stated, everything in congress is done based on seniority.
He was fortunate to be able to hire some of Jim Ramstad's former staff, so his office was up and running fast after he was elected. He was happy that he was appointed to the Financial Services Committee, consisting of 71 members, as his expertise is in mathematics and finance. The committee has some pending bills that will return some transparency to the financial world, and they will start to get worked on after the Easter recess.
Right now, the government has raised the US debt limit so that is equals $45,000 per person in the country. Our government is paying one billion dollars a day in interest on our present debt. With the current dollar crunch, states are closing rest areas along the freeways, creating problems for truckers; there are not enough spaces in the open rest areas for the semis to park when the drivers get tired. "Jason's Law" has been passed to remedy this situation, but funding for programs is the overwhelming problem the current congress is facing.
When questioned about expenses for his office, he stated that he has an allowance of$!,400,000.00 annually for operation of his office. With that money, he has to hire staff for two locations (one in DC and one in the district in Minnesota), and pay for mailings and rent for his Minnesota office. The office in D. C. is rent-free. He travels to Minnesota every weekend (except for the weekend of the health care bill discussion and vote), using Delta Airlines and sits in the coach section. He pointed out that the speaker of the house has special consideration given to her for travel, but not the 3rd District freshman from Minnesota! (Story by Tad Shaw and photo by Steve Frazier)
He was fortunate to be able to hire some of Jim Ramstad's former staff, so his office was up and running fast after he was elected. He was happy that he was appointed to the Financial Services Committee, consisting of 71 members, as his expertise is in mathematics and finance. The committee has some pending bills that will return some transparency to the financial world, and they will start to get worked on after the Easter recess.
Right now, the government has raised the US debt limit so that is equals $45,000 per person in the country. Our government is paying one billion dollars a day in interest on our present debt. With the current dollar crunch, states are closing rest areas along the freeways, creating problems for truckers; there are not enough spaces in the open rest areas for the semis to park when the drivers get tired. "Jason's Law" has been passed to remedy this situation, but funding for programs is the overwhelming problem the current congress is facing.
When questioned about expenses for his office, he stated that he has an allowance of$!,400,000.00 annually for operation of his office. With that money, he has to hire staff for two locations (one in DC and one in the district in Minnesota), and pay for mailings and rent for his Minnesota office. The office in D. C. is rent-free. He travels to Minnesota every weekend (except for the weekend of the health care bill discussion and vote), using Delta Airlines and sits in the coach section. He pointed out that the speaker of the house has special consideration given to her for travel, but not the 3rd District freshman from Minnesota! (Story by Tad Shaw and photo by Steve Frazier)