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Hello again from St. Paul!
It has been another busy week. The House Republicans announced a tax plan that would return over $13 billion to the taxpayers over two years, we passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill out of the House, and I had the opportunity to meet with several groups of constituents. Read more about each of these topics below:
House Republicans introduced our ?Give it Back? tax plan that would return over $13 billion in tax relief over two years.
Some highlights of the plan include:
- Fully eliminating the tax on Social Security
- A one-time child tax credit that would be available for two years
- Slashing the first tax bracket by 1%
- Slashing the second tax bracket by 1%
- An adjustment?of the homestead market value exclusion would give $35?million?a year.
With an $18 billion surplus, the time to relieve the tax burden on Minnesotans is now. I?m proud to work with House Republicans who continue to work to return our surplus to the taxpayers.
For instance, yesterday we tried to suspend the rules to pass a bill that would fully repeal the Social Security tax at the end of session. I voted in favor but unfortunately, the motion did not prevail.
This week, the House passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill. HF 669 is a bonding bill that contains funding for the Austin Wastewater Treatment plan. ?While I would prefer to not borrow money in a time of a surplus, this bonding bill was negotiated in 2022 and then never brought to the table. I believe that our area cannot wait another year for funding for this project since this funding had been requested for over 10 years. Unfortunately, due to how the majority party is managing this legislative session, this was likely my only opportunity support the wastewater treatment plant funding.?
Make sure to listen to my Mueller Minute that gives more details about the bills I am hearing in the Education Committee! You can listen to the Mueller Minute here.
District News
Congratulations to the many athletes and other competitors who made it to state from the district!
Austin swim and dive teams: Senior Winston Walkup won a section title with a first place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and he also took third in the 100-yard backstroke to get to state. Austin?s other state qualifiers include the 200-yard medley relay team of Brent Dahl, Walkup, Joey Hilkin, Kenny Cabeen, Zach Evenson in the 100-yard and 200-freestyles, Cabeen in the 50-freestyle, Hilkin in the 100-butterfly, Dahl in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-freestyle relay team of Evenson, Hilkin, Myers and Cabeen, and the 400-yard freestyle team of Evenson, Dahl, Walkup and Myers.
Jerryth Fieldhouse from Austin High School also qualified in Weightlifting!
Congratulations Katie Thome! Katie Thome was named the Region 8 star in Placement for southern Minnesota. Katie Competed against more than 77 other students for this honor. Katie will move onto State competition in March to compete against the other 8 regional winners in the state. Katie is the current Southland FFA chapter president.
Austin FFA Ag Mechanics Team: Blake VanPelt, Luke Hansen, Ty Severtson, Nathan Martinson, and Hunter VanReese
VEX Flexing: Southland Robotics qualifies all eight teams for state tournament ? three of those teams then qualified for the World Tournament in April!
I also want to give a special shout out to GMLOS wrestler McKenna Hendrickson who placed second in state. Congratulations, McKenna!
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