Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
Drilling down on key 8th District issues
Incumbent Republican Rep. Pete Stauber faces a rematch with former DFL legislator Jennifer Schultz.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 17, 2024 at 10:34PM
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Minnesota’s sprawling Eighth Congressional District covers much of the state’s northeast quadrant and includes Duluth, the Iron Range and world-class natural resources, such as the Lake Superior shoreline and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). Republican incumbent Rep. Pete Stauber is facing a second challenge from former DFL legislator Jennifer Schultz.
Stauber, 58, of Hermantown, is a retired police officer who is seeking his fourth term. Schultz, 53, of Duluth, is a health economics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She served from 2015-2022 in the Minnesota House.
To help voters compare the candidates, the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board reached out to regional officials and asked them to identify matters of specific importance to the Eighth. We compiled a list, with an emphasis on ones for which federal solutions are vital and that require strong U.S. House representation. The following is where Stauber and Schultz stand on these key issues:
- Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel. President Joe Biden is preparing to block the Japan-based firm’s purchase due to national security concerns over foreign ownership of this large steelmaker. The trade-off: Nippon’s investment could revitalize U.S. Steel plants to which the Iron Range supplies raw material. In April, in what appears to be his most recent public statement on this, Stauber said he’s taking a wait-and-see approach as a U.S. Treasury-led committee reviews the transaction. This month, Schultz said the national security review is appropriate and that “the sale should advance only if all conditions outlined by the United Steel Workers are met and they approve.” She also said that the “ability of the buyer to make these investments should be one of the considerations” under review and that “another condition could be to require the buyer to build an integrated mine-to-steel facility, so we are making steel on the Iron Range.”
- Rural emergency services/ambulance funding. Many communities across the state are struggling to fund first responders in the face of rising costs, a labor shortage, an aging population and inadequate reimbursements for services. The challenge is especially acute in the Eighth. State lawmakers this year provided a one-time funding boost, but it’s far from a cure-all. One federal solution: requiring the federal Medicare program, which covers seniors’ health care, to reimburse for calls that don’t transfer the patient to a hospital. Stauber is co-sponsoring a bill that would extend through 2028 a specialized rate increase for Medicare payments to rural ground ambulance services. But he is not listed as a co-sponsor on a U.S. House bill that would require Medicare to pay for non-transport calls. Schultz says she would support requiring Medicare to pay for non-transport as well as other measures to bolster emergency services.
- Great Lakes cleanup. Polluted water and land around the Great Lakes are a lamentable legacy from industry practices predating environmental protections. The St. Louis River estuary has long been on a federal list of areas with “legacy pollution.” But remarkable progress has been made in reclaiming the northern Minnesota river for recreation and swimming. It could be delisted as one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “areas of concern” by 2030 or a few years later. Ongoing federal support is critical to accomplish this. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) is the leading program to address legacy pollution, but it’s set to expire in 2026. An Ohio Republican has introduced a bill to reauthorize the GLRI through 2031 and bump funding from $475 million yearly to $500 million. Stauber is one of 34 U.S. House sponsors. Schultz, who has served on the Great Lakes Commission, helped secure state cleanup funds and also supports the GLRI reauthorization bill.
- Copper-nickel mining protections for the BWCA watershed. In 2023, the Biden administration put a 20-year moratorium in place on copper-nickel mining on federal lands near the beloved wilderness. Prompting this: concerns about pollution from an Argentine firm’s plan to open a mine on a lake draining into the BWCA. Stauber, an energetic mining advocate, introduced legislation to overturn the moratorium. It cleared the U.S. House earlier this year. Asked whether she supports the moratorium, Schultz said this: “Everyone agrees on one thing — we cannot pollute our water ... . We need a leader to bring everyone to the table — representatives of the mining companies, scientists, tribal leaders, environmental groups, community members, state agencies, federal officials and other stakeholders. We will never be mining within the BWCA, and we should rely on hydrologists, geologists and other scientific experts, including the EPA, to determine the safety of any type of mining in the BWCA watershed.”
- County struggles to pay for jail inmates’ health care. A longstanding federal policy prohibits billing Medicaid, a safety-net medical coverage program for the poor, “for any inmate care unless the covered individual requires a hospital stay of at least 24 hours.” As a Star Tribune editorial noted earlier this year, the policy shifts costs to other levels of government and is a particular concern when many inmates need mental health and addiction treatment. While Minnesota is launching an innovative pilot program to better tap federal dollars for this purpose, other solutions are necessary. It’s unclear what federal relief Stauber might support. Schultz acknowledged the widespread need for inmate mental health care and noted that without treatment, inmates could harm corrections officers or reoffend. “Rehabilitating inmates and providing necessary health care is important for their health and the well-being our communities,” she said.
To learn more about each candidate, go to petestauberforcongress.com/ and jenschultzforcongress.com/.
Opinion editor’s note: In this election cycle, instead of endorsing candidates, we are offering a studied analysis in selected congressional races that have been identified because of their competitive nature and overreaching impact on national and local issues that matter to most Minnesotans. You can read more about this approach here.
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