Meet Betty McCollum, candidate for U.S. House in Minnesota's 4th District | WCCO Election Guide
Rep. Betty McCollum, the DFL incumbent in Minnesota's 4th Congressional District, has represented the St. Paul area since 2001.
We have yet to receive a 60-second video pitch from Betty McCollum, but you can read how she'd tackle Minnesota's top issues, from the national debt and health care to immigration, the economy and fraud.
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The federal government is running significant annual deficits. What specific federal spending would you cut or protect, and what tax changes, if any, would you support to address the national debt?
Annual interest payments on the national debt currently exceed spending on national defense. Massive Trump tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations hurt families and explode the national debt. Trump has already cut discretionary spending for critical investments – education, environment, healthcare, and scientific research – that keep America strong, safe, and secure. We must rescind the trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich, restore fiscal responsibility, and invest in the American people.
We can also work to reduce the deficit by ending President Trump's reckless, illegal war in Iran that's cost tens of billions of dollars and stopping his wasteful vanity projects. I oppose the Trump arch, the White House East Wing ballroom, Trump's $5,000 checks for voting Republican, and the blatantly illegal campaign commercials "paid for by the U.S. government."
What changes would you support to federal health care policy, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid?
Outrageous health care increases are forcing Minnesotans to choose between paying the bills or taking care of themselves and their families. Access to health care has been further eroded by devastating Republican cuts to Medicaid in Trump's Big Ugly Bill. Republicans refused to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for buyers on the individual marketplace driving up costs. This irresponsible policymaking is causing rural hospitals and clinics to close, kicking the poor, seniors, and people with disabilities off their health care, and sending health insurance premiums skyrocketing for individual marketplace buyers.
I support universal, single-payer health care, including Medicare for All, to provide every American with comprehensive, zero-out-of-pocket health care coverage and any steps that will get us closer to that goal. I'm currently co-sponsoring legislation to reverse the Big Ugly Bill's cuts to Medicaid and extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for individual marketplace buyers.
What immigration policies would you support at the federal level, including border security measures and any pathway to legal status for people currently in the country without authorization?
Over centuries, immigrants have come to the United States and Minnesota to contribute to the economy, our communities, and culture in ways that make America stronger and our future better. The cruel anti-immigrant attacks and persecution perpetrated by the Trump administration to harass, harm, and deport millions destroys families, threatens communities and hurts our economy. There is no more horrible example of the vicious cruelty of Trump's immigrant hate than the brutal occupation of the Twin Cities during Metro Surge.
For twenty years, I've been working to pass comprehensive immigration reform that protects undocumented immigrants from deportation, keeps families together, extends temporary protected status (TPS), creates pathways to citizenship, welcomes refugees, and implements smart and humane border security strategies. I'm a co-sponsor of the American Dream and Promise Act to provide earned legal status and citizenship pathways for undocumented immigrants.
What would you do in Congress to support jobs and economic growth in Minnesota, including your position on tariffs and international trade agreements?
As Minnesota's only member on the House Appropriations Committee, I've been delivering billions of dollars for federal investments in Minnesota that create good-paying jobs and grow our economy for the future. Federal investments I've delivered are putting Minnesotans to work producing the world's first magnets free of rare earth minerals, harnessing solar and hydroelectric energy, strengthening cybersecurity, and advancing aerospace and manufacturing opportunities.
We need to end Trump's tariffs (which are an unfair tax on American consumers) and his reckless, illegal war in Iran. Both are driving up costs for food, fuel, fertilizer, and basics of life. With a Democratic majority, Congress can reclaim its authority in oversight of trade to responsibly examine trade agreements to ensure they keep jobs here in America and are negotiated to protect American businesses from unfair competition, workers from outsourcing and poor working conditions, and consumers from high costs and poor-quality goods.
Minnesota has been at the center of some of the largest public-program fraud cases in the country in recent years. What would you do in Congress to strengthen oversight and prevent this kind of fraud in the future?
The theft of taxpayer dollars intended to help the American people is abhorrent and must be stopped. Fraud at the federal, state, or local level must be rooted out and fraudsters must be prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. A Democratic majority in the U.S. House will be examining fraud and corruption, including how President Trump and administration cronies are enriching themselves and abusing taxpayer dollars for personal and political gain. The President, his family, and friends must be stopped from abusing the power of his presidency to profit unimaginable sums (meme coin, Kalshi, etc.) through the deceit and deception of working people.