By: Ronald Goldser
7/3/2020
To the editor:
It’s hard to identify the skills needed to be an effective member of Congress, but the PSI Testing Center has outlined some of the characteristics of a good leader: commitment, assertiveness, the ability to build alliances, conflict resolution, influence and presentation skills.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Eagan, embodies all these characteristics and more.
Unlike many representatives, Craig actually shows up. She hasn’t missed a single vote in Congress. And, when she is home, she is a visible presence in every community in the 2nd District. Even during a pandemic, Craig is still working to be accessible to her constituents. Just last week, she held her 18th public town hall meeting.
Craig is willing to work with anyone and everyone on behalf of the 2nd District. Craig has co-sponsored or introduced more than 450 bills and amendments during her first term in Congress – 80 percent of which are bipartisan. And she was the first member of the Minnesota delegation to get a bill signed into law during this session of Congress.
Craig has been able to influence legislation in a number of areas that are crucial to the 2nd District. Craig has been a great friend to farmers. She has worked on emergency grazing legislation, addressed supply chain issues, supported food assistance, and provided relief to small meat packing plants.
Most importantly, her work on health care has been exemplary. As the current administration filed a brief in the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, Craig announced that the House would soon vote on her bipartisan bill to lower health insurance premiums for millions of Americans. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Craig introduced the Stop Health Premium Spikes Act, a bill that would lessen the huge health care premium increases from the increase in medical care costs resulting from the pandemic.
Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional — all of us, Democrat and Republican alike — cannot do better than Angie Craig in Congress.
Ronald S. Goldser
Eagan