Senator Hauschild hosts open town hall in Hermantown

Senator Grant Hauschild hosted a town hall meeting in Hermantown on Saturday afternoon, seeking comment and discussion from the public.

The town hall meeting focused mainly on questions from the public and centered around topics that impact the people of Senate District 3 including mining, pollution, childcare, and federal cuts to public programs.

One of the most asked upon topics was childcare, from the lack of available spots to the low pay for providers. Senator Hauschild stated he would be making childcare and early childhood education his top issue, citing his Great Start Childcare Affordability Bill that aims to make it so no family spends more than 7% of their income on childcare.

“I’m going to be pushing my heck on that bill with the opposition so that we can try to save the critical things that we were able to do in 2023. So, I’m letting you run on my strategy. That’s the goal. I’m going to do everything in my power to protect what you do because I rely on it,” said Senator Hauschild.

Senator Hauschild also noted that issues like lack of affordable housing, childcare, and existing workforces directly impact the economic climate, as new businesses look away from areas that do not offer these services.

“We can put together tens of millions of dollars in incentives for businesses to choose Northern Minnesota. And unfortunately, they look at our communities and they say, my employees can’t find childcare, my employees can’t find a house, and you don’t have the existing workforce down, and that is what’s just killing us.” said Senator Hauschild.

Senator Hauschild added during the town hall meeting that he also hopes to host more open town halls in the future, especially in areas of Senate District 3 affected most by proposed federal cuts to public programs such as the DNR.