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Dear Neighbors,
Earlier this week, the Minnesota Legislature passed our remaining budget bills in a 1-day special session, completing our required work for the year - that is unless Republicans in the federal government commit to their harmful cuts, but that’s a bridge we’ll cross if and when we come to it.
This week, we focused on the issues we can control at the state level, and passed budget bills for Commerce, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Children, and Families, Higher Education, Human Services, Jobs and Labor, K-12 Education, Taxes, and Transportation. We also passed a pair of Capital Investment bills that improve our state buildings, transportation infrastructure, and water systems.
All of our successful bills this year were the product of bipartisan compromise. With a tied Minnesota House and a 1-vote DFL majority in the Minnesota Senate, that meant most of these bills were a mix of proposals from each caucus. While many didn’t go far enough when it comes to investing in Minnesotans’ needs, at the end of the day they either protected the status quo or made incremental progress.
There was however one bill that was without any sort of merit, and was actually cruel and harmful to Minnesotans. Republicans threatened to shut down the state government unless their demand to kick undocumented Minnesotans off of MinnesotaCare was met, a deal that was agreed to by legislative leaders in order to protect the rest of the state budget and all the services Minnesotans rely on.
I want to be clear, I do not support this legislation. Part of the deal struck by leaders ensured that undocumented children would still be able to access MinnesotaCare, and while that’s better than nothing, this policy still does incredible harm to these children and their families. I said as much on the House floor when I voted against this bill:
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