Fair / -2° F
Conrad carries banner for Midwest
Published 10:23am Monday, December 18, 2006Some eastern city slickers who imply that North Dakotans are hicks from the sticks now have to eat crow. That’s because starting in January 2007 Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota will be one of the top dogs in the U.S. Senate, heading the powerful budget committee.
Those same city slickers will now have to bow to Conrad who will have a lot of clout. He pledges that those of us in the Midwest will have more say, much to the chagrin of some highbrow people in places like New York and California.
Conrad, 58, was born in Bismarck to German-American parents. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his grandparents. He attended school in Bismarck, studied overseas, went to college at Stanford and received an MBA from George Washington University.
So much for Conrad being a hick from the sticks.
After graduating from college he became an assistant to then North Dakota Tax Commissioner Byron Dorgan who later became his colleague in the U.S. Senate. In 1980 Conrad succeeded Dorgan as tax commissioner. Conrad was state tax commissioner until 1986 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating longtime Republican incumbent Mark Andrews.
In April 2006 Conrad was selected by Time Magazine as one of “America’s 10 Best Senators.” As of August 2006 Conrad had the highest approval rating among his constituents of any U.S. Senator, at 74 percent approval despite being a Democrat in a historically Republican state.
Conrad promises to use his position on the Budget Committee to “get us on a path to balancing the budget.”
The committee sets budget rules and sets caps on spending — a priority for Conrad who has complained for years about mounting federal debt. He said he wants to reinstate the so-called pay-as-you-go budget rules that would require any upcoming tax cuts to be “paid for” with spending cuts or new revenues.
“This is going to help us very significantly in terms of writing a new farm bill and getting disaster aid,” Conrad said.
Senate Democrats and Republicans from the Upper Midwest have been pushing President Bush and the U.S. House to accept legislation that would provide disaster aid for farmers who have been devastated by weather-related losses. The Republican House that was adamantly opposed to the deal will be replaced by a Democratic majority in January 2008.
“We faced very hostile territory,” Conrad said of the House opposition. He said senators will try to push the disaster aid package even before the Democrats take power in January.
Many Senate colleagues — both Republicans and Democrats — have deep respect for Conrad who now is serving his fourth full Senate term. They see him as a renowned advocate of fiscal discipline and a fierce defender of the integrity of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
Most recently, in response to severe health care budget cuts included in President Bush’s fiscal year 2006 budget proposal, Conrad teamed up with Republican Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming to introduce an amendment during the Senate budget debate that would restore $100 million in funding for vital rural health programs. This amendment was unanimously accepted.
Come January, the former orphaned kid from Bismarck will be in the national spotlight. He’s a proud North Dakotan who seems ready to meet the challenge.
Journal reporter Tom Hintgen’s column runs Mondays.
