And let's get right to the next governor of the state of Minnesota, Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar is with us on the John Schuster Cole Ball Banker Hotline. Congratulations on winning. How does Governor-elect sound?
Well, thank you, Jason, and it's great to be on and do my first WCCO radio interview with you since the election. It sounds great, and I am most excited to get to work, as I said on election night. For me, Tuesday was, of course, a big night. People speaking out across the country, tired of the chaos, costs, corruption out of the administration, from South Carolina to Kansas. But for me, my focus is on Minnesota, and I don't want to move our state to the left or right. I want to move our state forward. And one of the major points I made on election night was that while many Minnesotans voted for me, some didn't, and I figure my job is to stand up for everyone in our state, and whether or not they voted for me or not, to give them my best. And that means a top-to-bottom audit of our state government. That means transforming our government so it works for the people of our state, a growth agenda, and making life more affordable, and of course rooting out the fraud. So I'm committed to what I said that first day when I announced.
So let's get into some of the details about that, because the House Democrats put out a report under this title, Minnesota Values Project, and Blois had it in his Morning Take today. And I've looked through the report, and we've heard what House Democrats are saying are their priorities, and some of this stuff doesn't sound like it aligns with the idea of no new taxes. They're talking about universal primary care in the health care market, government-subsidized or free child care, raising taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans. Are all three of those non-starters for you?
The goal of trying to get more affordable child care is big for me, and I think we're going to find a way to get there. It may not be exactly what they are proposing. I've made very clear that I am not going to increase taxes, because I looked at the country and where we are, and if we can bring them down, particularly on middle-class people, I'd like to do that. It depends on our budget situation, but I've been very clear where I am. I want to run on a growth agenda. I did, and I won, and I want to make sure I can work with the legislature because I know that they are with me on this. We want more small businesses to expand. We have 500,000 of them. We want to keep them and expand. We have 18 Fortune 500 companies. I want to work with them on workforce issues and doubling the apprenticeships and getting student achievement up and...
Do we have to lower corporate taxes to recruit more businesses to come to Minnesota? Do we need to be more aggressive? Well, let me give you that one first. Should we lower corporate taxes?
I think we have to be more nimble when businesses are looking at where they want to locate or expand, and that doesn't necessarily... We have a lot of things going for us, right? On our quality of life and on many things. But I would be interested in looking at R&D, making more tax credits on that front, doing other things that I think are helpful for business. But I do think that I said at my election... I didn't... maybe you heard it. It was kind of a late night speech.
I was here. I was here. We heard it.
Of course you were. [laughter]
But what I said was, spoiler alert, you're not going to agree with everything that I do or everything that I say. And I think that we have reached a moment in our politics in Minnesota where I want to bring us to a better plane. Whether it was the assassination of Melissa Hortman, the kids gunned down in the church, what happened with ICE, the serious fraud issue. We've got to get to a better place, and that's why I have not only, of course, talked at length with Erin Murphy and Zach Stephenson, the Democratic leaders. I have already spoken with Jeremy Miller and Jordan Rasmussen, who are the leaders in the State House and State Senate on the Republican side. And I just want to do everything we can to find common ground.
Is that going to continue? Because that's been one of my frustrations with the current governor, that I believe the governor does have the ability to get both sides at a table and say, let's work it out. And I feel like over the last eight years we didn't have a lot of having both sides at the table.
I'm going to be committed to that. You look at my past, I'm number one for bipartisan bills, number three for passing bills into law in the U.S. Senate. I'm someone that can work with people like Ted Cruz. I'm going to be able to work with our legislature. And again, there are things like I don't like the status quo. So this is about cutting through the red tape, but it's also about figuring out how can we build more housing with the private sector, everything from apartments to single-family homes. That brings down the cost. How can we look at some of our working with our incredible college systems across Minnesota and make sure that we are getting students graduated in areas where we know there's a need, and we also know there's good-paying jobs that are AI-proof. Right now in Rochester and in Morris, the University of Minnesota has a full four-year degree that the students can do in three years while working. And so they're ready to go into medical because there's so much need. We can do those kinds of things throughout our state.
What's the first thing you're going to do that fellow Democrats are going to be upset about?
How can I predict that? That's impossible. [laughter]
Why, you can predict. You know what they're going to be mad at.
I know the first thing that I'm going to do that I don't believe they're going to be upset about, which is the top-to-bottom audit of state government, so that it's not just about rooting out the fraud, it's also about keeping what's working and fixing what isn't or getting rid of it. And that means consolidating some services and just make sure that, you know, when people want a permit and there's a deadline for that permit, they get an up-or-down decision or they get their money back. Like others, they've done that in some other states. So those are the kinds of things I'm going to be looking at doing, and I know there's very big interest on both sides of the aisle in moving in that direction too, because we've got to have a state government that matches the drive and ambition of the people of our state.
Now, I was told that you were going to use this opportunity to tell everyone who you're going to appoint to replace you in the U.S. Senate. The floor is yours. Who's it going to be?
This is something I think you know that I'm going to do right by my state. And...
It is not... But you said, 'Oh, you want to...' Can I just finish?
I'll let you, I guess. We know you're going to do right by this state.
This is not going to be an immediate decision. I will continue to carry out my Senate duties, which, by the way, while you and I were talking on the phone, the head of government relations with the White House called me. I decided to not put your listeners on hold to take the call, but I know you would have...
We got to get a farm bill still, right? We got to get that done.
Exactly. And I was hoping, I am hoping when I return the call that that is what it's about.
