Low-key but well-connected, Rep. Betty McCollum accumulates D.C. power

Jan 21, 20190

Glen Stubbe – Star Tribune count

Rep. Betty McCollum checked her phone at the Fitzgerald Theater before the start of swearing in ceremonies for Governor Tim Walz and other constitutional officers.

WASHINGTON – On the second Friday of the federal government shutdown, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior called the front desk at the D.C. offices of Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum. He wanted to talk to her about national parks.

Later that day, McCollum connected with Secretary David Bernhardt by cellphone. "I told him we need to shut the parks down," said McCollum, newly seated as chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that OKs $35 billion in annual government spending for parks and other national lands, the Environmental Protection Agency, Smithsonian museums and natural resources programs.

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