Meet Ilhan Omar, candidate for U.S. House in Minnesota's 5th District | WCCO Election Guide
Rep. Ilhan Omar, the DFL incumbent in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, was first elected in 2018. The district is based in Minneapolis.
We have yet to receive a 60-second video pitch from Ilhan Omar, 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.
This is not a paid advertisement, nor does WCCO endorse any candidate. | Click here to get back to Election Guide.
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?
Without question, the U.S. needs to cut defense spending. We spend more than the next six countries combined. Defense spending is the largest area of discretionary spending, and every year Congress throws more and more money at the Pentagon while they fail audit after audit. There is a reason why defense spending remains high, and that is because so many Members of Congress are bankrolled by defense contractors. It needs to end. We also need to finally – and holistically – tax the rich and tax corporations. We live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and there is no reason why billionaires are becoming trillionaires when millions of Americans go to bed hungry.
What changes would you support to federal health care policy, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid?
The most effective, equitable, and cost-effective solution is Medicare for All. Instead of providing healthcare as a human right, we dump over a trillion dollars of profit into for-profit health insurance companies. Americans are stuck in an endless loop of prior authorizations, high deductibles, and coverage denials while hospital systems across the country are barely scraping by. For-profit health insurance is a failure, and the only meaningful solution is to follow the lead of every other industrialized nation.
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?
We need to be clear that immigrants make this country great. We need to make legal pathways accessible, reliable, and fair. Today's Republican party should take a page from their old playbook and support an amnesty program that would bring millions of undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. Instead, Trump has pursued a violent and self-defeating program that will tank crucial economic sectors, punish critical research at universities, and destroy our standing in the world as a place where anyone can work hard and thrive. We must also restore America's leadership in refugee resettlement and address policies abroad that force people to flee their homes in search of safety.
What would you do in Congress to support jobs and economic growth in Minnesota, including your position on tariffs and international trade agreements?
Democrats had a plan to ensure that critical industries of the future would be developed and manufactured in the United States: the Inflation Reduction Act. We invested in renewable energy research and development, decarbonization technology, and electrification, because we knew that we could lead the world into a green economy. Trump repealed these investments and all but ceded the next generation of technological advancement to other countries, and in the process started trade wars that punish Americans for buying products that they have no choice but to purchase from abroad. There is no question that the era of free trade permanently harmed countless American communities. But the answer isn't trying to recreate the economy of the 1980s – it's to build an economy for the 21st century.
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?
I have been clear that every instance of fraud must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That is true no matter where it happens. At the same time, we need to recognize where the most substantial fraud is happening: tax avoidance and wage theft. Democrats passed significant funding for the IRS to go after wealthy tax cheats, which was repealed by Republicans. On the line was hundreds of billions of dollars in reclaimed tax bills over the next few years, and I would immediately vote for any bill that restores enforcement funding to the IRS. Similarly, employers are estimated to have stolen tens of billions of dollars from workers every single year. I support funding that would increase enforcement and restitution for victims.