U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (DFL) met with business leaders in Grand Marais at the Voyageur Brewing Company. After the meeting Klobuchar chatted with guests on the deck and had quite a few pictures taken with people.
Seated underneath a blue canopy on the brown stained deck of Voyageur Brewing Company on a warm sunny (July 5) day, a smiling Amy Klobuchar (DFL) enthusiastically greeted a handful of local leaders and then engaged with them in lively conversation on a wide variety of topics.
Sitting with the U.S. Senator were Dennis Rysdahl, owner of Bluefin Bay; Scott Harrison, owner of Lutsen Resort and member of the Cook County/ Grand Marais Economic Development Authority board; Hal Greenwood, member of the EDA and Grand Marais Planning Commission; Jim Boyd, director of the Grand Marais Chamber of Commerce; Mike Prom, owner of Voyageur Brewing, Voyageur Canoe Outfitters, and a member of several boards and organizations in the county; and Mary Somnis, director of the EDA.
Topics briefly touched on included tourism, the cost of higher education, healthcare, international trade, tariffs, immigration reform and the border between Mexico and the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, logging, farming and the overall economy. Even the plight of night crawlers raised in Canada was mentioned. Raised in Canada and then sold to American bait dealers, those same night crawlers aren’t allowed to be brought back across the border by Americans who want to fish with them in Canadian waters unless certain conditions are met.
Topping the list of items discussed affecting Cook County was the lack of affordable housing and lack of workforce to fill all of the available jobs.
Rysdahl questioned the senator about the ever-changing status of the J1 and H2B visas program that allows foreign students to come and work in the U.S. It’s a program that Cook County employers involved in tourism rely on to fill job openings.
Under the current administration those programs were initially curtailed, but the senator said congressional steps are being taken to grow them again, and the White House is more receptive to that idea than it was in the past.
As for the economy, the senator acknowledged that it was growing but more labor was needed to keep it growing.
“Comprehensive immigration reform is key to moving the economy along,” said Klobuchar, adding she has supported immigration reform since 2007.
In 2013 she helped pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill which includes a pathway to earned citizenship, enforcement of existing laws, border security, and reforms to the visa system.
That bill also included the Dream Act, which she co-sponsored and continues to support, but she said the House of Representatives didn’t pass the legislation.
“I will continue to support the passage of the Dream Act,” said Klobuchar, as well as work for the temporarily protected status programs and comprehensive immigration reform.
Klobuchar said Democrats were ready to sign a recent bill supporting the Dream Act, with money to pay for a border wall and other critical components to ensuring a safe border when “We were punched in the gut,” by Republican leadership, which killed the deal, at least for now, she added.
As co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus, Klobuchar said she knows how important tourism is to Cook County and the state’s economy.
“Tourism is the state’s fifth-largest industry, generating $14.6 billion in sales and nearly 11 percent of the state’s private sector employment.”
When asked if the Democrats would flip the House and Senate in the upcoming midterms, Amy gave, if innocently, homage to her retired Minneapolis Star & Tribune sports writing father Jim Klobuchar when she replied: “It looks like a jump ball to me.”
Speaking about education, Klobuchar warned student loan debt, “is out of control, crippling many young people and their families.”
She is working to make four-year colleges more accessible and affordable to qualified students, as well as advocating for making one-year trade school or a two-year community or technical colleges free.
Amy has also introduced legislation for parents to use tax-advantaged “529” accounts to save money for technical and vocational education programs as well as four-year colleges.
She also said she supports a new bill that would allow college students to refinance their student loans.
Another program introduced by the senator is the American Apprenticeship Act which, if passed, will provide tuition assistance programs to states for apprentices to enroll in pre-apprentice programs in a variety of occupations and industries.
On health care, Klobuchar said she strongly supports efforts to improve the Affordable Care Act. She also advocates for reining in skyrocketing prescription drug costs through a variety of means which includes allowing people to import cheaper drugs from Canada and empowering Medicare to negotiate for the best possible price on drugs on behalf of 41 million seniors on Medicaid Part D.
While there was much to ponder and pontificate about, the things like looming tariff wars and trouble on the Mexican and Canadian borders, Ms. Klobuchar brought the discussion all the way around to end on a positive note.
“In Cook County, together we have brought in broadband. People can now work from their homes or work remotely for a company. Broadband gives you increased access to education, strengthens business, and allows access to better health care.
“The hospital and care center (North Shore Health) is newly rebuilt. Logging is more stable than it has been for a long time. Tourism is strong. Just look,” she said, pointing to the throngs of people filling the town.
“The airport runway has been lengthened to allow bigger planes to land here. You have an EDA that is pushing to build affordable workforce housing. There are a lot of good things to be proud of. We can’t forget these accomplishments. There’s more to be done, but a lot of good things have already been done here, and that needs to be celebrated.”
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