Quick Take:
- Tax Breaks for Profit Sharing
- Limit Abusive Stock Buybacks
- Living Wage Tax Credits for Small Business
- Penalties for Unjustified Price Gouging
- Support Employee Ownership & Co-ops
- Strengthen Unions & Worker Rights
Overview:
Building wealth for more people does not start with taxing the billionaires. This is an overused liberal talking point that means nothing. All taxing the billionaires means is that they will pass the cost of extra taxes on to you and now the government gets to decide what to do with that money. Instead, the goal must be to put more into your pockets. Also, trickle down economics does not work. Instead, effective policy will incentivize large corporations to not gouge consumers and to act in the interest of promoting economic prosperity for their employees, not just their CEOs and shareholders. Organized labor built the American middle class and it’s time to turn back to unionizing America’s workforce.
Detailed Plan:
Tax Incentives for Profit Sharing
One big step toward building a stronger economy for hardworking Americans is to make sure our workers share in the success they help create. That’s exactly what the Employee Profit-Sharing Encouragement Act (H.R. 2628, 118th Congress) is all about. By cutting taxes for businesses that reward their employees through real profit-sharing, we put more money directly into the pockets of American workers. When companies succeed, their workers should succeed too. This boosts loyalty, drives productivity through the roof, and helps keep our great American middle class strong. It’s common sense: when people know that their extra effort means more money for their families, everybody wins. More jobs, better paychecks, and less wealth concentrated at the top. That’s how you put Americans first.
Restrict Stock Buybacks
When companies buy back their own stocks, they are gaming the system to make their investors more wealthy. This comes at the expense of employee wages, benefits, and long-term investment in the company. Legislation such as the Reward Work Act, the Stock Buyback Reform & Worker Dividend Act of 2019, and the Stock Buyback Accountability Act aim to curb this trend. These proposals suggest that companies should only be permitted to engage in significant stock buybacks if they first meet predefined benchmarks for employee compensation, including fair wages and benefits. This ensures that a company’s financial success is shared not just with investors, but also with the workers who contribute to that success, promoting a more balanced and sustainable economic model.
Offer Small Businesses a Tax Credit if They Pay All Employees a Certified Regional Living Wage
Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, yet they often face challenges in offering competitive wages. To address this, a policy offering small businesses a tax credit for paying all their employees a certified regional living wage would be transformative. This initiative would empower small businesses to provide their workers with a wage that allows them to meet basic needs and participate more fully in the economy, without unduly burdening the businesses themselves. It recognizes the vital role of small enterprises in job creation and community development, and incentivizes responsible labor practices that benefit both employees and local economies. To put it simply, this plan will reduce the amount small businesses are required in taxes so they can instead invest that money in their own business.
Impose Targeted Penalties or Public Disclosure Requirements on Companies that Raise Prices Far Above Inflation Without Corresponding Cost Increases
In times of economic uncertainty, consumers often face the burden of rapidly increasing prices, sometimes without clear justification from corporations. To combat this, it is essential to implement measures that address unjustified price increases. Legislation like the Price Gouging Prevention Act (S. 3803 / S. 4214) proposes imposing targeted penalties or robust public disclosure requirements on companies that raise prices significantly above the rate of inflation without demonstrable increases in their underlying costs. This aims to deter corporate profiteering at the expense of consumers and promote greater transparency in pricing, ensuring that price hikes are genuinely linked to economic realities rather than opportunistic exploitation.
Support and Expand Employee Benefits
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives represent powerful models for employee empowerment and wealth building. These structures allow employees to have a direct ownership stake in the companies where they work, leading to increased engagement, productivity, and a more equitable distribution of profits. Initiatives like the Employee Ownership Fairness Act of 2025 seek to support and expand these models through favorable lending programs and tax structures. Furthermore, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act indirectly supports such structures by strengthening worker rights, which can foster environments more conducive to collective ownership. Expanding the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program into rural communities can also provide crucial capital to these employee-owned businesses in underserved areas, fostering local economic growth and community wealth building. By promoting ESOPs and worker cooperatives, we can create a more democratic and prosperous economy where workers have a direct say in their workplaces and a tangible share in the success they help create.
Goals:
- Funding for locally designed courses
- Make America’s education dominant again
- Local preschool for every family
- Full federal funding for the IDEA act supporting kids with disabilities
- Increasing opportunities for higher education
- Reducing student debt
- Empowering and Supporting Teachers
Balancing Local Needs with National Standards to Keep America’s Global Edge
Schools across the country serve a broad range of communities with varying needs. I plan to support locally developed middle and high school curricula that focus on local industries. This means classes that focus on trade skills, farming, advanced manufacturing, mining technologies, and more. At the same time, America needs to keep its global edge so I’ll work to maintain strong national standards that provide students with the chance to compete globally in emerging markets and technologies such as AI, computer innovation, and biotechnology so America keeps its edge in the global economy.
Local Preschool for Every Family
Preschool can create positive life-long outcomes for children in many areas. However, for many parents universal preschool may not be exactly what they want for their children. My plan is to create universal preschool for any family who wants it. Regardless of where you live, if you think preschool is right for you and your child, it will be available.
Increasing Opportunities for Higher Education
This one is personal for me. In high school I was told college was the logical next step for a good job. For me, that turned out to be right, but it’s not true for everybody. I didn’t know how to pay for college so at 17 I enlisted in the Army National Guard in part to help pay for college. This helped, but I still left college with debt. Then I went to law school seeking to help others and left with even more debt. The reality is college isn’t right for everybody nor is it necessary for a good-paying career. At the end of the day, my goal is to increase opportunities for all. Let’s be real here, different levels of education and training have drastic cost differences and varying outcomes. Whether it’s skills training, community college, or beyond, students go to college to seek a better future. This should not result in punishing student debt. In Congress I will push for fair income-based repayment plans for student loans and loan forgiveness for those that have kept up with their payments and have contributed to the economy by paying their fair share of taxes.
Empowering and Supporting Educators
Teachers are the backbone of our education system. They deserve competitive pay and the resources they need to provide our kids with the best education in the world. Teacher’s pay and the resources available to them should not solely be based on the community they teach in. Whether it’s a rural or urban school, my plan is to bolster local funding for schools with additional federal funding so that American students will leave school ready to serve their community and lead the world once again.
My job as a Representative will be to listen to the people first. If you are a parent, teacher, student, or community member and think something is missing here, or I am wrong about a proposed plan, call me at: 218-208-0087.
Goals:
- Pass a Modernized Farm Bill
- Regulatory Reform
- Increasing Farmer Prosperity
- Preservation of Small Business and Family Farms
- Soil Conservation and Sustainable Ecological Practices
Passing a Modernized Farm Bill:
In 2018, a bipartisan Congress passed the Farm bill. Traditionally updated every 5 years, a divided Congress has been unable to get to modernizing the bill, so the bill is now stuck in a cycle of simple continuing resolutions extending the bill to be looked at another day. Farmers deserve more. I pledge to work with farmers in the district to modernize the bill to address the needs of the 21st century farmer and to push America’s agricultural infrastructure forward.
Key issues I will bring to the table include: industry-wide right to repair and funding for fixes, make whole risk management, preventing waste of surplus through traditional nutrition programs, investment in agricultural research and conservation programs, farming innovation, and increasing baseline farm bill spending.
Regulatory Reform:
Regulations play an important role in keeping the long-term in mind, maintaining healthy outcomes, and promoting sustainability. However, regulations can become outdated and sometimes never made sense from the beginning. My goal in Congress will be to remove unnecessary barriers to farming and to only promote necessary regulation that is fair and manageable.
Key areas that need fixing: less paperwork, making WOTUS more clear and stable, eliminating transportation and weight restrictions through testing and infrastructure investments, and aligning state and federal regulation and enforcement.
Farmer Prosperity Plan:
Increasing prosperity for farmers means preventing corporate take over and preserving small business and family farms. The future of a strong American economy is not in continued corporate mergers and takeovers, rather the traditional family farm.
Key action items: increased access to credit, cooperative and marketing systems structure, fair pricing for agricultural products, investment in local and regional processing, penalty-free succession and support for succession planning, and buy-small first requirements.
My job as a Representative will be to listen to the people first. If you are a farmer and think something is missing here, or I am wrong about a proposed plan, call me at: 218-208-0087.
Quick Take:
- Fix Broken Healthcare Laws that Will Help Expand Rural Access
- Expand Access to Healthcare
- Rapidly Expand Medicare Drug Negotiation
Fixing Outdated and Broken Laws
Rural health access is at risk of disappearing. Fixing outdated and broken laws will help turn this trend around. The Critical Access Hospital payment program of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created restrictions on reimbursement of medicare costs depending on factors such as limiting acute care inpatient beds, the distance from the closest next hospital, and maintaining low average length of stay hours. The Rural Emergency Hospital grant is not being given to the communities that need it, rather only the hospitals that meet outdated criteria. I plan to remove these barriers to already existing laws and provide the needed funding for rural and urban hospitals alike to keep critical access available to communities at risk of losing healthcare.
Expand What Medicare Covers
Medicare was designed to care for our nation’s older members and younger people with disabilities. Although at times under attack in various ways, this basic premise has prevailed. I will advocate for expanding Medicare for those it already covers to include coverage for vision, dental, and hearing. It’s just basic common sense as these are all important aspects of people’s health.
Rapidly Increasing the Ability to Negotiate Drug Prices
For decades the American tax payer was getting scammed because Medicare was prohibited from negotiating drug prices in the same way that private insurers were reducing their costs. Thanks to President Biden, Medicare now has the power to negotiate drug prices and has successfully been doing so. However, these negotiations have been arbitrarily capped at a limited number per year. I will support legislation that rapidly increases the ability for the federal government to expand its current and future ability to negotiate drug prices.
Tax Credits to Lower Premiums
As FDR put it, my job as a Democrat is to run the government to guarantee every citizen “the right to his economic and political life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This means helping increase access to healthcare and lower those costs for the American family. One way to do this is by expanding eligibility for tax credits that offset the price of expensive premiums. This law is already on the books through the Affordable Care Act and temporarily expanded through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. I will work to make this expansion apply to more Americans and become permanent.
What about Medicare for All?
Since 2003, various versions of Expanded Medicare and Medicare for All bills have been introduced in Congress and none have gotten past “dying in Committee”. My priority in Congress will be to seek solutions that will provide access to healthcare to people now. The platform I lay out above is the best shot at making that happen. My platform is not giving up on healthcare, rather returning to the American ideal of working together through disagreements to get things done.
Quick Take:
- Promoting Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Tribal Nations
- Equitable Federal Funding
- Support the Inherent Right of Tribal Nations Taxing Authority
- Strengthen Tribal Criminal Justice Systems
- Preserve and Promote Native Culture
Sovereignty and Self Determination for Tribal Nations
In Congress, I will recognize and respect Tribal Nations as sovereign governments. I will listen to the issues Tribal Nations bring to my office and engage in regular conversations with Tribal leaders to ensure their voices are heard and brought to Washington.
I will help pass legislation that reinforces Tribal self-determination and autonomy over the use of federal funding because I agreed with the President Biden administration that “too many of the federal funding and support programs that Tribes rely on are difficult to access, have overly burdensome federal reporting requirements, have unnecessary limitations, or impose requirements on Tribes that drain Tribal resources….”
Federal funding for Tribal Nations in areas like education, public safety, infrastructure, and healthcare consistently falls below national averages. My goal is to reverse that trend by ensuring Tribal Nations receive equitable treatment and resources.
Supporting Tribal Taxing Authority
Tribal Nations have been hindered in their ability to generate and spend tax revenues necessary for performing basic governmental functions. I will support legislation that guarantees the right to generate tax revenue free from overlapping state taxation, supports Tribal Nations’ abilities to manage revenues, and removes barriers to spending revenues.
Public Safety
It is important for Tribal Nations to have the jurisdiction and resources necessary to increase public safety. I will work to strengthen tribal law enforcement and increase coordination with federal agencies when desired.
Preserving and Promoting Native Culture
Native culture must be preserved and protected. I support increased enforcement of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act and funding towards the study and recording of Native languages. I will review, update, and modernize the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act S. 1419 and work to get it passed.
Quick Take:
- Harness our energy in America
- Lower energy costs
- Invest in new technologies
- Put money from gas and oil tax breaks and subsidies back into your pocket
Investing in the Energy of the Future
Countries across the world like China are investing more than ever in new energy technologies. America needs to step up its game and stop relying on the same old fossil fuel industry that is holding the country back. My number one goal will be based on meeting the energy needs of American communities and lowering costs, not to chase arbitrary climate targets. Also, I support American energy independence, which will help foster new and better jobs, while also benefiting America’s national security. Creating renewable clean energy in our own country is proven to reduce energy costs.
I support the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, which will be modeled after the defense research agency that’s behind the American ingenuity that brought us the internet and GPS.
Putting a Stop to Tax Breaks and Other Subsidies to the Oil Industry
I will spend my time in Congress finding all the ways that the gas and oil industries are benefiting from our tax dollars through certain policies and loopholes. For example, I will end 26 U.S.C. § 613 for oil companies. This law allows oil companies to deduct a fixed percentage of the income they earn, allowing them to get a tax break greater than their actual operating costs. Ending the Percentage Depletion Allowance, 26 U.S.C. § 263, a tax advantage that encourages more drilling because it allows immediate tax deductions for costs, where other industries must spread costs out over time
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Goals:
- A Minnesota First Approach
- Strong Union Jobs
- Investments in Iron Mining
The Minnesota First Approach for Iron Mining
Since the 1890s the Iron Range has been building America. The Range is responsible for creating the bridges and other infrastructure that created the greatest economy the world has ever seen. It also helped build the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen in helping America dominate the Fascist and Communist regimes of the 20th Century. I am committed to continuing this long history by maintaining strong union mining jobs and investing in continued technologies to increase efficiency and sustainability of the mining operations. I intend to work directly with unions and mining organizations like the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota to provide what the Iron Range needs. I will provide targeted federal investments in modernizing mining with new technologies, offer tax credits and grants for companies to upgrade their operation and retain workers, and protect domestic supply chains by prioritizing American iron ore over foreign imports.
The Minnesota First Approach for Copper and Nickel Mining
With Minnesota’s long history of iron mining, the state knows what’s needed to promote a strong mining industry balanced with non-negotiable environmental protections. The North Shore and Boundary Waters is a rare place. It cannot be overstated how unique of a blessing Minnesotans have in this region. The Boundary Waters is America’s most visited wilderness area. It encompasses over one million acres of pristine lakes, rivers, and boreal forest that is untouched. This vast area is unlike anywhere else in America and has almost vanished across the globe. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world. Its clear waters, rugged cliffs, and shoreline old-growth forests make it an irreplaceable treasure supporting many industries.
I trust the people of Minnesota to do what is right to preserve this land while considering new technologies and abilities to mine safely. I will be direct in stating that Copper Nickel mining is a contentious issue in the district. However, because there is nowhere else in the world like the Boundary Waters and North Shore, Minnesotans know what’s best. In Congress, I will make sure that control of the land stays in the hands of Minnesotans and is not decided by outside interests or foreign corporations. As it stands, there are no active copper-nickel mines in Minnesota. This is because the primarily foreign companies that want to come in have been unable to prove they can come to Minnesota and mine safely. I will oppose any federal or foreign effort to override Minnesotans’ right to decide how we use and protect our land. Any company that wants to mine here must prove, not just promise, that they can do it safely, with no threat to our clean water, our public lands, or our communities.
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
