Rochester Delegation Header




Neighbors,  

Last Thursday, Governor Walz and our legislative leaders announced an agreement on global State budget targets [ [link removed] ]for the upcoming biennium. Leaders of both chambers and the Governor have spent the past several weeks negotiating intensely to reach a budget deal. While the agreement protects much of the progress Democrats made during the last term, Republicans refused to reach an agreement without stripping health care access from our undocumented neighbors. 

Two years ago, the DFL-led Legislature provided undocumented Minnesotans the opportunity to participate in MinnesotaCare, a program allowing working Minnesotans access to affordable health care coverage. The agreement reverses this critical progress. Undocumented children will still be covered, but adults will lose access to this essential coverage at the end of the year—even if they have lived and worked in Minnesota for decades or have children who are US citizens. 

This was not a decision motivated by fiscal responsibility; it was a decision motivated by political expediency. The cost of allowing these Minnesotans to be eligible for MinnesotaCare is a small portion of the budget that in the long term saves money and benefits our state in many ways. It saves money by allowing people to receive preventative services and chronic disease management that avoids costly emergency care that hospitals are obligated to provide. Some of these hospitals can’t afford to provide care without payment, which accelerates the closure of hospitals especially in rural areas. Regardless, and against the best interest of their own communities, Republicans held the budget hostage because they believe that being tough on undocumented people is a winning political issue for them. 

This senseless vendetta against immigrants, fueled by the hate, fear mongering, and lies is a product of the Trump Administration. Their priorities are built on the Republicans’ discriminatory belief that some people deserve more rights than others. Taking away health care doesn’t reduce the need for it – it only leaves sick people without appropriate care and hurts health care providers.  

Minnesota Republicans fought to undo the progress DFLers made last term. We support the pieces of the agreement that block those efforts so we can continue providing school lunches, paid leave for workers, and other programs that help ordinary Minnesotans that House Republicans were eager to eliminate. However, any bill that dehumanizes our immigrant neighbors will not have our support. As it currently stands, this agreement is a non-starter for the Rochester Delegation. We will not support stripping away health care from our neighbors. 

 

In solidarity,  

The House Rochester Delegation 

Rep. Tina Liebling, Rep. Andy Smith, and Rep. Kim Hicks 













To unsubscribe, visit the Subscriber Preferences Page [ [link removed] ]. If you have questions or experience technical difficulties with this subscription service, please visit subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com [ [link removed] ].

________________________________________________________________________

This email was sent to [email protected] using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Minnesota House DFL · 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. · Saint Paul, MN 55155 GovDelivery logo [ [link removed] ]