Capitol Watch normally refers to the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul but action taken this week by the U. S. Senate deserves our attention. A bill to reverse the ban on mining in northern Minnesota passed the Senate 50-49 with Minnesota’s Senators Klobuchar and Smith voting “no.” The bill originated in the House under the leadership of Congressman Pete Stauber.
As Bill Glahn wrote, at a time when Congress can’t even pass a bill as simple as funding the Department of Homeland Security, Rep. Stauber got a bill passed that could mean tens of billions of dollars (with a “b”) in economic activity for Minnesota. This new mining activity, centered on copper, nickel, cobalt, and other valuable metals, could create many high-paying, family-supporting union jobs that everyone claims they want.
This event should be celebrated with parades and fireworks. Instead, the media, both local and national, are treating the occasion as some species of catastrophe. Despite what you read in the Star Tribune, there will be no mining in the BWCA and there will be no mining in the buffer zone around the BWCA.
Look for this issue to reappear in the governor’s race this fall. Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth wasted no time criticizing Amy Klobuchar for her vote.
House moves to impeach Walz and Ellison
House Republicans brought impeachment resolutions against Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to the House Rules Committee last week. The resolution regarding Walz charges him with “knowingly concealing or permitting others to conceal widespread fraud within Minnesota state-administered programs despite repeated warnings, audits, reports, and public indicators of systematic abuse.” Hard to argue with that.
The resolution regarding Ellison cited the now-famous recording of him telling fraudsters he would run interference with state agencies on their behalf days before he received campaign contributions from some of them for his reelection effort. As we reported here, he quietly returned the donations. Rep. Ben Davis, the author of HR 7 also charged that Ellison “engaged in conduct that brings disrepute upon the Office of Attorney General, including undermining the rule of law; weakening the protection for religious liberty; and damaging public trust in Minnesota’s justice system.”
Democrats on the Rules Committee fought back eloquently. Rep. Mike Howard and Rep. Erin Koegel used the age-old argument, “I know you are, but what am I?” bringing up Donald Trump. Rep. Sidney Jordan called the resolutions “dumb,” and said it made her mad as a millennial. Rep. Nathan Coulter called it “harebrained.”
The resolution to send the impeachment articles to the House Fraud Prevention Committee suffered the same fate befalling every contentious issue this session. It died on a tie vote.
2025 per capita spending was higher in Minnesota than in 45 other states
With the final committee deadline passed and no budget targets announced by legislative leaders, we thought it would be a good time to remind readers that Minnesota has a spending problem. Economist John Phelan gave it some national context in this post.
Using data on General Fund spending and population, we can calculate the per person amount of government spending in each state. As Figure 1 shows, in 2025, Minnesota’s state government spent $6,098 per person, an amount higher than in 45 other states.
Adjusting for inflation, we can calculate the increase in per capita state government spending over time in real terms. As Figure 2 shows, adjusted for inflation, Minnesota’s level of state government spending per person increased by 18.5% between 2019 and 2025. This was a greater increase than in 42 other states; indeed, in 12 states government spending per person fell in inflation adjusted terms over the same period.
Phelan ends his piece with a few questions for taxpayers. Are you getting more out of your state government than the residents of those 45 lower spending states? Are you getting 18.5% more out of your state government than you were in 2019?
