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 emergency tariffs on Canadian imports — including the goods flowing directly into and out of 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 the Minorca mine and much of Hibbing Taconite, putting roughly 600 steelworkers out of work, 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. Tonight he voted to keep the clock stopped. 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. Agent Stauber would apparently prefer Congress not weigh in at all.
Editor’s update: Ten days after this vote, on Feb. 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the emergency-powers law does not authorize the tariffs. The day after this failed rule, Agent Stauber voted against H.J. Res. 72 to end the Canada tariff emergency (Roll Call 65); it passed 219–211 anyway.
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 idled the Minorca mine and much of Hibbing Taconite in 2025, putting roughly 600 steelworkers out of work, and cut 45 more Hibbing Taconite jobs on Feb. 1, 2026. The Port of Duluth-Superior shipped 2.5 million fewer tons of iron ore to Canada.
Border communities are being hollowed out. Personal-vehicle crossings fell 25% at International Falls and 23% at Grand Portage in the first five months of 2025. Canadian visitors — who once drove the economy of the North Shore and the Arrowhead — are staying home.
Canada is Minnesota’s largest export market. (Updated April 2026:) Minnesota’s exports fell 13% in 2025 while U.S. exports rose 6%, according to state DEED data; half the drop came from mineral-fuel exports to Canada. 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 the Constitution gives Congress the power over tariffs, 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.