Minnesota’s highest ranking officials are requesting a personal meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss the international trade practices that are crippling domestic steel production.

Gov. Mark Dayton, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, Rep. Rick Nolan, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk have asked Obama’s chief of staff to arrange a meeting and put in place trade safeguards to protect the steel industry from international dumping of cheaper foreign steel.

“It’s not just about a meeting. We want him to take action that President Bush took, that President Reagan took,” Dayton said late Monday. “This is a very precarious situation and if we tip this industry over the brink it is virtual impossible to bring it back.

For months, northern Iron Range mining employers have been laying off and idling workers, leaving many without paychecks and little hope for the future. Minnesota officials say they have tried to help but need federal action as well.

“This downturn is different,” an emotional Bakk, DFL-Cook, said at his annual fundraiser for Arrowhead food shelves. “People up north understand it’s different and they are very, very worried.”

Last month, Klobuchar and Franken introduced legislation to “crack down on illegal steel dumping and protect U.S. steelworkers.” She, Franken, Nolan and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith also visited the White House and met with top officials to urge help for the steel industry this spring after an initial round of Iron Range layoffs.

Meanwhile, Dayton and Bakk have been pushing for a special session of the state Legislature to extend unemployment benefits to laid off workers, many of who will be out of jobs and out of benefits soon.

Bakk said that he had a “personal conversation” with House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, and House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, about that possibility.

“They have no interest,” Bakk said. “I don’t understand it. Maybe I should invite them to the Range and ask them to meet with some people whose last day of unemployment is today.”

Peppin, who also attended Bakk’s food-shelf fundraiser Monday, said the House is open to discussing ideas if Dayton has a very specific proposal.

“I think our members are probably not going to have a big appetite for a special session,” Peppin said. She also reiterated that House members want some sense that Dayton would not delay the potentially job-creating PolyMet or Sandpiper projects. Dayton said Monday that he would write a letter to that affect.

“At the end of the day, what those people want are jobs. Rangers need jobs,” Peppin said.

Bakk, who hails from the Range, countered: “What they need is a bridge until they figure out where they’re going to work. There’s not a job down the street.”

Special session negotiations are expected to continue into next month. The Legislature is not in regular session again until March 8.

Follow Rachel E. Stassen-Berger at twitter.com/RachelSB.