Politics Friday: 3 congressional candidates vying for their party's endorsement

This is Politics Friday on NPR News. I'm Brian Baxed. Let's face it, most congressional seats around the country aren't all that competitive. The way the district lines are drawn and how people self sort means one party has a virtual lock on all but a fraction of the 435 U.S. House seats. Minnesota fits the pattern. There is one seat, though, that has drawn expensive and competitive races cycle after cycle. It's the second congressional seat. That's a district made up of many southeastern suburbs, some ex-herbs, and pockets of farm countries spanning from Mendoza Heights down to Lesour and a lot in between. Incumbent Democratic Representative Angie Craig isn't running again, but a lot of candidates are. We invited the top two Republican candidates for a conversation. We hope to hear from at least one of them next week. Either way, the invitation is open. We do have the three DFL contenders with us. All have current or past legislative experience. In alphabetical order, they are Representative Kayla Berg. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me, Brian. And State Senator Matt Klein. Welcome back. Thanks for having me. Former State Senator Matt Little. Good to hear from you again. So we're not treating this as a formal debate, but rather a roundtable discussion. You all have plenty of time to weigh in, but let's try to keep it one person talking at a time because that's easier for the listener. That sound good for everybody? Yes. Good. So let's go in a verse order here in the introduction to just give you, have you give listeners a thumbnail of your personal political path to this point? Try to keep it to a minute or so. Senator Little, go ahead. All right. Thanks, Brian. And it is really too bad that the Republicans aren't here so they can answer this administration's failure on Iran and affordability and healthcare. So hopefully they do show up. My name is Matt Little. I was born and raised in Lakeville. My folks still live in the house I grew up in. My wife and I and our daughter Poppy, we moved to a new market township just a couple of years ago. I've had the pleasure of serving on the Lakeville city council. I'll serve two terms as mayor and then also serve determine the state Senate for Southern Dakota County. I'm the only DFL or to serve and represent that area since 1978. Got into this race because of healthcare. My mom's been sick most of my life. Three chronic conditions, none of which were her fault. Just bad luck. And so I'm fighting for Medicare for all. I think people should have healthcare from the day they're born to the day they pass away. And that includes coverage of long term care. Obviously as the campaign has gone on, we need to hold the ice accountable. And we'll get into some of that. We'll get there. Thanks, Brian. Senator Klein, go ahead. Thanks, Brian. So you know about me that I serve as a physician for most of my career at Hennepin County Medical Center working nights. I've cared for Minnesotans my entire life, and I've been patient at a time. And what I'm hearing currently from them is that they can't afford their lives and they especially can't afford their healthcare. I hope to bring a voice of experience and accomplishment and wisdom to that concern and try to move us towards affordable and accessible healthcare for all. But I'm also hearing that Minnesotans are rightly concerned that our democracy is deeply threatened. And it's core, Brian, that is because our core Minnesota values are being defiled by Donald Trump and his cronies. This country was founded on integrity and honesty and justice. And his values of lying and grift and corruption are not Minnesota values. We're going to have to restore those values to rebuild this democracy. And I feel prepared to do that. Representative Berg. Thank you so much. So my name is Kayla Berg. I'm a three term state representative representing the heart of Burnsville in the South Metro grew up in Northfield. I'm CD to through and through. I am also a union flight attendant, a labor leader and mom to two amazing young men. And the exciting thing about our campaign is that I am a real working class person. And when we talk about a representative democracy, we have to include workers. And so in this economy, when so many are struggling, I know exactly what that's like. Living paycheck to paycheck working two jobs, even as a legislator to make ends meet, living in an affordable one bedroom apartment. When my community tells me what they're struggling through, they know I live it alongside them. And that's why they put their trust and faith in me year after year. Senator Klein, you've identified yourself as a blue dog Democrat in the closely divided state Senate. Where has that come into play in the Senate? And how might it fit into this campaign? So the blue dogs are a group of Democrats in the state Senate who represent a group of rural interests and ex urban and suburban interests and try to push for business interests or interests that balance the interests of business with our working Minnesotans and find practical solutions to advance the good of all. And we've been effective in that. That's the way CD two looks to me. That's what they reward with their votes. A center left, pragmatic and problem solving legislator. And I think it fits very well with the seat I'm seeking. Representative Berg, I hadn't been aware until reading about your campaign in the New York Times recently that your first elected role in politics was as a Bernie Sanders delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He's of course a democratic aligned independent who isn't shy about saying where he think Democrats fall short. Where do you think your party has dropped the ball? Look, we I don't know that we've dropped the ball as much as we need to call people in. A lot of people have felt disenfranchised over the last several years. I think that's why we saw the rise of Trump because they thought they were getting something different. What they got was a corrupt authoritarian tyrant who's enriching himself off the backs of working people. We need to invite people in, join the movement, give them something to hope for and to want to participate in our democratic values. And Matt Little, you're leaning in hard into the social media campaign to talk about quote standing up for all the rebels, mavericks and misfits. What do you mean by that? Yeah, I'm an underdog, you know, I think I would start an underdog caucus. You know, I don't come from any sort of money. My mom grew up on a small dairy farm. And, you know, my dad was abandoned by his parents and raised by his grandma, who worked rotating shifts at a tire factory to provide for him and his two brothers. So I'm fighting for all those people that are working their butts off and still not getting anywhere. So that's where I feel like my heart is at. We're going to start with a topic that's front and center these days. And that's the war with Iran. President Trump told Americans the other night that the US war in Iran, which of course he doesn't use that word lately, will end in two to three weeks. Representative Burke, how confident are you in that assessment? Absolutely not. Look, this is a reckless and absurd war. And it is being financed on the back of working people. They want to gut health care even more to pay for this war. $1.5 trillion was the ask this morning from this administration. And who do you think's going to bear the brunt of that? It's people like me who are struggling to make ends meet already, rising gas prices now from this unconstitutional war. We are going to pay for this. And this Trump administration and his cronies will continue to enrich themselves, just like Jared Kushner over there doing absolutely nothing but getting rich for it. This is a danger. Yes. Representative Klein, what do you think about how the war is going over there? Well, it's deeply personal to me. My son serves in the US naval forces on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. And I'm praying for him and for his compatriots on the seas. And of course, Minnesotans have already lost one of our own in Nicola Moore. God bless her service. Listen, we know that a nuclear Iran is not good for anybody, but there's no indication that there's a plan to get us to a nuclear free Iran through this war. We're spending a billion dollars a day. And now there's a proposal to cut health care benefits for Minnesotans and Americans to pay for that war. Well, that's not the priorities that I hear out of anybody that I listen to. Congress needs to reassert its Article 1 powers to be the authority that investigates when we go to war, decides when we go to war, who our allies are and what victory looks like. Matt Little, what do you think? Yeah, I think the only person that this war really helps is Putin, with the Strait of Hormuz being shut down and oil prices climbing and climbing. Russia continues to make a great deal of money. I don't know what Putin's got on this guy to help him out. But, you know, I agree with my former colleagues here as well, which is this shouldn't be on the backs of the taxpayers at all. They continue to lie to us all the way from a year ago. When Trump said we had completely eradicated their nuclear capabilities. And now that was a pretense for going in. Regime change was a pretense we've been lied to about the timeframe. It started at three to four days, and then it was two weeks, and then it was four to five weeks, and it was four to five weeks in the beyond. And it was 200 billion dollars. And now it's one point. Yeah. And to the point of the cost, I think we keep this one brief, because I think you've all kind of addressed it. If you were in Congress right now, that that request for, I think it was start off as 200 billion now up to 350 in the immediate term to carry out the war. Are you supportive? Maybe a heck no. No, absolutely not. Representative Berg, what's your standard as to when it would be appropriate for the US to use military force, and whether that's through air or ground troops? Well, look, I think we need to use force when our American cities are threatened by conflicts. We have just gone through and are still going through a violent occupation in our streets by ICE, where they are harassing our neighbors and abducting them. And we have been out bearing witness and documenting what they have done and interrupting what they have done in our cities. And so what this administration has done is funded a extra judicial military entity, more so than any other military in the world, and release them on American citizens in American cities under the pretense of getting the worst of the worst out of here. And so not only is that unconstitutional, use of force by our military should be to protect the American people, not to attack them. Senator Little? I think it's justified when there's an imminent threat to the American people or an ally. Senator Clark? Well, this is why the founding fathers put the authority to declare war in the legislature, so that these decisions are thoughtful and based in wisdom. We need to know what we're going in, what victory looks like, who our allies are, what our strategy is, and those types of decisions can only be done responsibly by a legislative body. Some of you have mentioned this already, but we're going to start with you, Senator Klein. What kinds of things did you do personally during the ICERs to reflect where you stood on that? Well, I joined a group of physicians who spoke against the mistreatment of detainees at the Whipple Center, and also spoke about the ways that people were avoiding health care and having adverse health outcomes because they were sheltering in their homes out of fear from our own government. Then 100 or so of us white coat physicians stood out at the Whipple Center and did a public protest with declaiming the way that people are being treated there. Those are the most primitive treatments that we've seen in, you know, American history of people that are Americans. And it's simply unacceptable. It's morally unacceptable. And it's offensive to me as a health care provider. Senator Little, what did you do? Did a number of things. I protested at Whipple. My protested the day that Alex Pretty was murdered. I was out there, was tear gas myself. I've done ICE patrols in the community. So much so that ICE led me back to my house, boxed me in and threatened to arrest me. I've been out there. As some of you know, my wife is an immigrant. She came here on political asylum. And so this fight is personal to me. Representative Byrd? Yes, thank you. So I mentioned I live in a one bedroom apartment in the heart of Burnsville. And many of my neighbors are black and brown and immigrants. And I'm terrified for them every time I see them. But I was right in the heart of it. And so it didn't matter what time day or night. ICE was on the property. Throw your coat on grab your whistle. I didn't even open my shades until maybe three weeks ago because of the drone activity above our buildings constantly. I was out patrolling observing I escorted workers from their jobs to their cars because even that short walk in the parking lot was a threat to them. We've delivered groceries. A reporter once asked me, What is what do you think the last thing that you'll kind of let go of when this is over with? And I said, I think it will be peering into every car that passes me to assess whether it's a friend or an enemy. And she was from Chicago, and she knew exactly what I meant. Senator Little, there's been a lot of proposals put on the table to change the way that ICE conducts itself. But which two or three of the guardrails that have been put on the table, you think are most imperative to you? I think we need to go beyond the guardrails. I think ICE should be completely replaced. I think the sexism, racism and authoritarianism inherent in that agency cannot be rooted out, cannot be reformed. So I think their duties need to be taken over by another federal agency, their core duties, which are getting violent criminals out of a country and stopping drugs from coming into this country. But I think the unmasking and being forced to identify yourself are the most important of the proposals that have been set up. Top of your to do list, Representative Byrd? Well, we're doing some of that in the Minnesota, Minnesota legislature, the masks having to identify not just who you are, but also have your vehicle identifiable. And we know that was part of how we lost Melissa Hortman and the the Hoffman's were attacked because of the disguise, both personal disguise and vehicle disguise, where people think your law enforcement with this ICE, nobody can identify you, even when they especially when they switch to plain clothes. So they must have a badge, they must not have masks on easily identifiable and agree with former Senator Little that we need to strip this down and start over hold those accountable who participated in the abuse and have an agency that works for the people not against them. What are the practical things you want to see done? Well, Representative Byrd and I are currently serving in the Minnesota legislature and we're not waiting until we get to Congress. We've got a number of proposals in front of us. The three that I'm tracking one creates safe spaces for schools and hospitals and clinics so that ICE can't go into those spaces and terrorize our patients. The other creates civil liability so that people can sue if their constitutional rights been violated. But most interesting one to me, Brian, is one that says that if you have served as an ICE agent in Minnesota during this time, you cannot serve in law enforcement in Minnesota ever again. And I'll be tracking that very closely and I'll be watching Republican votes on that bill. That's Senator Matt Klein. We're also talking with Senator, former Senator Matt Little and Representative Kayla Berg, three candidates in the second congressional district. I'm going to start with you here, Representative Klein. How should immigration policy more broadly change when it comes to things like asylum, pathways to citizenship, or the process for deportation? You know, the people in CD2 that talked to me about immigration speak with one voice by and large, small business owners, agricultural interests, people that work in the hospitality industry, immigrants themselves. I think Minnesotans and Americans broadly support secure borders, but a safe, effective legal pathway to citizenship. That's what's good for our neighbors. That's what's good from a humanitarian perspective. And that's what's good for our workforce needs in this country and in this state. And that's what I would support. And there are proposals in the United States Congress that achieve those goals. Senator Little, you talked about it in personal terms. What do you see as the right path forward there? Yeah, thanks. I think there's no question that if you were born in this country, that you become a citizen, that's my read of the Constitution. And I hope to I have in the Supreme Court sees it that same way. Political asylum is a long tradition in this country, that if you are fleeing violence and persecution, that you have a safe country to go to, to be who you are and believe what you believe. So I truly believe in protecting political asylum. Overall immigration reform, I don't think is a complicated problem. But I think it's one of political will and funding. If you fully funded the system for administrative law judges to process these applications, there won't be these quote unquote long lines of people waiting to get in. Senator Representative Burke? Yes, eccom. All of what is said, the only thing I would add is that when we talk about the pathway to citizenship and our immigration system, what we need to do is make it easily navigatable, not just for those applying for citizenship, but for the folks that are doing the work and processing everything. There's at least a 20 year backlog. It doesn't need to be complicated, simplify it easy to navigate, get the people through and everyone can begin contributing to our society, live without looking over their shoulders, because we know they've been paying taxes and contributing and getting none of it back, unless they have that pathway to citizenship. I don't need to tell you this because you live it on a regular basis with your job, but the airports have been a hectic place lately, in part because of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown and the TSA problems of keeping employees who aren't getting paid. That shutdown is still ongoing. It's just the latest in a string of shutdowns. The public seems agitated by these shutdowns and tends to blame both parties. What do you see your role as playing as if you're just a single member of Congress, a new member from a swing district to prevent additional shutdowns of one agency or more in the future? Look, it's kind of an exciting time to be that freshman member of Congress, because I do come with that background of what we are looking at with this shutdown, because I work with the TSA every day and they make sure I'm safe when I go to my job. The Republicans voted seven times not to pay them. Now, they just started to get paid, but that's not going to make them whole. They've missed rent possible medical debt. Who knows if they were able to put food on the table. Last fall, local charities made sure TSA members could come to a lower level of the airport and pick up boxes of food. I was there handing them to the TSA workers who are our government workers who should have a secure job. And so coming in with that perspective, being part of that world gives me a real advantage to advocate. But this shutdown will end perhaps soon. What is your pledge to voters about how you'll approach future situations where a shutdown is a possible result? Look, absolutely not one more penny for ICE, but I will very carefully take a look at what the shutdown means for everyday workers. We know that shutdowns hurt the people least able to bear the burden, but who were always the victims of the Republicans inability to govern. So I want to make sure I am standing and towing the line for our values, but doing the least damage as possible for the people who always end up hurt by it. Your shutdown pledge, Senator Klein. In general, shutdowns have not historically been effective in achieving policy goals. And I am skeptical of them. But I do have to applaud our leaders from the Democratic Party and the Senate and the House over this latest incident with NSA. You know, we saw among elder on the east side of St. Paul taken out of his home and his underwear and then dumped unceremoniously back in his yard in the cold. That's what Democrats in Congress were standing up against. We're not going to give money to that. And they held the line. And you know what, they won. They, it was more than a political tactic. It was more than a legislative tactic. It was a moral stand and standing with the people in Minnesota. And I think they did the right thing. You get the last word here, Senator. Thanks, Brian. I think when the Democrats in a prior shutdown set out that they were in a fight for healthcare and healthcare funding to make sure that costs didn't go up. And then they didn't do that. It made a lot of people angry and made a lot of people not believe in this party. So we talk about where Democrats sometimes drop the ball. It's on those issues. You have to use your discretion. You have to pick your fights and pick your battles. And clearly that wasn't the right battle. Now on this, when it's talking about ice funding, I just want every Democrat in DC to know, hold the line. Because this, this what is happening in our country cannot happen again. And so if we cave now, this will continue to happen. So hold the line. Staying with you here. We're a year into the tariffs, some of which are rolled back by court decisions, but others that have been reimposed. What should be done with the money collected for the tariffs that were later invalidated? Yeah, I think that's a pretty easy answer for me. I just think we need to figure out the equation. This, this burden has gone on consumers. Businesses have been able to pass that along to consumers. So we need to figure out a way that the money gets back to the people it hurt most, which is the consumers and customers. Where do you want the money to go, Senator? Well, I think it should go to the people who paid the burden of those tariffs, it should go to people who couldn't afford their groceries, people who today can't fill up their gas tanks. I have a patient who is spending $800 a month to pay for his test trips for diabetes because they're not covered by insurance. These are the people that need the benefit of those proceeds, but also are farmers in CD2 who can no longer sell their soybeans because the markets in China have been shut down by these tariffs. They deserve a piece of the pie as well, if they're going to be sustained through this process. Something you'll be pushing for? Listen, I agree with with everyone here. When we look at the exorbitant amount of money poured into ice, we know that budgets are moral documents and the choices this administration is making is leaving everyday people out in the cold. We can have universal health care, we can have affordable housing, we can make childcare affordable, we can make people's lives more affordable. This administration is making a choice on where to put that money, so that tariff money needs to go into health care, childcare, food security, affordable housing needs to go into our farmers whose land is being bought up by private equity firms who are being priced out of the private insurance market. That money needs to go back to the people. You know, you brought up farmers, Angie Craig is a ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, Amy Klobuchar is a ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, both of them seem ready to leave those pie perches. Will you lobby for a spot on that egg committee if you're elected to the seat? I would. I have a lot of interest and I think that is one of them because they think it's critical to this congressional district that we keep a member in that committee to advocate for our farmers. And so I'd be very interested in sitting on that committee. Senator Klein, is that one you'll want to sit on? You haven't sat on the egg committees, I don't think in the state Senate? No, I but I have pledged to seek that spot. Should I be elected to Congress? I think that's in the track record and the expectation of people in CD2 that if you're going to represent this district well, you need to have knowledge of agriculture interests and you need to represent agriculture interests. Well, I will also say that it crosses with my work in health care because with the latest Make American Healthy again, push there are questionable initiatives surrounding health, excuse me, food recommendations that I think I could speak to. Senator Little, is the seat come with the territory? You represent the second district? You got to be on the egg committee? Yeah, thanks, Brian. It's really early to talk about committees and it feels presumptive, but important to a lot of people in that district. So on behalf of my late, late grandpa, who started and built the farm, that is a seat I'd be seeking along with government oversight. This is Politics Friday on MPR News. I'm Brian Baxed. We're devoting the entire hour today to a discussion with the three DFLers vying for their party's nod in the open second congressional district race this fall. We've invited the two leading Republicans for a segment, but neither Eric Pratt nor Tyler Kissner accepted for today. We'll get back to our not quite a debate conversation though with Matt Little, Kayla Berg and Matt Klein. Senator Klein, starting with you this time, you've described yourself as a doctor who, quote, knows we can move toward compassionate, accessible health care. What does that mean? How do you get there? Well, I've always advocated at the legislature for a public option, which I think is the next achievable step to control health insurance cry of cost for every single person. I know that we can negotiate all drug prices on Medicare. And I think we should be more aggressive at a federal level in regulating drug prices candidly. We've done that in the state Senate with my bill, the prescription drug affordability board. And we do need to hold down drug prices in this country. Long term, I think this country should expect that health care is a right along the lines of universal public education. People have the right to it because they live here. It's good for the individual and it's good for society. Representative Berg, you've also called for a nationwide public option for some sort of government funded health insurance. What does it look like and how feasible is that given that President Trump is in office and doesn't see it that way? Look, if we make universal health care, whether it's Medicare for all or a public option, the goal, we can get there. Medicare for all has been around for 23 years, and we haven't quite gotten it right yet. And Americans need coverage now. With a public option, individuals can buy in small businesses can buy in. It's portable does not rely on employment or mayor marital status or luck. And as we move towards the gold standard of universal care, people need care now. This is one way to do it. Another thing we can do is allow the government to make generic drugs, bringing down the prices in the free market. As Medicare negotiates drug prices, we can get predatory equity firms out of hospitals. And one thing that Senator Klein mentioned about the exorbitant prices of equipment you need if you have a pre existing condition, streamlining those into one category, lowering prices on them all. This is something we can do. The Trump administration won't be interested in this, but we can do it. Senator little as this Medicare for all is it swimming against the political tide, especially at a time when they're to talk of Medicaid getting curtailed in hospitals feeling strained. Yeah, thanks. I think it's swimming with the political tide. Not that that is my assessment. As you know, my political trajectory has been tough. And I've represented tough areas on progressive values. I think people are tired of tinkering around the edges with our health care system. This thing is completely broken. The lack of ACA subsidies really shows that premiums are skyrocketing. Rural hospitals are closing access is becoming even harder. So I understand the desire to start at a public option. But how does a newborn select the public option? How does someone recently disabled select the public option? How does someone that's aging and doesn't know how to sign up, get the public option? The other thing the public option does nothing about is long term care, which Medicare for all does handle right now in this country. If you are middle class or even up on middle class, you have to die poor because you have to spend everything you have down to $3,000 before you'll be eligible for medical assistance, which means you have to spend everything you have just to pass away. The government doesn't send you a sympathy card. They put a lien on your house and public option doesn't handle any of that. Medical assistance is Minnesota's version of Medicaid. And right now there's discussion about what work requirements get attached to Medicaid. Should there be some? No. I think this is just the Trump administration's and decades long efforts of the Republican Party to demonize those that have the least amount of money and the least amount of power in our American politics. So no, there should not be a work requirement to get Medicaid. It's also the reason why we should just do Medicare for all so that the day you're born you have healthcare and you can take it with you and actually go work a job and actually go work at a small business that doesn't necessarily, can't necessarily compete with the big companies. MacLine work requirements for Medicaid? None at all? No. Medical assistance is healthcare that is needed by people who are disabled, often psychologically disabled. These are people who are struggling and it is part of being a compassionate society that we ensure they have access to healthcare. It's good for them. It's good for our humanitarian values and it's good for our society as a whole. Kayla Burke? Absolutely not. Let me be clear. Medicare for all is the goal. Coverage for everyone, birth to, to the end, is the goal. I refuse to let Americans go without healthcare coverage as we continue to work towards that goal. Public option is not long term. It gets people coverage now as we continue to work towards a workable Medicare for all, but I am not going to let Americans continue to suffer without healthcare while we get to what we ultimately want. Brian, could I jump in there? Go ahead. Thanks, Brian. I appreciate that. I understand that and I support that, but here in Minnesota, when Democrats had the trifecta, we had the governor's office, we had the state senate and we had the house. They did not pass a public option. So if our true values are to make sure that people have healthcare right now, then why didn't we pass a public option when we had the trifecta? You two were in office 30 seconds each starting with you, Senator Klein. Why didn't that happen? You know, I think one of the things we did do during that trifecta is voted on the floor on Senator John Marty's Minnesota Care universal health plan, which would be essentially Medicare for all. And what we found was that the numbers didn't add up in that moment. We weren't able to afford it. Other states that have tried to do the same have found the same at a state level. That's not a feasible outcome. Public option is the next pragmatic step that we can take and we will pass it into law. Representative Berg? I agree with Senator Klein's assessment of why we didn't pass that. It does take being in the room to understand why ultimately we couldn't get there, but we passed paid family medical leave, earned sick and safe time. We funded programs. We put mental health professionals in every public school in the state. We funded programs for hardworking families to meet their needs, and we never stopped fighting for the healthcare that every American deserves. I'm going to stay with you, but shift topics here, Representative Berg. Fraud and public benefit programs has been at the forefront of the Minnesota Legislature and beyond. All of you have served in the legislature. Did lawmakers in retrospect fall short in their oversight? Look, I think we did. So let's talk about fraud. We are not running away from it. We are pissed that it happened. We are angry that the people who need those services didn't get them. We are angry at the stolen tax dollars. But the reason you know about so much fraud is because the Democrats during that trifecta put an office of inspector general or put an inspector general into every state agency. And that is why you are seeing the reports come out because we recognized it coming out of covid and feeding our futures. And we did something about it. We are continuing to do something about it in this legislative session. And you should be angry. I'm angry that our kids who needed those services didn't get it. Our elderly that needed those services didn't get it. Our disabled folks didn't get what they needed. Senator Klein. Yeah, Minnesotans are rightly outraged by the loss of billions of their tax dollars. And they are also rightly outraged that programs we believe in like home disability services that keep seniors out of nursing homes or early childhood education are poisoned now. And it'll be difficult to restore trust in those programs. We need an office of inspector general to watch where every single dollar goes. Someone who's not reportable to the governor and can track it for us. You were in an office at a time when some of these programs were booming. Was there enough oversight? What was the preface that I was in office? You were in office as some of these programs started to boom. Sure. I clearly there was not enough oversight because it happened. I had a meet and greet with the Somali community in the South Metro recently. And no one is more angry at what happened than that community. Each day they are being demonized at a national level. It is psychologically impacting their children. That community is angry about what happened. But I also think we need to look at the Republicans behavior after it was discovered. Because they continue to vote against bills that would hold people accountable. And so I think they have a part to play in this too to make sure it never happens again. That's Matt Little, Matt Klein and Kayla Berg were having a discussion about issues in the second congressional district race for Congress. I'm going to start with you Senator Little on the next one here, which is still related to fraud. How do you effectively fight fraud without harming legitimate providers or benefit recipients? Yeah, stop privatizing these programs. But a big part of the disconnect is that the fraud is happening from private organizations, nonprofits. If you were to stop privatizing core functions of government and have it be done in-house, there would actually be the staff that would have oversight. But what's happened over a couple of decades is these core services have been shopped out to private entities and we don't have enough staff for the oversight. So stop privatizing out core government functions of taking care of people. Representative Berg, how do you solve that puzzle? Yeah, I think that's a great point by Mr. Little about privatizing. And you do lose some of that ability to have accurate and enough oversight. And I think we need to make sure that we know what is happening with the grant money that we are giving out, that there is a reporting mechanism that works, that there is oversight by the legislature into the agencies and creating an office of Inspector General to sort of pool the inspectors within the agencies and make that the place where everything is reported, I think could be very helpful as well. Senator Klein. Look, this shouldn't be rocket science. If we as the legislature give an agency a billion dollars to go provide childcare to young people or to provide early childhood education and they give out a grant, there should be somebody in that office that goes and makes sure there's actually children there receiving an education. And if there's not, that's what we need an Inspector General to go in and do that work 24 seven, 365 days a year. It's simple math. Voting laws have been a topic of much discussion, particularly with this administration. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to hold up congressional business until election law changes that he wants are passed. He signed executive orders limiting mail-in voting. Those are subject to legal challenge. Senator Klein, is there any middle ground here? No, I tell you what, voter integrity is really important and that's why we've done it so well in Minnesota. We have mail-in voting and that is a valid and important access point for people who are disabled or people who are seniors and can't get to the polls. We have a good participation rate in our elections, the best in the country because people trust election results and we need to maintain and defend and stand up for the integrity of what we have established here in Minnesota under Steve Simon. Matt Little? There would be middle ground if I thought they had any sort of good intent, right? If I thought their intention was actually voter integrity, maybe I could have that conversation, but it's clear to me this is not voter integrity, this is voter suppression. The SAVE Act is going to make it incredibly hard for people to vote and it's a pseudo poll tax because you're going to have to go get a passport or a new ID to show that you're a U.S. citizen and they're not going to provide any sort of funding for that. I think it's very important that people have easy access to vote through mail-in balloting and through same-day registration, which we have here in Minnesota, but this is going to be arduous and this is about suppressing the vote in areas they know they're going to lose. Voting laws, Representative Burke? No middle ground. Look, I'm the only one sitting in this room and the only candidate in this race that this would affect disproportionately because my last name isn't my original last name. It is from my marriage and so having to go through and change that documentation and get that done in time, I think about that with our trans siblings, the people who are targeted by this or women, trans people, non-binary, anyone that doesn't identify in a way that this administration approves of, this is about pushing us backwards and pushing frankly straight white men forward, making them in charge of our voting system and of our decisions and taking more and more voices out of the democratic process. Let me say this, Brian, because this does affect my family. It doesn't affect me personally, but when my wife turned 18, no one could pronounce her first name. So she changed her first name to Coco and then when we got married, she changed her last name to mine. So this does deeply impact my family and is a big reason why I fight against it. If Democrats retake the House, there will be tremendous pressure from the party base to move to impeach President Trump a third time. Are there grounds for it and do you support impeaching him, Representative Burke? It would be my great honor to participate in that. Yes, there are grounds for it. There are grounds for it before he ever got elected as a felon, a 34 count felon. He has done nothing but destroy this country, enrich himself and his cronies. He needs to go along with all of the rest of his cabinet and his family. Clean out. I would be thrilled to participate. Senator Klein? That will be an essential part of rebuilding this democracy and our constitutional republic out of the ashes. There are so many stories we can share, but the one that sticks with me was when Alex Pretty was killed and Durevans from the BCA wanted to investigate the murder scene and I said no. So he went and got a judicial warrant and brought it to the scene and I still said no and you saw the BCA throw up their arms and say this is the last lever of influence that we have, these judicial warrants. Our president is ignoring them. These things need to be adjudicated. Impeachment is one important step in doing that. Senator Little? Yeah, absolutely. I don't think we get a conviction in the Senate, but I think it's important for the integrity of our country to air out everything that he has done wrong that is an impeachable offense, including the corruption and the self-dealing and illegal wars. To the point that Senator Little just made, does it matter if the Senate party lineup would make a conviction impossible after impeachment? I don't discount the possibility that people will find their conscience and people will find their respect for this country and I will vote as a congressperson to impeach and I'll turn it over to the Senate and I don't lose faith that they may support that. Senator Berg? Yeah, I think oftentimes people just need a little courage. They need to know that others are willing to stand with them. We will set that example when we flip the U.S. House and we have the majority and then we'll find people, we will build the coalition to make sure that there are senators that feel comfortable joining us in that to get it done. Senator Little, just some housekeeping here. Are you primary bound no matter what or are you willing to abide by that May 9th endorsement? I said it I think 10 months ago. I'm abiding by the DFL endorsement. I truly believe in the process of forcing all of us candidates to actually go and talk to people and see what they have to say. It's how I got my start. If we got a little extra time on this question, when I was running for city council I went to a DFL convention to go around and shake hands with everybody and say I'm running for city council and every single table asked me one question which is are you a DFL-er? Because Lakeville hadn't seen a DFL-er in quite some time and so and every table I answered, you know, yes, but then there was one woman who asked me that and then looked me in the eye and said are you sure you're a DFL-er? And I said yes and she reached down, she grabbed her purse, put it on the table, took out her checkbook and wrote me a check for $100. That's how I got my start, I believe in this process. Senator Klein, endorsement or bust? Well first of all I'll say Matt Little said the opposite on the KSTP interview a couple months ago so you can check the record on that but I'll tell you what, I am a firm supporter of the Democrats who are working the caucus system right now and I'm working very hard to earn their trust in their endorsement but I've been to, we've all been to seven endorsing conventions over the last two months, each one lasted close to 10 hours. That is not a system that is accessible to startup families, working people, farmers, business owners. I'm going to go to a primary because people in CD2 deserve a chance to participate. I'll give, I have a chance to respond in a minute here about Representative Burke. Yeah so look I have been participating in this process for years. I was vice chair of my senate district, I've run a convention, as you mentioned I was a Bernie delegate. I respect this system, I've been a part of this system, it is important and so look we have made exciting advancement in our campaign. The energy and momentum is incredible, it is humbling, we think we are in a fantastic position to win the endorsement and I will make that decision closer to the convention time. Here's what I commit to, I will be forthright and transparent on my decision because I believe in a democracy that includes all voices. Keeping the primary door open. Okay that's it, you're nodding yes for the folks. I will, I will come up with my decision closer to May 9th. All right and you, you brought up some comments you made on another program. Sure, I'm abiding by the endorsement, we've made that very clear in every stump speech and in every meeting to the senate district meeting and I'm very proud of the support we've built through the process. We have, of the available delegates, we have us 56% of the available delegates through the conventions these last, these last two months. I want to get into some topics that are kind of emerging topics I guess, things that weren't, we weren't talking about several years ago but we are now. One of them, Senator Klein, is, is cryptocurrency, you know it seems to be all the rage right now, Congress has taken a somewhat permissive approach to cryptocurrency, is that the right posture? Look we've already seen cracks in the armor, I'm the serving, I'm serving as the commerce chair right now in the state senate and we passed a bill out of committee to the floor that we'll hear on the floor next week banning cryptocurrency kiosks, these sort of ATM like installations at malls that suck in seniors, they feed their $100 bills and their life savings into the kiosk and it is gone and it never comes back. We know that we need to regulate that industry, hopefully we'll ban kiosks this year in the senate. But on a federal level? On a federal level, yeah we absolutely need to have oversight over just that sort of senior exploitation and fraud. Representative Byrd? Agreed, we need to heavily regulate the cryptocurrency market. There is such potential for fraud and scams and it will happen to the people least able to recover from it. So if this is here to stay, regulated oversight, building guardrails that keep people safe. Senator Little, what do you want to see done with crypto? Yeah I think we're all on the same page here, it has to be heavily regulated, I deeply concerned with all the rug pulls that happen with some of these minor coins and I won't use the word what they're actually called on here but yeah we have to protect people because people are getting defrauded. I'm going to start with you against, Senator Klein, only because you're in the legislature have promoted legal sports betting, these say it hasn't gone very far at the capital. But one of the larger concerns in the betting space these days are these prediction markets, a whole lot of concern about insider training, some maybe untoward topics being put up for bets and people getting hoodwinked. How should those be governed? Yeah I'm a co-author on a bill this year that would actually prohibit that activity in the state of Minnesota and you're right, we have people betting on really unfortunate and tragic events and that's just not consistent with what we should do. There's no oversight, there's no regulation of those markets, we don't receive any tax revenues from them. I was a supporter of sports wagering because all of those things were in place. There were guardrails against underage use or problematic use, there was tax revenue generated and put to good purposes. None of that is true in the prediction markets and we should get them out of Minnesota. Senator Little, what do you think about outlying either types of bets or the prediction markets in general? Yeah these prediction markets are, wow, I'm sure you both have seen right, you know even our primary is on these prediction markets and these numbers fluctuate with no information that I have. And so the capacity to game these things and make money from gaming is seemingly huge and endless. So I think it needs to be deeply regulated and taxed. Prohibitions always fail because they'll move it offshore and people will use a VPN. So we need to heavily regulate it, make sure people are protected and the odds are regulated just like other. What types of betting? Prediction markets, what should we do? Look, my main concern is how predatory they are. Some of the things that you can bet on are absolutely sick and vile but the predatory nature of these opportunities largely draw in those those that are least able to sustain a loss. And so heavy regulation, taxation, a way to turn it into revenue versus just unreliable amounts of money out in the ether. All right, we've got just a couple minutes left here but we do want to talk about something that's been in the news lately because we started off with one topic of interest the Iran War but the other topic of capturing the public's attention these days is that Artemis mission to the moon. This might be the last NASA only space venture as private companies take more of a financial and exploratory load off. Are you good with that or do you want to see Congress step into enact more regulatory controls on space travel? Look, I think it's really exciting. I'm going to tell a story here. My parents don't even know I was actually home pretending to be sick the day that the space shuttle blew up and the Challenger and how sad and horrific that was not just for the families who lost their loved ones but the setback on the mission and what we could explore and learn up there. So I am for fully funding NASA and continuing this exploration and giving young people and families the opportunity to learn about what's up there in our solar system. So I think it's exciting. Senator Klein. I'm tracking the Artemis mission on my phone. I have the app. Hopefully not right now. But I know where they are all times of the day. You know, as we talk a lot on this campaign and in this moment about what's wrong in America today and how dark things are. This is an example of something that can fill people of all ages with hope and purpose and faith in the mission of America. We're doing this by the way in an international way. We have supporters in Holland who are helping us with the software and so I think it's also an opportunity to rebuild our friendships with the rest of the world and I'm just a deep believer. You're not looking at it right now though, right? No. Okay. Senator Klein. No, Senator Little. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's fine. It happens to us all the time. One minute left. I hate to be a curmudgeon. It's not my thing. You know, we have a lot of problems on this earth and there's a lot of avenues in which we are impairing our ability to live on this earth and so I think we need to be focused on making sure people have health care and a livable wage and an environment that they can breathe in. So scale back the space budget? I think so. And let it go to the private market or what? Well, there is already a private market that is being funded with billions and billions of dollars. It's another reason that I think we do need a wealth tax because there's a lot of problems here. We can't just have one individual shooting rockets off of space. Well, we've reached the end of our time and we'll all have to check in on where that space mission is at in a little bit. But thanks to our guests, that was Matt Little, former state senator, Matt Klein, and Kayla Berg. Thank you. You can hear the conversation with the second congressional district Democratic candidates again on our Politics Friday podcast or watch a video of it at mprnews.org or our YouTube channel. The show was produced by Matt Alvarez with help from Kate Kelly. Our technical directors were Cliff Bentley and Derek Ramirez. Eric Strom said Matt, Mike, they also assisted with the video production. Elena C took care of those newscasts. We'll be back next week when the legislature is due back in session in St. Paul. So we'll have an update on where things stand with just over a month ago to injure adjournment deadline. Until then, stay safe and have a great weekend. And again, we're going to try to bring you those Republican candidates for second congressional district as soon as we can get them on our schedule. Those are Eric Pratt and Tyler Kistner. That second congressional district race is open this fall because of Angie Craig moving on to run for the U.S. Senate. That's all for today. Please stay safe and have a great weekend.