American Experiment Podcast
Why are so many Minnesota high school graduates unable to read or do math at grade level? Does Tim Walz actually think he's going to be the next president of the United States? And why does he keep swearing so much?
These are the kinds of hard-hitting questions we get into every week on the American Experiment Podcast, where we unpack the week's biggest stories, interview Minnesota's movers and shakers, and "stop the tape" on clips of our state's most ridiculous elected officials.
New episodes drop every Tuesday afternoon and are available on every major podcasting platform.
American Experiment Podcast
Episode 127 - STAUBER'S WIN: Fact-Checking the Anti-Mining LIES
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Debunking the myths about mining "in the Boundary Waters"...
Check out the American Experiment Podcast
Minnesota’s hard-fought Office of Inspector General bill is headed to Governor Walz’s desk (which means DFL legislators are rebranding themselves as anti-fraud), legacy media outlets are asking for $500,000 in taxpayer dollars, and crime is going down in Minnesota everywhere but Hennepin County. On the back half, we get the inside story from Congressman Pete Stauber of his pro-mining wins in DC.
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Welcome back to the American Experiment Podcast. Catherine, what do we have on the docket today? Well, this week the Inspector General bill has passed the Minnesota House and Senate, and the DFL is taking credit. Uh then Democrats are pushing for taxpayers to support biased left-wing media in Minnesota. And finally, crime in Minnesota is going down everywhere except Hennepin County. On the back half, we're sitting down with Congressman Pete Stauber to talk about his huge win for northern Minnesota and the country. Let's dive in. Hello, and Grace, I have a uh question, audience question of the day that represents some of the craziness going on, not just in Minnesota, but in the country. So here's what I want to hear from everyone. How concerned are we about the hantavirus? Like scale of zero to ten. What's your concern level? Like zero, I think I've had a zero of like don't care, like miss me with the hauntivirus rhetoric or whatever, like I don't want to do this COVID thing again. But there are also people on the other side of the spectrum, the tens, like the person who sat next to my mom on an airplane this weekend who was in like a full hazmat suit to travel. Okay, so where are you, Grace? What's your level?
SPEAKER_01I'm at a zero. I think I think you gotta qualify the airplane story though, because people have been doing that ever since COVID. That cannot just be a hantivirus thing.
SPEAKER_02You think? You think that's like she's still concerned, or he, you couldn't tell honestly.
SPEAKER_01I see people in bubbles pretty frequently at the airport. Personally, I don't know. But let us know in the comments where are you on the spectrum? Zero to ten concerned about hantavirus. Yeah, or five, maybe. You're like, I'm staying alert, okay?
SPEAKER_02Just to be safe. That one that would be acceptable. Sure. All right, well, let's go on to our first story where the bill to establish an independent office of inspector general has gained final passage in the Minnesota Senate and will now head to Governor Walls' desk. Obviously, our listeners know all about this bill. We've been supporting it since last year when the bill passed the Senate, 60 to 7. It's also very popular amongst Minnesotans. Our Thinking Minnesota poll showed that 72% of Minnesotans support this bill. Despite that, every House Democrat voted against the bill on the last day of the 2025 session, and again on a procedural vote earlier this session, this very session. But ultimately the pressure had built up, I think, for Democrats, and they knew that they couldn't face voters in November, having done nothing about the fraud issue that is everyone's number one concern in Minnesota. So last week the House passed it 127 to 5. Um, I did Google the five Democrats. I would love to hear more from them. Like, what what are your complaints?
SPEAKER_01They just they think their constituents really liked the fraud. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like, seriously. I mean, one of them, reach out, tell me, why the heck would you vote no on this bill? Senators approved the House's changes Bunday by unanimous vote. And Walls has said that he would sign the bill if it crosses his desk. So um, this is exciting. I think it's it's great news for Minnesota. We've supported this bill for a while, and um I'm I'm excited for it. I don't think Walls will give us any surprises. I think it'll uh I think it'll pass.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's pretty exciting to see an effort that's been ongoing for so long to finally get across the finish line. Something that might prevent fraud in the future. Because what's frustrating about the entire scandal that's unfolded in Minnesota is once the money has gone out the door, there's really nothing that they can do about it. You know, you're not calling back the the nine billion dollars or whatever that's been stolen. It's in Africa or somewhere else. It's been spent on a mansion. Yeah, exactly. And so to have a committee in place that's gonna be, or an inspector general in place that's gonna be acting as kind of a a watchdog, and hopefully, hopefully, even just showing people in Minnesota potential fraudsters that there's this threat of consequences, which I don't think we had under the Walls administration. There was really a sense that they could commit this fraud and steal from taxpayers and get away with this. And maybe this will be a good show of force that no, here in Minnesota, we're finally taking it seriously, and uh yeah, it's something to celebrate.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I once it's shrine into law, the OIG bill will require three to six million in startup costs and another eleven to twelve million annually for forty full-time employees, and a new law enforcement unit within the OIG could cost an additional fifteen million per year. So maybe the people who voted no were just like really fiscal conservatives. No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they decided to be fiscal conservatives for this one vote. Yeah, and and it's worth noting too, we were talking with uh Representative Max Reimer last week on the John Justice show, and uh he had said that the the extra cost that's associated with this Office of Inspector General bill, it was not something that Republicans, conservatives, fiscal conservatives went into lightly. I mean, they really did consider like, is the the benefit that we're gonna get from this worth the additional cost? If we're again preventing$9 billion in fraud, hopefully in the future, uh a few million, I I I I understand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Senator Cruen, friend of the podcast, you guys have seen him on here, he said the money it will save will dwarf the money we're going to spend. He told that to Five Eyewitness News, and I think all uh everyone is very confident about that, seeing what we have um come out of the fraud investigations already. Yeah. Now, the funny part about this is that immediately when this bill passed, Democrats took credit for it. Democrats are the ones who have not allowed this bill to pass, okay, for years now, for over a year. They have stalled this Inspector General bill. And yet, right away, there was a uh X account, and they tweeted out huge Minnesota Democrats just created an independent office to aggressively go after fraud.
SPEAKER_01Could have been done a year ago, I would point out. But you guys didn't want to pass it. Yeah, just saying. And it's interesting too, it's not just that they were dragging their feet on getting this bill passed, and you know, Republicans had to fight so hard just to even get the fraud committee established uh months ago. Um, but even I mean, as as recent as weeks ago, there were still Democrats out there, DFLers saying that the fraud problem is not as big as people say, it's really not that big of a deal. Even Governor Walls not that long ago was saying that there was not sufficient evidence to support this idea that there's fraud in Minnesota. Um so it goes beyond just trying to drag their feet and block efforts to address it. It it's been pure denial up until very recently. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02So which one is it? Is it a problem or not? It's like they're they're gung-ho about the solution, but they deny that there's even a problem. Yeah. I mean, it's just hard to take them seriously when they were truly a problem that they helped create. Look at all of Governor Walls' actions to really enable fraud throughout state government, and now they want to take credit for trying to solve it. Well, whoop-de-doo. Um Bill Gluan also pointed out on X I would take Democrats more seriously on the subject of fraud if they would first return the campaign contributions they received from convicted fraudsters. Instead, they keep the money and brag about solving the problem they created.
SPEAKER_01Mic drop. That's about it. Thank you, Bill from Bill Gluan. Also making its way through the legislature right now, I'd say a more more negative, more negative uh uh issue, uh, are several bills that would hand$500,000 of taxpayer money to the Minnesota News Media Institute, the nonprofit arm of the newspaper industry's own trade association. Now, this is just one of several measures uh along with media literacy incentives and tax credits for newsroom staff that's being pushed by the True North News Alliance, which is this new group of news and civic organizations. They are arguing that local news is essential infrastructure, which is just like roads and bridges, and all of our tax dollars should go towards defending them and making sure they keep the lights on. Uh which is insane, because of course that includes outlets like, you know, MPR and the Star Tribune, which has been incredibly biased in their coverage of stories over the last several years. And if they want to go out and publish, you know, glorified DFL press releases dressed up as journalism, they can, but I don't want to fund it. I don't want to pay for it. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02It's it's just it's just pure bias. I mean, why should all of the left-wing news outlets receive taxpayer money when places like us or alpha news or other sources um don't get any? I mean, it's absurd. It's really just a partisan push. I did see that the Star Tribune sent um their dressed up loon, Libby, to the state capitol to uh push for this bill. The loon's name is Libby? I think it's Libby.
SPEAKER_01Loony? Are you serious? I think it's like Libby. Oh my god. I don't know, it's really. I didn't even know they had a mascot if I'm being honest.
SPEAKER_02They have uh a mascot. It's like a gray duck, I think. I think it's a gray duck, and they sent him to the Capitol to, you know, meet and greet with uh representatives, legislators, and try and get this thing passed. I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_01They're fighting the good fight. Oh, really? They're fighting the good fight. But I mean, the the critical difference here is that infrastructure, actual critical infrastructure, like roads and bridges, is not biased. Everyone uses them the same way. And outlets, especially the legacy media outlets here in Minnesota, are not. They will cover the same story in different ways, in more favorable light, depending on who they want to support. And the other thing to consider here is that we live in such a different era of news consumption and media than, say, 50 years ago. I mean, it's the age of the internet, it's social media, this stream of information has been democratized to the point where local communities don't have to rely on these news outlets, you know, to know what's going on in the world, exactly. And so they're turning largely towards more independent voices online, like the American Experiment Podcast, like Alpha News, of course, like Center of the American Experiment. Um, and so to set it up as though if these local news outlets, you know, go under, if they can't reach as many people as they used to, the pe what people in Minnesota aren't gonna get the news anymore is absolutely absurd.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it it is. And I again it's just crazy how biased this is. I mean, what if we did the same thing? I mean, what if we got together, some of us use sources that lean more conservative and were like, we want taxpayer money? I mean, we would get laughed out of the Capitol. Yeah. They should get laughed out of the Capitol because it's absurd to say that your biased left-wing reporting is essential journalism. Now, you're misinforming Minnesotans. You're doing more harm than good overall for Minnesotans. Now, hop on X and you see everything you need to know. I mean, really, it I can't imagine people who still open the Star Tribune every day, and that's the only source they get. How do you know what's going on? You don't. And you'll talk to those people sometimes and you'll realize they don't know what's going on. That's all that's the only spot that they get their news from. Yeah, they haven't heard about anything important that's going on in the state, or they have like a completely warped perception of the truth. So, I mean, the more that we can divorce people from those legacy media sources, the better, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which is of course why there's this huge effort to keep us all and it maybe not dependent on, but supporting them with our tax dollars. It's forced funding of these outlets that you might not agree with. They can't get enough money just based on their own merits. Yeah. They have to go to the Capitol and beg for our tax dollars. Beg for tax dollars. Yeah, exactly. Now, if this passes, I'm calling it now Golden Turkey 2026 nominee.
SPEAKER_02Ooh, I would vote for it. That's a good call. That's a very good call. Well, one other story we have today for y'all Minnesota crime rate recovery muted by one county. Also, did I just say y'all? You did. I picked up on that. I don't know, like what I'm in, like a southern mood today. Okay. Okay. It is true that crime has decreased in recent years in Minnesota. Overall, you hear Democrats talk about this all the time again as it's as if it is a win that they somehow achieved. That's of course a good thing that crime has decreased in recent years. However, the statewide recovery has been negatively impacted by the unacceptably high crime rates that persist in Hennepin County and especially in Minneapolis. So despite representing just 22% of the state's population, Hennepin County burdens the state by representing 43% of all crime in Minnesota. And Minneapolis, which represents just 7% of the state's population, represents 25% of all state crime, including nearly three-quarters of carjackings and half of all murders. So David Zimmer, he's a policy fellow for us here at American Experiment, he wrote at AmericanExperiment.org a really good analysis of what this crime rate looks like. Because you will hear this a lot from Democrats that crime is going down. That's only half the story. So what he did is he compared the first quarter uh from 2021 through 2026 in two categories of crimes. Okay, those those categories are crimes against persons, which is like assault, murder, rape, stuff like that, and then crimes against property. Thefts, burglary, robbery, car theft, etc. Okay. So since 2021, Minnesota has experienced a modest 1.4% decrease in crimes against persons, but a robust 41% decrease in crimes against property. That's great. However, these decreases have been muted by the continual dismal the continued dismal trajectory of crime in Hanneman County and Minneapolis because crimes against persons has increased in Hanneman County by 28% and 43% in Minneapolis since 2021. While crimes against property decreased by about 14% in Henneman County, it increased by 12% in Minneapolis over the same period. Okay, so that was kind of a lot of numbers. But basically, Minneapolis and Hennepin County overall are really the the not doing better as far as their crime rates, or they're doing very, very modestly better. And the entire rest of the state is seeing an increase in um in how our crime rates are going. So it's interesting when you break it down like that because it really is a Democrat talking point that I've heard lately that crime is going down. And it's like, well, not really in the places you're in charge of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we still have not returned, I don't think, to like pre-pandemic levels. Like all the huge spike that we saw, especially in 2020, like we are still so much higher than we were, say, five, ten years ago. And that's not something that we should be celebrating.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're looking at since 2021 here. I mean, that's not a very uh long, long span. So, I mean, obviously a lot of the state supports a consequential criminal justice system, but Hennepin County leaders and Minneapolis leaders in particular have routinely advocated for alternatives to policing and uh decriminalization of drug and property crimes and the legalization of homeless encampments. So, as David Zimmer says on our website, all of these things have led to um the crime problem we've seen in Hennepin County, and doesn't look like it's getting better right now.
SPEAKER_01Well, and of course, one of those alternatives to traditional law enforcement that Minneapolis and Hedman County has been pushing is the infamous violence interrupters, which has been working great. Obviously, depend you know, based on these interrupted. They've interrupted so much violence. They've interrupted so much violence and they've done so well that it seems after they prevented all of the crime in Minneapolis from happening, they still had time to turn around and steal six and a half million dollars from their nonprofit. Six and a half million? Oh my gosh. Yes, uh two of the former officers and directors at We Push for Peace, this is one of these violence interrupting groups, Treyhorn Pollard and Jaclyn McGu McGuigan. Apologies if I'm getting that wrong, they were sued by the state of Minnesota this week for, quote, misusing charitable assets, violating nonprofit governance laws, lying to the AGL, and running the nonprofit into the ground to steal its business for personal gain. That's a direct quote from the press release. That's uh damn.
SPEAKER_02That is so brutal, but also so predictable. I mean, just the concept of violence interrupters is so absurd that it's like, of course. Of course this happened to happen. I mean, you just need common sense to know that giving a bunch of money to just a random group of people to walk the streets and just kind of be like, hey, hey, stop that now.
SPEAKER_01My orange shirt says you're not supposed to do that. Right. That it didn't work so well. The six and a half million went to luxury cars, trips to Vegas, child support payments, and funding Pollards, one of the two officers who's in this lawsuit, his for-profit liquor store, and car dealership businesses. Six and a half million dollars. Weren't they also a golden turkey winner, by the way, or nominee anyway? They were a nominee several years ago. I don't know if this exact group was. They might have been. Okay, but I think that we nominated the the all of the money that went towards uh violence interrupters that year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we should do an update.
SPEAKER_02Like uh, you know, now they were now in jail.
SPEAKER_01The violence interrupters have ironically landed themselves a spot in uh prison. And it's so sad because of course this is getting picked up in all these national sites because it's an absurd story, and so Minnesota's again back in the national news, making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Nothing new, sadly, yeah, uh, for us to cover here on the American Experiment Podcast. Now, I will say there is a lot more to this story, and Bill Glon at AmericanExperiment.org did a deep dive into We Push for Peace's entire company history, all of the other companies that this guy founded to try to pill for that money. Uh and he goes through the entire records. It is fascinating. We don't have time for it today. But if you want the full story, go to AmericaneExperiment.org. Uh now we'd like to end on a happier note in the public safety sphere. Uh so if you want to feel like we're making actual progress towards improving the crime problem that persists in Hennepin County, our own David Zimmer was at the Capitol just earlier this week, or I think it was last week, uh, alongside a coalition of law enforcement leaders, legislators, and other advocates who have been working together for well over a year now and pushing to solve or increase solve rates of nonfatal shootings in Minnesota. Now, basically, nonfatal shootings uh typically they are difficult to solve because victims and witnesses are uncooperative because they're so often part of a gang violence uh cycle. And the problem is, even though an actual murder hasn't been committed, there was no fatality, so there, you know, there's fewer resources typically dedicated to these cases, they do seriously impact a community's crime and just general unlawfulness. Um this amazing coalition has been working well over the last year to urge the legislature to set up some sort of a fund to help these law enforcement agencies dedicate more resources that they wouldn't normally be able to to solving these nonfatal shootings. It's a really exciting initiative. And uh they've actually tested out something like this, uh I believe in St. Paul, yeah, in 2024. The city's nonfatal shooting solve rate improved from 37 to 71% in one year. Wow. In one year. While at the same time, the city experienced a 62% decrease in nonfatal shootings and a 55% decrease in shots fired incidents. So if passed this legislation, which was originally proposed last year in a joint effort between us and the Minnesota Justice Research Center, if passed, it would create a grant program for law enforcement agencies with a demonstrated need to apply for funding supporting efforts to improve these nonfatal shooting rates. So when you talk about the general lawlessness that you see in, you know, the twin cities in Hennepin County and Minneapolis, these nonfatal shootings and this gang violence, it's a big part of it. And so to have this big coalition coming together, trying to solve them and try to support the agencies who do want to build safer communities is really, really exciting. And it's something to be happy about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And the work across the aisle, I mean, shout out to the people who worked with us on this from all points of view. It's always great when you can get something, you know, that m everyone agrees on, which is funny because in the public safety space, you would think everyone would agree with wanting safer streets, safer communities, things like that. But when you have people like Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in place, I mean that's just not the case. Like you're on completely different pages. I don't know what her goals are, but they're completely separate from ours. But the reality is there's so many people working in the public safety space that just do want the best for their communities. And it was great to see this initiative um uh happen because it's a good representation of that, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I'm hopeful that if anything gets across the finish line this legislative session, this legislation will be one of those items. Because, like you said, I mean it's it's one I've sort of rare moment today that people from multiple sides of the aisle can come together and and support something that we all agree would improve public safety in Minnesota. Yeah, exactly. Which is which is needed, as we talked about. Now, before we sit down with Congressman Pete Stauber to hear about the huge pro mining wins that have been happening in DC, I did want to quickly ask you to go to operationopt-in.com and fill out our form and urge your leaders, that's your legislators and governor walls, to let Minnesota participate in their new education freedom federal tax credit scholarship program. This is not gonna affect our state budget at all. It's a federal program, and it would benefit students in every learning environment in Minnesota. Homeschool, charter, private, public, it's an absolute no-brainer. And states all around Minnesota are opting in. I believe all of our neighbors have already opted into this program. Blue states like Colorado and New York have recently opted in. This is something that could and should actually get across the finish line. So please take 30 seconds, go to operationoptin.com, fill out the form, and let your leaders know that this is something that you want us to be part of and you want our parents and students to benefit from.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, take action. It absolutely matters when you actually speak up and say, hey, I'm a constituent, here's where I live, here's my name, I want this, and I want more opportunities for our students in Minnesota because look, 50% of our kids can't read, our schools are not doing very well. We need to maximize the opportunities our students have. Really is helpful when they hear from you. So definitely do that. If Kathy Hogel can do it in New York, freaking Governor Walls, let's get on it, okay?
SPEAKER_01Stay tuned for our talk with Congressman Pete Stauber. American Experiment is supported by thousands of individuals like you. To join the movement, go to www.americanexperiment.org and click the yellow donate button. From all of us here, thank you. Today we are so glad to be joined here in studio by Congressman Pete Stauber, who represents Minnesota's eighth congressional district. Thank you so much for being here.
SPEAKER_00It's great to be with you this morning this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01Before we get in too deeply into the hot topic of this week, which is, of course, the amazing strides that are being made in DC right now to open up mining in northern Minnesota. Uh, we'd like to ask you a question that we tend to ask all of our guests here on the American Experiment podcast, which is how did you get into politics? What was your reason for diving into service?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, as a police officer, I was a police officer in the city of Duluth, and uh I was raising a young family in Hermantown, and there was a uh city council position that opened up, and uh a former mayor uh suggested that I might be interested in in uh you know serving the community in that way too. So I think public service when you for me when I was a police officer, I went from you know serving the public in that capacity to the elected position, and it's it's a yearning to help uh your community. As a police officer, you're you're you're helping your community keep it safe and arresting bad people. And it was just uh it's a calling uh to to be able to um you know want to serve in in in the as a city council and uh county commissioner and now a federal legislator.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that's fantastic. Well, I know um I feel like for me and a lot of our listeners and viewers as well, I think uh when we think about Congress, we don't think about a place that's very efficient. We're getting a lot done at this current point. And I will say that's probably more to blame the Senate than the House uh Congressman. However, we our own Minnesota Congressman Pete Stalber. You have gotten something huge across the finish line. On what was it last week? President Trump signed into law your bill to end the 20-year mining ban in the superior national forest. Tell our listeners a little bit about what that new law means.
SPEAKER_00Well, before we before I uh talk about that, I want to specifically say mining in Minnesota, we've led the nation. We mine the iron ore that makes 80% of this nation's steel, and steelmaking is a strategic national security interest. And so uh we've been mining uh uh iron ore uh for 146 years in the heart of the iron range. Uh we helped win two world wars. Uh we are now, when we go into the critical mineral space, now we're gonna win help win the AI war. Uh, we're gonna make sure that the United States is not dependent on China anymore. And my my piece of legislation, it was the Congressional Review Act. It was the first time it was ever used to reverse a public land order. Uh the public land order was Joe Biden uh put a mining ban on 225,504 acres uh within the superior national forest where the biggest untapped copper nickel find is in the world. It's called the Duluth Complex. Lead all leading geologists say there's trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars of mineral wealth uh in that complex. And um uh for for Joe Biden, for purely political reasons, took it off uh, you know, took it off the ability to mine, put a 20-year mining moratorium. And I thought that was wrong. In fact, it was wrong, uh, and we got it out of out of the house. We reversed uh my piece of legislation uh reversed that mining ban. It came out of the house in a bipartisan fashion, and it uh passed the Senate by one vote. And it's interesting because our two U.S. senators, Klobuchar and Smith, were actively uh lobbying against that. Um and uh I had uh colleague of mine, Steve Scalise, is a majority leader in the House. Uh he says, Pete, uh very rarely do we see something uh like this done where the representative uh from the district puts a bipartisan piece of legislation uh across the House floor and then it goes to the Senate, and you had both your U.S. Senators uh actively lobbying against mining in northern Minnesota, and uh it's still passed. And so it says to me, it's a good piece of legislation. It helps us uh decouple from China's uh dominance in the critical mineral space, it's good for our families. And by the way, every single school district in the state of Minnesota benefits from mining because of the school trust fund.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so say more about that because uh initially I would think that only schools you know in the iron range up there would benefit.
SPEAKER_00It's a state law, uh school trust fund. All schools benefit from mining. You know, there's there's uh money is given to the school per ton, uh in this case per ton of ore that uh we mine uh in northern Minnesota. So so down here in the Minneapolis area, south min uh southern Minnesota, northern Minnesota, all school districts benefit because of mining on the iron range.
SPEAKER_01Oh okay. So let me ask you a couple of rapid fire questions, just yes or no answers. Because what I'm hearing online is that there's gonna be, you know, mining trucks rumbling through the boundary waters. No.
SPEAKER_00Is there no okay is there gonna be Wait, let me let me before you go on the I want to be very clear to you to our to your listeners and viewers, there will be no mining in the boundary waters, nor in the buffer zone around the boundary waters. That was settled in 1978 when the wilderness area uh you know became uh a wilderness area when they designated a wilderness area. So, but what they said was um um Jim Oberstar said, okay, if you're gonna put the wilderness area, he was a Democrat at the time, if you're gonna put make this a wilderness area, do not take our livelihoods away. Wow uh in the superior national forest. And he he was referring to timber harvesting and mining. You see, the superior national forest is a working industrial forest where timber harvesting and mining are desired activities. Not only do we some people don't even know this, but we have a rock quarry right in a part of the superior national forest. Some people don't know this. One of the most intense helium finds is within the superior national forest. And that mining ban, that mineral ban affected that uh the expansion of the helium as well. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so tell tell me this. Why you know if the Biden administration put on this 20-year moratorium, and yet those areas are always protected, they were already protected, always have been. And you say it was for political reasons. What I'm trying to understand is who is benefiting from from preventing Minnesota from mining these critical mineral deposits?
SPEAKER_00China. China dominates uh the critical mineral space. And that's why under President Trump we want to be um uh we want to be energy independent and critical mineral dominance. Uh the more we take off our ability, the better it is for China. Um so I've always said we have to mine here, we have to process here, refine here, manufacture here the United States of America. We can't rely on China. Um they're they're an adversarial nation. If you're if you look at their belt and road initiative, one of their one of their key things is to remove the iron range from having the ability to mine. Remember, they they they they dumped their dirty cheap steel on our shores to try to put uh the iron range out of business. I will not let that happen. I will not let um uh the communist country have trying to do that. I I will always push for good paying jobs. These are six-figure jobs in northern Minnesota. And we've been mining near the boundary waters for 146 years. The cleanest water in the state of Minnesota is in the heart of mining country, Buell, Minnesota. They bottle it right from the ground.
SPEAKER_02Seriously?
SPEAKER_00No preservatives, no nothing.
SPEAKER_02We should get that for our studio. That's it. Next time you come, we're gonna be able to do that. There it is.
SPEAKER_00That's that's my task. You for your guests from now on, you're gonna have Buell water. Is that is that it can we do that? All right.
SPEAKER_02We'll do our best. We'll get to work on it. I'd love to talk about the national security element for a minute because I didn't know something about this until you wrote an op-ed. Um, and it was while we were kind of in the heat of um attacking Iran. And you said that the B-2 bomber, um, America's great B-2 bomber that allows us to really have kind of world dominance, um, is using critical minerals from China, our adversary in the exact war that we're fighting in. That is so crazy to me. And I know you have another bill um called the Critical Critical Minerals Dominance Act. Will you tell us a little bit about that and how it complements what you've already gotten done so far?
SPEAKER_00What it does is it it allows us to mine here in the United States of America, and the Critical Mineral Dominance Act actually secures three of President Trump's initiatives, his executive orders on mining. We have to mine here, we have to reform uh the permitting system here, uh, and we have to process here. Uh, President Trump is the most pro-mining president in the history of this nation. Uh uh the past president uh Biden was the most anti-mining uh president in the history of our country. So it's like night and day. And so what what's happening is the Critical Minerals Dominance Act allows us to start moving forward, to, to, to start catching up on our mining of these critical minerals. It's important we do that. Um and uh I'm just excited to be able to um, you know, uh put this legislation across the floor in hopes that the Senate will take it. Hopefully when the Senate acts, they'll take my legislation, just like they did the the the um Congressional Review Act, which is really a legacy piece uh of of legislation um for not only for our office, but the state of Minnesota as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I I just heard about these big um lithium deposits that they found in Appalachia, which is so fascinating because I know we rely on China for a lot of lithium as well. And I think your bill would help us be able to get those materials as well, right? This has a national impact. It's not just in Minnesota.
SPEAKER_00100 percent. The the the the state that has the most mineral wealth other than Minnesota is Alaska. It's Alaska and then Minnesota. And so we have to, and there's other uh minerals across uh, you know, the the Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nevada, uh Washington, Oregon, um, Pennsylvania, and the list goes on and on. We are blessed, richly blessed in this country to have these minerals. Um and we know how to do it better than anybody with our labor standards, our environmental standards, and we demand it, right? And so um we can do it. We we no longer should uh uh rely on adversarial nations and you know the permitting process, both at the federal and the state level, it's intense, it's rigorous. We demand that. If you can't meet our standards, labor and environmental standards, you can't do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that there's such a severe misunderstanding or lack of understanding for so many Minnesotans because it comes from, you know, a good place of wanting to protect the natural beauty that we are blessed with here in our state. And of course, it's a good instinct for us to want to protect that. And people just, I think, don't understand how rigorous our environmental standards and regulations are. If America is gonna be mining these minerals, if anyone in the world is gonna be mining these minerals, it should be done in Minnesota because we are so careful.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. Uh it's it's uh it's our state, our environment, um, our minerals, and we can do it. I w I just want to share this with you. You know, for cobalt, for example, one-third of this world's cobalt is mined by child slave labor in the Congo. That both the Trump and the Biden administration have said that. Child slave labor is used to mine um critical minerals, uh, including cobalt. And I will tell you that uh in Washington, D.C., I was at a conference and I said exactly what I just said child slave uh labor mining cobalt in the Congo. A gentleman came up afterwards, he said, I represent those mines, and that's not true. I said it absolutely is true. Both the Trump and Biden administration agree there's child slave labor in mining your cobalt. His exact words were, it's only a few children. End quote, it's only a few children. And you know that's not true. You know they're pushing these children into uh mining these critical minerals. I'm not gonna allow that to happen. You are not going to, people that don't want to mine here, you're not gonna export your environmental guilt and let child slave labor mine your cobalt so you can drive your your whatever vehicle uh that has uh cobalt in the battery. It's not gonna happen. And and we shouldn't let it happen. We can do it here. The United States can lead the world on how to extract minerals safely and responsibly uh with uh with our labor and environmental standards. Uh again, you go up to the iron range, first off, uh a lot of people talk about uh you know mining. Um there's been incidents of the past, and let's face it, there has. We have in in in mining, there has been uh, you know, the technology used in the 40s wasn't nearly as good as it is today. The technology we used in the 90s isn't nearly as good as what we have today. I was in the Greens Creek uh mine in Alaska in the heart of a designated wilderness, and then we're mining silver, 26-year-old miner. I was down there with them watching them mine silver with that machine. The technology is far superior than it even was five years ago. Uh and I I couldn't be more proud of the opportunity that Minnesotans are gonna have. Our our uh union miners on the Iron Range are gonna have to mine these critical minerals.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's frustrating. I think there are some of our um, like our Democrat uh senators, as you said, they rely on people's ignorance on the issue um to get their talking points across when they say this is bad for the environment. We don't want to mine the boundary waters. They don't talk about modern-day mining and what it really looks like. And so they rely on people not knowing.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_02And so for me, I always find that just, gosh, you just wish people could know. So that's something we work on here at American Experiment, of course, is informing people on what that actually looks like. Because I think it's much different than the image people have in their heads.
SPEAKER_00You know, the American Experiment is has been great for domestic mining and great for mining in Minnesota. At one of the hearings in the natural resources, we had a Democrat witness that said it was too dry to mine copper in Arizona, it was too wet to mine copper in Minnesota. And I asked, Well, where would you like us to mine this? And she said the la the quiet part out loud, which was nowhere. Okay? Uh some people that will look you in the eye and say, Well, we support mining. They only support mining so as long as the process continues and continues for years on end and litigation for years on end until it never happens. We can't do that any longer. We can't do that. We have to mine these minerals strategically for our national security.
SPEAKER_01Well, because these minerals are getting used. I mean, the reality that we live in today is that everything from my cell phone to the airplanes that are defending our country's national security rely on these critical minerals. They're gonna get mined somewhere.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna double our copper. We're gonna need double our copper uh by 2040.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_00We can do it here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'd love to talk a little bit too about the effects on the local economy in northern Minnesota. How will this help the people from your district?
SPEAKER_00Well, first of all, we're gonna we're gonna lead uh in in mining the critical minerals, but these are six-figure jobs on the Iron Ranch. Right now we have over six hundred miners laid off. These are six-figure jobs, they're good, skilled jobs, and uh we know that uh the monies uh that are brought into the community by the workers, it it goes throughout the community three times before it leaves. That's a big, big economic boom for northeastern Minnesota and our families and our communities. And that's that that's what makes me uh especially proud of where we're going in the mining space um in northeastern Minnesota and on the range. It's gonna be a big part of our economy. Uh thousands of jobs total are gonna are gonna come to the Iron Range because of this. Good fan good paying family jobs. We're gonna have more kids in our school. Ely High School won't have just 36 or 40 graduates. We want them to have 146. We want we want our communities in northern Minnesota to grow and prosper, and this is one avenue that we can do it, and we're gonna do it right.
SPEAKER_01So tell me this. I think a lot of the hysteria that I'm seeing online over this bill that was just passed feels concentrated in the Twin Cities Metro of people who like the idea of going up to the boundary waters, you know, for a vacation, and they're the ones who are panicking over this mining uh possibility. What are you hearing from your constituents who actually live in the area? Are they excited about this?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. They're they're absolutely thrilled about it. Um the the the people that understand the truth and the science. Uh they're they're happy. Like I I mean, I would say that some of my uh Twin Cities friends, uh, you know, when they put their kayak or canoe on their a Prius and head north to get to the boundary waters, they're going by and through several act active minds to get there.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00You know, so I think that uh they they have to uh you know understand that we're gonna do it uh right. Uh we're not gonna cut any corners. Uh some misunderstanding about my legislation. Uh some were saying that it bypasses the NEPA process, it bypasses the permitting process. That couldn't be further from the truth. They're gonna have to meet the standards in the federal process and the uh the state process. Rigorous, that's what we want, right? Uh so the the the misinformation, some in some some cases I would say outright lies on this. Um you know, we had to combat that. And uh tell you what, the the the U.S. senators that uh supported it, they understood the value that Minnesota can bring, and we're gonna do it right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, while you've been uh securing wins for Minnesota and DC. Our leadership here at home has been um a bit dismal. What do your colleagues in Congress make of Minnesota's gross abuse or loss of federal funds to fraud?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I will tell you this that uh the Walls administration uh has been derelict. Um in Minnesota and Minn uh Washington, D.C. rather, when I meet people for the first time and from Minnesota, they said, Oh, you gotta clean up that state. Uh I want Minnesota to lead in so many ways, but not fraud. Um Governor Walls, uh either incompetent or complicit. And uh during this investigation, we're finding out the whistleblowers have told members of his administration this is going on, and uh they threatened them with uh uh you know losing their job or bullied them, et cetera. Uh those whistleblowers now I think are over a thousand uh whistleblowers now talking about the fraud and what they tried to do to stop it, and then to get uh just moved aside by the Walls administration. In fact, that's why Walls isn't running. He knows that this up to$18 billion,$18 billion, he knows that's on his watch and his lack of leadership. And uh Minnesotans were hard-working people, right? And uh when you take the tax dollars and give it to fraudulent people, um uh the daycares, the Medicaid fraud, the feeding our future, the autism fraud, and you pile it in suitcases, suitcases of cash leaving the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, uh, oftentimes going to Somali, and then probably ending up in terrorist uh hands. That's just that's unconscionable that it even was allowed to happen. And that's why I'm glad the Trump administration is saying, no, Minnesota, you will I mean why why doesn't the state of Minnesota uh show us the snap rolls? The federal government has asked, we want to see your snap rolls because we want to ensure that no dead people are still getting snapped, no uh people that shouldn't be on the snap rolls uh shouldn't, you know, are on there. We want the them to be, we want the people that need the help to get the help, not the fraudsters. Uh it's just like our our elections, right? Why does Steve Simon not allow uh the federal government to look at our voting rolls? Don't we all want secure elections? Why? What are you hiding? Let's be transparent about it. Um, Minnesotans, we are kind, gentle, and compassionate people. We will help somebody in need, but we will not be taken advantage of, to the tune of$18 billion.$18 billion, hardworking Minnesotans. And then you have a next door neighbor that's fraudulently uh uh uh uh ripping us off. And uh again, the Trump administration, Dr. Oz, uh um, you know, the other leadership and the administration are looking at Minnesota, uh, it's gonna come to a halt and there's gonna be accountability. I mean, we saw last week 22 uh uh daycares, mostly small and unowned, were were raided by the federal uh government looking to try to get the information to be able to prosecute because we want accountability uh for what happened. I mean, if you think about the people in Minnesota in need that didn't get the help because of those fraudsters, and uh, I think David Hulk and Nick Shirley did a fantastic job. And I would tell you the American American Experiment is doing also a good job on this, letting your readers and listeners know what's happening, the amount of fraud in Minnesota. And uh and I will just say that not every daycare in this. State is fraudulent. There are some great daycares that follow the laws and and do whatever they need to do when asked. But uh, and I often say that uh what's happening in Minneapolis, don't the state don't put the rest of the state in that in that category. Uh it's uh it's much, much different. But the taxpayers in Northern Minnesota and the 8th Congressional District um are furious with what's happening and the stolen money that uh the Walls administration has uh has allowed. Uh and uh again, that's why Tim Walls knew he wasn't gonna win. He's been a disaster, turned as turned a blind eye to massive, massive fraud. And uh and uh hopefully uh hopefully soon he'll be he'll be gone and uh uh I'm sure Nebraska will welcome him back.
SPEAKER_02I like to say it's a blue city, not a blue state. That's how I try and explain it to people.
SPEAKER_01So tell me this, because I mean, zooming out of fraud alone, Minnesota is underperforming national standards in so many other areas. Our education system is struggling, our our per capita GDP is lower than the national average for the first time in decades. You know, our crime rate was higher for several years. Wha how have you seen our reputation as a state change since you've been serving in Congress since 2019? Because we used to be known as the squeaky, clean state that worked, no corruption. Again, I'm going back to fraud. It's hard to not hard to not end up there. Um but you know, now we're at the point where our state is being used as a byword in political ads in Wisconsin and Illinois. You know, don't be like Minnesota. How have you seen that transpire over the last five years?
SPEAKER_00I'm hearing and seeing the same thing you're hearing, and you just gave an example. Like uh uh in Wisconsin, they say we don't want to be like Minnesota. Uh and that's very sad. It is. I mean, we're losing uh a population. I have talked to CEOs of company who uh in Minneapolis, uh Twin Cities area, that have said we're expanding, but it's not gonna be in Minnesota. Uh we have people leaving Minnesota, uh, they're taking their business with them. Um and that's sad. Uh and it it comes down to leadership, right? Uh when you have uh when you have people leaving, businesses leaving, and and businesses that want to potentially get here, and then you're not helping them. You know? Yeah. There was a a Forest Products uh uh business that wanted to locate in northern Minnesota. I talked to the CEO and he said, I will never ever do business ever again in Minnesota. He says, he says, your governor or their administ his administration rather didn't lift a finger to help us. He says, I'm gone. I'm going down to the Carolinas, I'll have my facility built in six months. You should, when people want to come to Minnesota, let's try to get to a yes. Let's bring them. We have heart and soul workers, we're a blue-collar, we can get it done, ask us, we'll get it done. And uh again, uh uh t the the lack of leadership uh by by Tim Walls, you know, starting in so many areas, right? I mean, you you mentioned 50% of our students can't read or do math at grade level. Think about it. 50% of our students in the state of Minnesota cannot do math or read at their grade level.
SPEAKER_02And yet they're graduating at record high rates. Yeah. Which Governor Wallace seems to think is like a huge, great thing that he's a great win. Great win. Yeah, exactly. Well, Congressman, it has been such an honor to have you on the podcast today. Is there anything else you're working on in DC that you want our listeners to know about before you leave?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think that not only are we really pushing in the mining space uh the natural resources, I'm on natural resources, transportation and infrastructure and small business. And those three committees are really the wheelhouse of the district that I represent. Uh and I'm I'm just honored and privileged to serve Minnesota's eighth congressional district. I I I love what we're doing. Uh we have so many, uh we have so much uh opportunity in this country, um, and it just takes the right leadership to move things forward. So I'm excited uh to run for my re-election. I never take any uh election for granted, never ever will. Uh, we're gonna go as hard this election as we went the first election. So I'm just excited to have the opportunity to continue to serve.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you so much for your time today and keep up the good fight out in DC.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you to everyone who made it all the way to the end of this week's episode of the American Experiment Podcast.
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SPEAKER_01Yeah, the comment section was crazy last week. I loved hearing from all of you guys. I cannot wait to hear what you come up with this week. As always, stay stay stay sane, stay safe out there, and we will see you next week.
