It's official. Tim Johnson isn't just reading memos, as reported last week. http://www.dailykos.com/...
Today, Reuters reports that Tim has co-sponsored the Farm Relief Act of 2007 http://www.reuters.com/...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A still-hospitalized Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, whose brain surgery two months ago raised the possibility that Democrats could lose control of the Senate, has co-sponsored his first piece of legislation since he fell ill, his office said on Thursday.
While Johnson remains focused on daily therapy, the Democratic senator has read memos from his staff and has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2007, his office said."This is a first step for the senator," said Drey Samuelson, Johnson's chief of staff. "As time allows, he has begun reviewing work. True to form, Tim is a hard worker."
Turn back the Doomsday clock a few seconds.
Draw a deep sigh of relief.
Senator Johnson really is back at work, and I do not have to fear an immediate Republican takeover of the Senate, or an increased importance of Joe Lieberman quite as much as I did a few weeks ago.
And what is this bill?
http://www.theorator.com/...
S.284: Cosponsored by Senators Landrieu, Thune, Hagel, Salazar, Nelson (NEB), Inoue, Tester, Baucus, Coleman, Klobuchar, Dorgan, Conrad and Cantwell (and now Johnson) provides for relief from crop failures and other agricultural losses due to diasters,for emergency conservation intiatives (Emergency conservation program, Emergency watershed protection program, Environmental quality incentives program.); and a small business loss program.
The content of this bill reminds us of who Tim Johnson is and is not. He is not Senator Feingold. He is a conservative Democratic Senator from a state where agriculture is very important. These kind of bills are the life blood of agricultural communities because they ensure that whole blocks of the country do not go bankrupt from natural disasters.
Unfortunately, there are no yearly similar bills that seem to be offered titled something like 2007 Emergency Urban Disaster Relief. When a 9/11 happens or a Katrina happens, cities must crawl on bended knees to the Congress to help out after the fact.
But in any case, He's Back!!