Hot dish 5.21.24

By Sydney Kashiwagi

Good morning, and welcome to your weekly edition of DC Dish. Former President Donald Trump talked about a lot of things when he came to town last week. China, “Bidenomics,” keeping “men out of women’s sports,” as my colleague Rochelle Olson wrote about.

But besides talking up how he plans to win Minnesota in November, on the policy front, Trump provided some clues on what he would do in the Iron Range and Superior National Forest if he’s elected.

“I will rescue Minnesota ... and we’re going to rescue the Iron Range again,” he said Friday, noting his efforts to restore mineral exploration in the Superior National Forest when he was in office.

Trump’s remarks came on the heels of the House passing GOP Rep. Pete Stauber’s bill that would reinstate mineral leases that the Biden administration withdrew totaling more than 225,000 acres in the Superior National Forest. The Biden administration’s public land order has put the brakes on copper and nickel mining in that region and Stauber’s bill seeks to change that in the Duluth Complex in the Superior National Forest.

The legislation does not have a companion in the Senate and Stauber has called on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring it to the Senate floor. It’s unclear if and when that will happen. Stauber’s bill passed on a largely party-line vote, so bringing it up in the Senate could be tricky, so long as Democrats hold their slim majority there.

But if Trump wins in November and Republicans are able to take back the Senate, the former president’s remarks on Friday indicate that the congressman’s bill could advance under his watch.

“Congressman Stauber looks forward to working closely with President Trump to overturn Biden’s harmful mining moratorium in the Superior National Forest and restore long-held mineral leases once he wins back the White House in November,” Stauber’s spokesperson Kelsey Emmer said in a statement following Trump’s visit.

The environmental group Boundary Waters Action Fund swiftly condemned Trump’s remarks after his visit.

“The Boundary Waters is the most heavily visited wilderness area in the United States, attracting more than 165,000 visitors from all over the world. The fate of America’s most visited Wilderness area is in our hands. The decisions we make in this election will determine whether we protect or endanger the Boundary Waters,” Alex Falconer, the fund’s director, said in a statement.

POLICE: Stauber’s resolution condemning violence against cops and recognizing their work passed the House last week.

STUCK IN BRAZIL: It’s not often we hear good news in politics. But there’s a glimmer to share this week.

You all might remember the story of Chris and Cheri Phillips and their newborn son Greyson Leo Phillips, which my colleague Reid Forgrave wrote about last week. The parents have been stuck in Brazil since February after they made the trip to celebrate the birthday of Chris Phillips’ daughter, who lives in Brazil. Mrs. Phillips gave birth prematurely to their son in early March. But since his birth, they have not been able to return home due to issues with getting a passport and birth certificate issue for their newborn son (as chronicled in Forgrave’s story).

Sen. Tina Smith pressed the U.S. Embassy in Brazil and worked with the U.S. Department of State to make an exception and give the Phillips family a limited validity passport to allow baby Greyson to return to Minnesota.

“Such a scary situation not only to deliver a child nearly three months early, but to have it be in a foreign country so far away from your family and support system. So, we wanted to do to do everything that we could to help them navigate and get the documents that they needed so that they could get a passport for little baby Greyson, and I’m just so glad that we were able to help them out,” Smith told me in an interview.

They haven’t returned home yet, but Chris Phillips announced over the weekend that they were able to get a Brazilian birth certificate for Greyson and are in the process of creating a U.S. passport for the baby to move closer to a return. They told Forgrave in a statement that they should be able to return to Minnesota at the end of June.

ROYCE WHITE: Smith also told me on the heels of Royce White’s surprise endorsement at the state party convention over the weekend, that despite the MAGA Republican’s win, she has “high confidence” Sen. Amy Klobuchar will remain Minnesota’s senior senator come November.

“Senator Klobuchar is one of the most highly regarded and effective senators in Congress and that is why Minnesotans have elected her three times,” Smith, who’s also the vice chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said. “Her ability to get things done and to really understand Minnesota is unsurpassed.”

But as for what White’s win means for the state Republican Party, Smith put it plainly: “They have their work cut out for them.” Smith noted the party’s ongoing state of “disarray” and “deep financial challenges” and losing streak statewide over the last few cycles that they will have to work through as they navigate White’s candidacy.

FAA: The House passed the FAA Reauthorization Act last week which President Joe Biden has since signed. This followed the Senate’s passage of the bill, which included several amendments Klobuchar worked on, including one that addresses the shortage of air traffic controllers.

One of the biggest talking points throughout negotiations on the bill focused on the addition of new airline slots to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. with airports outside the 1,250 mile perimeter of the nation’s capital.

Delta, Minnesota’s biggest airline, was awarded one of those slots. The company told me it is still weighing where the slot will go. The company will have to go through a formal process with the U.S. Department of Transportation before it makes a decision.

FARM BILL: The House Agriculture Committee is set to meet on Thursday for its markup session on the Farm Bill. My colleague Chris Vondracek and I will be tracking the latest on the bill later this week.

EMMER: The House is set to consider Rep. Tom Emmer’s CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act as early as Wednesday. The bill would stop the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currency, or CBDCs.

END OF MNLEG: My colleagues Briana Bierschbach, Ryan Faircloth, Olson and Josie Albertson-Grove have been working tirelessly these last few weeks at the state capital and I have to give a shout-out to them. They’ve been working long days and late nights to bring you all the latest as the 2024 session came to a close and I’ve been in awe of their work watching them in action from afar.

Even as state lawmakers wrapped their session on Sunday, Faircloth reported that partisan tensions erupted in the session’s final hours, as Democrats merged several remaining bills on higher education, transportation, gun safety and other issues into a massive 1,400-page omnibus. They suspended debate and passed the bill in a single vote.

MITCHELL: As the session ended, a development in the case of Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, charged with first-degree burglary. Olson reported yesterday that a lawyer for the conservative website Alpha News argued in Becker County District Court on Monday for the quick release of police and dash-cam footage of Mitchell’s arrest. Mitchell’s next hearing is scheduled for June 10.

WHERE’S WALZ:

The governor will start his day by chairing meetings of the Executive Council, Land Exchange Board, and State Board of Investment at 10 a.m. He will later co-chair a Council of Governors call at 12:30 p.m.

READING LIST

Keep us posted at hotdish@startribune.com.

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