Amy Klobuchar on what she would do if elected governor of Minnesota

Well, this morning we are focusing on the race for Minnesota governor. The Republican nominee is House Speaker Lisa Damoth. She will be a guest here live at 10.30 a.m. next Sunday, September 6th. The Democratic nominee is Senator Amy Klobuchar, and she is joining us right here. Thank you, Esmé. You've got a great audience out there, as always. Clearly, yes. A lot to talk to you about. One of the biggest decisions you might have to face as governor is whether or not to extend the order that Governor Tim Walz put into effect to bar mining near the Boundary Waters. That order that he put into effect just a few weeks ago, I think it was August 18th, has a 90-day expiration date after he leaves office, so we're talking next April. Have you decided, and what will you do? Well, if I earn the trust of the people of Minnesota to be the next governor, I will look at that order, at every detail about that order. But what I want people to know is that I am going to protect the Boundary Waters. You look at the vote that we just had in Washington just a few months ago, when Republicans tried to shove through an unprecedented procedural mechanism that would have literally and will destroy other public lands, not just the Boundary Waters, I not only voted no, I spoke out against it. Unfortunately, my opponent said she would have embraced that. So as you look forward, one of the things I hope that your viewers will do, will look at my conservation plan. It's at amyklobuchar.com. I put out an entire conservation plan for this state, not just to protect the Boundary Waters, but also our wetlands, our recreational trails. Minnesota has a legacy amendment that has the voters, have Democrats, Republicans, independent combined forces to say, we want to protect the environment in Minnesota. This is a treasure of a place with our lakes and our streams and our waters. So no decision yet on whether, which way you'll go. I know House Speaker Lisa Damath has said she will let it expire. What I'm going to do is protect the Boundary Waters. And that means doing everything I can when it comes to conservation and the Boundary Waters. I also want to point out that up north, there are other mining projects like Masabi Metallics that I recently visited and have supported, that's going to employ hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miners. So I've worked really hard to protect our miners. And right now, what is not protecting them is Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada. If you want to look at what is a real risk up north, that's a real risk. All right. We're going to get into that in just a second. I do want to ask you about an ad that is running from Lisa Damath. It's her ad in which she is attacking you, and you can tell because it's always very unflattering pictures of people in the ad, but she's accusing you. She's saying that you were involved in a $100 million earmark to an organization. Never was paid. There's no criminal charges. There's no indictments. But I want to play a clip of that ad. I'm sure most of you have probably seen this by now. Launched a top to bottom audit of state government to root out the waste and the fraud. Not so fast. D.C. politician Amy Klobuchar pushed for a million dollar earmark to a Somali-led nonprofit now under investigation and operated above a Somali restaurant. What's it like having an ad like that run against you? Well, you just kind of go on with your day and say, what can I put out there to help Minnesotans instead of this? Because what is really important for people to know is that I actually was the one that pulled that funding back. I was the one that made the calls to say we shouldn't put in this funding request. And guess what? It was never funded. So that's the one thing I want Minnesotans to know. But I want them to know something else. $4 million have been spent on attack ads on me. And the vast majority of it is coming from a billionaire from Wisconsin who's one of Donald Trump's top donors. So if he is going to be the one that's picking the governor for Minnesota, I don't think they want a Packers fan doing that. And the second thing I'll say is that, you know, she may be his choice for governor. I want to be the choice of the people of Minnesota. All right. Your opponent, House Speaker Lisa Damon, saw she wanted the president's endorsement. She didn't get it. Michael Lindell, of course, got it. And she has basically said that most of the policies of the president she does agree with. She did say she didn't want Canada to be the 51st state. What are some of the policies that you disagree with Donald Trump on? Well, I think it's not just that she hasn't disagreed with him on. She literally was asked, is there anything you disagree with him on, on a respected radio station? And she couldn't think of one thing. Where do I disagree with him? I disagree with him on the tariffs. She said they'd be effective. I think that they are hurting our farmers and ranchers. Canada is our biggest trading partner. And when you look at the next two or three, four, that is more trade we do with Canada than our next trading partners combined. She said she thought that the Medicaid cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill, she said the Big Beautiful Bill was good for Minnesota. This is what's decimating our rural hospitals. Eight million people nationally have been kicked off their health care. And she embraced the war in Iran. He is literally asking for $70 billion for that, which is two years of the Affordable Care Act tax credit, which would help a whole bunch of Minnesotans, small businesses, people on the individual marketplace to get their health care. So yeah, I agree with him on a lot of stuff. And that is just the beginning. She has said she has nothing she disagrees with him on. And I don't think we want a rubber stamp of Donald Trump in the governor's office of Minnesota. I want to ask you about the situation with Canada. We seem to be in a war with Canada in terms of tariffs that are being just implemented. We had a little piece earlier on. Other tariffs I know have really upset some people in Minnesota. I did a story on beef cattle ranchers. They're very upset that Donald Trump is eliminating tariffs on imported beef. As governor, do you have, would you have any ability to kind of override that? So first of all, we know all of these things right now. These headwinds are just really difficult for small businesses, for farmers, ranchers. And these headwinds may be a constant, but they cannot be an excuse. And that's why I have put forth a growth agenda for this state. I cannot tell you how important it is. We cannot just rest on our laurels. We brought the world and everything from the pacemaker to the post-it note. But if we want to take on this difficult economy right now, we've got to open up new markets for ourselves. And that is everything from domestic markets. As governor, I will strongly, I lead the sustainable aviation fuel caucus in the Senate, done major work on that. That's one area. There's very, there are medical, we know that we are a leader. We need to even expand on that even more. And then when you go to international with these tariffs hitting us, one of the things you want in a governor is someone who's going to say why it is so important to get rid of these tariffs and be really strong on this. Not just at the last minute say some, you know, well, I have a little opinion about this man. You have got to be like strong and say what happens to Minnesota. The second thing you got to do is work with our businesses and find trade deals that you can find for them. I lead the American Canadian group in the Senate. I've already met with Prime Minister Carney with Senator Cramer of North Dakota, first senator to meet with him. And I made it very clear how important that relationship is between Minnesota and Canada. So I'm going to make not just domestic markets, but also international markets, cutting red tape, rooting out the fraud, transforming our state government. So it is a state government that matches the drive and ambition of the people of Minnesota. This past week, there was a very sad anniversary, the one year of the Annunciation shooting in which two children died and almost 30 people were shot and injured. That there was an effort by the legislature to try and ban semi-automatic weapons and large capacity magazines. It passed by one vote in the Senate and it stalled in the House in part because it never got a full vote from the House. Some Democrats were critical of the speaker. What would you do in that instance? And if something comes to your desk and if you are governor, would you sign that kind of a bill? I would. And to step back, when you look at this week and this anniversary, I have met with Harper and Fletcher's families. I know how important this is to them. I know that day is a story of tremendous courage, of kids protecting kids that should never have happened. Bullets raining through stained glass windows. If the Minneapolis police had not shown up as they did, Officer Ryan, it was incredible. In four minutes and 14 minutes after that, all the children were in ambulances with tourniquets and so many survived. So I do want to respect that moment of what they went through and what happened. But then what do we do as elected officials? My opponent stopped the vote, would not allow a vote in the House on that gun safety package after telling, according to many reports and the families, after telling them that she would allow that vote. That's why that vote didn't happen. That's why it stopped. And as governor, I will, yes, I will stand up for hunting and angling and outdoor recreation in Minnesota, but I will allow for that vote and I will sign that bill for gun safety. All right. Well, Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you so much for stopping by. We're obviously going to follow this campaign. It'll be great. Thank you. September 18th, just a few weeks away, folks, early voting starts, if you can believe it. Go out there and vote after you have had a corndog and a bunch of cheese curds. Save them. September 18th. We'll see you at the voting booth. Thank you. All right. And we'll be back at the fair next Sunday talking politics with the Republican candidate for governor, Lisa Damath. Be sure to check in at 1030 next Sunday morning for that interview.