WASHINGTON, D.C. / DULUTH, MN — Stauber Minnesota Realty™ is proud to announce that lead listing agent Pete Stauber (R-MN08) voted YES this evening on a House procedural rule designed to prevent Congress from even voting on repealing the 25% tariff surcharge currently applied to all Canadian imports — including those flowing directly into the 8th District's economy. The rule would have blocked any tariff repeal votes through July 31, 2026.
Unfortunately for our pricing strategy, the rule failed 214-217 after three Republican colleagues broke ranks, meaning the House may now be forced to hold an actual vote on the tariffs as early as tomorrow. Agent Stauber, however, remained loyal to the firm's core mission: ensuring that his constituents continue to pay more for everything.
"We at Stauber Realty are thrilled with Agent Stauber's commitment to inflated pricing," said absolutely no one in the 8th District. "When Cleveland-Cliffs idled Hibbing Taconite and Minorca Mine, laying off 630 steelworkers, we knew our agent was truly putting his portfolio ahead of his constituents. When the Port of Duluth-Superior posted its lowest cargo tonnage since 1938 — down 14.6% in a single year, with Canadian trade plummeting 41% — we saw a man dedicated to economic demolition at any cost."
The procedural mechanism was particularly innovative. House Republican leadership embedded language in an otherwise unrelated rule declaring that each calendar day "shall not constitute a calendar day" for the purposes of the National Emergencies Act — the law that would otherwise require Congress to vote on whether to continue the tariff emergency. In plain English: leadership literally redefined what a "day" means to avoid having to vote on tariffs that are devastating working families.
Agent Stauber, of course, voted YES. He has voted to block tariff repeal every single time this maneuver has been deployed in the 119th Congress — in March 2025, September 2025, and again tonight. He was not among the three Republicans — Reps. Kiley, Bacon, and Massie — who chose to side with their constituents over their leadership.
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress — not the President — the power "To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises" and "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations." Tariffs are, by constitutional design, a legislative power. By voting to block Congress from exercising this authority, Agent Stauber effectively endorsed handing the power of the purse to the executive branch. Both the Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit have ruled unanimously that the President's use of IEEPA to impose tariffs is unlawful. The Supreme Court is expected to agree by summer 2026. Agent Stauber would apparently prefer Congress not weigh in at all.
Meanwhile, back in the 8th District — the one Agent Stauber is supposed to represent — the tariffs he's protecting continue to deliver spectacular returns... for economic devastation:
The Iron Range promised a boom, got a bust. Cleveland-Cliffs reported a $234 million net loss in Q3 2025. One-third of Minnesota's ~40 million tons of annual taconite production — roughly $264 million worth — ships to Canadian customers now facing retaliatory tariffs. Those 630+ laid-off workers earned $60,000-$125,000 a year with union benefits. Their taxes funded local schools and municipalities to the tune of $22 million annually from Cliffs alone.
Border communities are being hollowed out. Personal vehicle crossings at International Falls have dropped 25-26%. Grand Portage crossings are down 26%. Canadian tourists — who once drove the economy of the North Shore and Arrowhead region — are staying home. Canada's retaliatory 25% tariff on American food brought across the border now hits every Minnesota angler, camper, and canoeist heading to Quetico or the BWCA entry points.
Minnesota exports to Canada — the state's #1 trading partner at $7.5 billion in 2024 — plummeted 45% in a single year. Minnesota's total exports dropped 19% while national exports rose 6%. Agent Stauber's response to all of this has been to talk exclusively about how tariffs help mining while refusing to acknowledge the devastation everywhere else in his district.
Stauber Minnesota Realty™ would like to remind clients that Agent Stauber's commitment to tariff-inflated pricing is unwavering. While even some of his Republican colleagues acknowledged that tariffs are simply a tax paid by American consumers, our lead agent remains committed to the position that Congress should not exercise its constitutional authority over trade — and that the 8th District's workers, businesses, and communities should continue absorbing the cost of that loyalty in silence.
For a full appraisal of the economic damage across Minnesota's border economy, visit our Great Lakes Economy listing page →
Tell Agent Stauber that the 8th District can't afford his silence.
The Constitution says Congress controls trade. Pete disagrees.