Friends and Neighbors,

 

More troubling things coming our way thanks to Democrats in control of Minnesota’s government. I wanted to provide you with a quick rundown.

 

First, Gov. Walz and Democrat leaders of the House and Senate recently announced their framework for Minnesota’s upcoming state budget. It’s frighteningly irresponsible and reckless:

• It spends the entire surplus – $17.9 billion
• It increases government spending by a stunning 30%
• The total general fund budget would be a staggering $70 billion. (For comparison, it has roughly doubled in the last decade)
• They are allotting $3 billion for taxes, but most of that will be in the form of local government aid or other credits. Very little of it will be heading into your pockets
• The bill raises billions in taxes, including a $1.7 billion paid leave mandate

Their budget puts us on an unsustainable dangerous path, and that’s before we even dig into the specifics that are going to be in there like their paid family leave mandate, their earned sick time requirement, and much more.

 

I will keep you informed as we learn more about the specifics of their budget, but what we know right now would already make it the most extreme budget this state has seen.

Democrats push massive bonding bill instead of tax relief

 

Last week, Democrats forced a premature vote on a bonding bill. It failed, as we told them it would.

 

Democrats need Republican votes to pass a bonding bill due to legislative rules. We told Democrats over and over that we would not support a bonding bill until we see some movement on tax cuts. With a $19 billion surplus, relief should be our top priority.

 

We asked them repeatedly to work together. If they had listened and worked with us in good faith, it is likely we could have passed both a tax cut bill and a bonding bill. 

 

But instead of that they bullied us and threatened us and tried underhanded tricks. They cared more about playing games than they did about giving you relief.

 

I have been working hard to get important infrastructure bills for our area done this session, as well as return a large part of the surplus in tax relief. But Democrats’ priorities are completely backward. Minnesotans have been overtaxed by $19 billion, yet Democrats' first items of fiscal business are to put more money on the state's credit card and grow government.

 

It’s wrong. Tax cuts must come first.

The latest news on the Feeding our Future fraud scandal

 

Recently, United States Attorney Andy Luger announced 10 more indictments in the massive Feeding our Future fraud scandal. The total number of people charged is up to 60, and while Luger did not provide an additional dollar amount on the new indictments, he indicated it was now more than $250 million from 60 individuals. He also indicated there could be more indictments in the future.  There continues to be no accountability from the Walz Administration's Department of Education. Our Tax dollars were used by criminals to buy houses, cars, luxury goods and even a plane, that was scheduled for delivery to Kenya!

 

The Walz Administration's lax oversight allowed this fraud to happen, and they have failed to do anything meaningful to prevent it from ever happening again. We must examine the indicted individuals' connections to other government programs to uncover additional fraud schemes.

 

Transparency and prevention should be the priorities for our agencies. We're working on a funding request to support the Office of the Legislative Auditor's investigation, ensuring we learn from this and stop such fraud from ever happening again.

 

Contact me 

 

I love hearing your feedback. If you have any questions or comments about the issues we are working on, please contact me anytime. My email is [email protected], or you can call me at 651-296-4131.

 

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook: https://www.fb.com/SenatorGlennGruenhagen.

 

It is a privilege to serve you. God Bless.

 

Glenn Gruenhagen

Capitol Address

95 University Avenue W.
Minnesota Senate Bldg. 2417
St. Paul, MN 55155

651-296-4131