Meet Tyler Bass: Republican Running for U.S. House in Minnesota's 3rd District

Tyler Bass is the Republican candidate running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District. The district covers the western suburbs of the Minneapolis metro area. Bass is a small business owner who lives in Minnetonka, Minnesota. He wants voters to know where he stands on big issues like taxes, health care, immigration, jobs, and government fraud.

On the topic of the national debt, Bass says he wants to cut federal income taxes and stop what he calls double taxation, which means being taxed more than once on the same money. He also wants to make it easier for families to pass money and property on to their children and grandchildren. Bass believes the government should look for waste and fraud in its programs before asking families to pay more in taxes. He says many Americans reach retirement age with very little savings, even after working hard their whole lives.

When it comes to health care, Bass has experience as a former insurance agent and insurance agency owner. He says the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called the ACA or Obamacare, causes families to pay too much. Under the ACA, some families pay up to $30,000 a year just for health insurance, and they still have to pay thousands more before insurance kicks in. Bass wants to go back to a system where insurance companies look at each person's health history before setting a price. He says people with pre-existing health conditions should be able to join special programs that guarantee coverage without turning anyone away.

On immigration, Bass takes a strict approach. He believes anyone in the country without legal permission should leave, and that people who want to come to the United States should apply through legal steps. Bass says crossing the border illegally should not lead to legal status. He has worked as a contractor and says he has seen how smuggling networks connected to cartels operate in the Twin Cities construction industry. He wants a secure border, stronger rules for employers, and a website where trade businesses could sponsor foreign workers for legal work visas.

Bass says his views on the economy come partly from personal experience. After college, he says he had trouble finding a job and decided to start his own business, At Home Fitness, in 2013. He has run his own companies for 13 years. Bass wants to lower the cost of fuel and everyday goods, since he says businesses pass their costs on to customers instead of cutting prices. He also says he will hold large corporations accountable for replacing American workers with cheaper workers brought in on special visas, and he wants to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

On the issue of fraud in government programs, Bass says Minnesota has seen some of the biggest cases of public-program fraud in the entire country. He wants any group asking for federal money to show two years of financial records and prove it can operate on its own. He also wants funding to work more like a loan, so that taxpayers are not billed twice for the same service. Bass says he plans to create a District 3 fraud committee to track how public money is spent and to hold dishonest groups accountable.