NEWS

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Lawmakers Urge IRS for Prompt Medical Cannabis Tax Guidance Post-Rescheduling

By Steven Gothrinet, Hemp Gazette

“Lawmakers, including Reps. Betty McCollum (D-WA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL), have emphasized the need for unambiguous medical cannabis tax guidance in two primary areas:

  • Businesses operating under state-issued cannabis licenses that encompass both adult-use and medicinal purposes.

  • Businesses holding separate state-issued cannabis licenses for adult-use and medicinal purposes.”

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Minnesota’s Stratasys Draws Bipartisan Support for Its National Security Role

By Liz Fedor, Twin Cities Business

“McCollum, dean of Minnesota’s delegation, serves as the ranking member on the U.S. House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. ‘If you look at the cost of defense programs over a lifetime, most of our costs are actually due to maintenance and repair,’ she said. If something breaks on an aircraft carrier, McCollum said it would be cost-efficient to be able to make a replacement part on a 3D printer and quickly solve the problem.”

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morning take | Could Klobuchar be blocked?

By Blois Olson, morning take

GLUTEN: via Rep. Betty McCollum advisory, VERBATIM: ‘Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) and Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced the Celiac Safety Act to strengthen food labeling law and protect the roughly 3 million Americans with Celiac Disease. The legislation is the first proposal in Congress to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to mandate the inclusion of ‘gluten-containing grains’ as a major food allergen, ensuring manufacturers label the inclusion of all gluten-containing ingredients in products made available to the public.’”

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Readers Write: Democratic candidates, Lisa Demuth, Israel, Twin Metals

By The Minnesota Star Tribune

“I haven’t lived in McCollum’s district long enough to know if I agree with her on every issue, but on this one she deserves credit for calling out Israel’s brutal conduct against Palestinians, which would be universally condemned if carried out by any other nation.

Steve Schild, Falcon Heights

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House Democrats introducing bill in bid to block Trump arch project

By Ashleigh Fields, The Hill

“The bill’s co-sponsors are Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) and Reps. Robert Garcia (Calif.), Suhas Subramanyam (Va.), Bobby Scott (Va.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Jasmine Crockett (Texas), Danny Davis (Ill.), Diana DeGette (Colo.), Lois Frankel (Fla.), John Larson (Conn.), Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Morgan McGarvey (Ky.), Kevin Mullin (Calif.), Mike Quigley (Ill.), Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa.), Mark Takano (Calif.), Jill Tokuda (Hawaii), Paul Tonko (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.).”

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U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum: We cannot turn away from human rights abuses against Palestinians

By Betty McCollum, The Minnesota Star Tribune

“I have long opposed the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinian people. Over the last 10 years, I have introduced my bill, the Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, five times. This bill ensures that not one dollar of U.S. assistance to Israel can be used to detain children, demolish families’ homes or permanently annex Palestinian lands.”

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'Cowardly': Democrats Criticize House Republicans for Abruptly Canceling War Powers Vote

By Tiago Ventura, TIME

“‘Speaker Johnson just cancelled a vote on the Iran war powers resolution because he knows a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives would have voted to end President Trump's illegal war in Iran,’ argued Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota. ‘The Speaker's cowardly decision is a complete failure of leadership.’”

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Mike Johnson Feeling the Heat as House Cancels Iran War Powers Vote

By Anna Commander, Newsweek

“Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, also said on X Thursday, ‘Speaker Johnson just cancelled a vote on the Iran War Powers resolution because he knows a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives would have voted to end President Trump's illegal war in Iran. The Speaker's cowardly decision is a complete failure of leadership. Republicans care more about protecting President Trump than they do about you.’”

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Key Army efforts pinned to lawmakers’ taste for a new reconciliation bill

By Meghann Myers, Defense One

“‘Mr. Secretary, the administration is taking an enormous risk by asking for $350 billion in priorities through reconciliation,’ Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month. ‘As we told you in our last meeting, reconciliation is not the best way to fund the department. Last year, reconciliation created broken glass—funding holds for vital programs that the appropriators had to fix. And that's why we need the information in a timely fashion.’”

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morning take | Pivot to Political Races

By Blois Olson, morning take

SENATE RACE: Star Tribune’s Sydney Kashiwagi asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Kelly Morrison and Rep. Betty McCollum if they plan to endorse a candidate in the DFL primary for U.S. Senate after Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Ilhan Omar both endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Spokespersons for both Klobuchar and Morrison said they do not make endorsements in primaries, but McCollum said she will endorse the candidate who wins the party endorsement in the May convention. McCOLLUM: ‘We have two excellent Senate candidates competing, and I will be supporting the candidate who earns the DFL endorsement.’”

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morning take | Now the Speeches

By Blois Olson, morning take

IRAN: via MinnPost, VERBATIM: ‘Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth [last] week over the cost of the Iran war and the budgetary needs of the nation’s military. … She asked Hegseth for an accounting of munition levels, damage to war ships, military equipment that has been lost and additional fuel delivery cost as Iran’s lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz has prevented oil tanker deliveries. … She also said the panel needed details of the $1.5 trillion 2027 defense budget no later than June 11.’ McCOLLUM: ‘I will not support a blank check for the Pentagon. The Trump Administration’s budget request must be closely scrutinized.’”

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D.C. Memo: McCollum has tough questions for Hegseth

By Ana Radelat, MinnPost

“‘I will not support a blank check for the Pentagon,’ McCollum told MinnPost. ‘The Trump administration’s budget request must be closely scrutinized. They have failed thus far to provide information to Congress to justify such an extraordinary budget request, and they have failed to provide a plan to pay for it in the long-term.’”

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Public Safety Groundbreaking Marks Years Of Collaboration In Woodbury

By Manali Shah, Woodbury News Net

“‘This is a coordinated effort not only in our federal offices, but with state and local governments, and with the voters to get the referendum passed,’ McCollum said. ‘As this community has grown, so have the demands for public safety, whether it’s police or fire or EMS. You are watching that accelerate here. With the help of federal financing, Woodbury has secured $1 million toward the building and technology for its new Public Safety Campus.’”

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Virginia Subs Will Hit 2-A-Year Build Rate in 2030s, CNO Caudle Says

Mallory Shelbourne and Sam LaGrone, U.S. Naval Institute News

“Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the subcommittee’s ranking member, voiced concern over the lack of a concept and schedule for the Trump-class battleship program, which the Navy wants to start buying in the Fiscal Year 2028 budget cycle. McCollum noted that the Navy is seeking $1 billion in advance procurement funding despite not having finalized a design for the battleship.”

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USDA in Minnesota, already hit hard by DOGE cuts, faces more lost jobs

By Christopher Vondracek, The Minnesota Star Tribune

“Minnesota’s Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat who represents the St. Paul area and serves on the House committee, has criticized the drawdown.

‘Cuts to conservation programs will limit our farmers’ ability to implement best practices in conservation to protect their land and all of our water,’ she said.”

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Key House Republicans press Hegseth, express skepticism on Pentagon budget

By Ellen Mitchell, The Hill

“The question of how the Pentagon will hit a historic $1.5 trillion budget was a concern on both sides of the aisle, with ranking member Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), opening the hearing by requesting that the administration provide a more detailed breakout of the costs of the Iran war and how the Pentagon would spend a significant budget increase.

Lawmakers have ‘asked several times for a complete update on ammunition levels, and it has not been provided,’ McCollum noted.

She also asked whether the administration had a plan B to scale back operations against Iran, but Hegseth declined to go into specifics.”

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