Every Republican on the committee voted against these bills, preventing them from advancing. As with every bill this session, a tied House means we can’t pass anything unless we work together. The safety of our kids, and of all our communities, is worth working together. Doing nothing means nothing will change. As lawmakers, we have a duty to keep Minnesotans safe from harm - we’ll work as hard as we can to honor Harper and Fletcher by preventing future violence. This isn’t about politics - it’s about people. Fighting Fraud Fraud at any level, at any amount in government is abhorrent. An incredible amount of time and effort has gone into ensuring state dollars are used to lift up our most vulnerable, and when those dollars are misused or stolen, it’s an affront to all Minnesotans. This week, my colleagues and I in the House DFL unveiled our package of legislation aimed at combating fraud. These are actual solutions aimed at helping Minnesotans while protecting tax dollars. Governor Walz announced his own, similar package of fraud-fighting measures, all of which were unveiled as the Trump administration decided to freeze Medicaid funding to our state. There are good-faith efforts on both sides of the aisle to address fraud, but President Trump's actions are hurting Minnesotans. President Trump said he wants to address fraud in our state. If that were true he would be sending investigators from the Office of Inspector General, not kidnapping children and murdering our community members. Cutting Medicaid dollars to our state will harm the most vulnerable and prevent people from getting the services they deserve from providers who are doing things the right way. Only by working together can we address fraud this session and not cause further harm at the same time. Congrats to MSU’s EARTH Systems Lab Minnesota State University - Mankato is home to the EARTH Systems Laboratory, an interdisciplinary lab that brings together Earth Science, Geography, and Anthropology to educate and conduct research focused on archeology, soils, climate/paleoclimate and climatic change. It’s a fantastic program at the University, and I’m happy to announce they’ve just been the recipient of a history grant from the Minnesota Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund! Love to see their work recognized. $62,413 is going towards helping them to hire qualified professionals to develop a reference manual for charcoal remains of trees recovered from archeological sites in our state. I’m looking forward to seeing these funds at work! Go Mavs! Constituent Corner Week 2 brought more great conversations with our neighbors! I met with local educators for their annual "Eggs and Issues" legislative breakfast. We discussed the issue of school safety, which was prevalent this week in the Legislature, as well as the need to properly fund our schools and teacher pensions. I always love speaking to this wonderful group of local educators. |