ST. PAUL – The legislature conducted a special session Monday mainly to finish work on the state’s next two-year budget. House Speaker Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said the results show balance has been restored at the Capitol after two years of one-party control.
Demuth said House Republicans successfully made the largest spending cut in state history, rejected tax increases on Minnesota families and eliminated free health insurance for undocumented people living in our state. She said House Republicans also spared cuts to non-public school aid, delivered crucial funding for rural hospitals and ambulances and protected counties from funding shifts.
“The list goes on, and we accomplished these headline victories even without a true Republican majority at the Capitol,” Demuth said. “It happened with a 67-67 split in the House, a one-seat Democrat majority in the Senate and a Democrat occupying the governor’s office.
“We also achieved these good things despite House Democrats refusing to come to work the first 23 days of this session, staying home and collecting a paycheck. It took an extra day to get our work done but most Minnesotans will like the results House Republicans delivered.”
Demuth said it was crucial this year to get a grip on the state budget after the last state budget, crafted by Democrats in the last biennium, increased state spending by nearly 40 percent and raised taxes by $10 billion – pushing our state toward a $6 billion shortfall.
This year, Demuth said House Republicans erased nearly half of the Democrats’ future deficit, delivering the largest reduction to government spending in state history with $2 billion in budget cuts and, overall, $5 billion less spending than the previous budget.
“We listened to the majority of Minnesotans and passed a budget that funded key priorities while eliminating a mandate to fund 100 percent of health insurance for illegal immigrant adults,” Demuth said. “Since the former trifecta’s expansion of MinnesotaCare to include people here illegally took effect just five months ago, enrollment and projected costs have soared. And, unlike other MinnesotaCare recipients, people here illegally receive zero federal reimbursement, leaving Minnesota taxpayers to cover the full cost. It was unsustainable and House Republicans successfully put an end to it.”
“Minnesota is once again heading in the right direction after House Republicans restored balance at the Capitol. Much work remains to get our state fully back on track, but the work we did this year serves all Minnesotans well.”
The one-day special session was necessary after the legislature’s May 19 deadline to adjourn passed with less than half of the state’s next two-year budget having been approved.
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