St. Paul, MN – The first-quarter unemployment insurance deadline is only 11 days away and Representative Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, is calling on House Democrats to fulfill their promise and actually provide relief for Minnesota’s job creators.
The Minnesota Senate passed a bill to refill the UI trust fund on February 14 on a broadly bipartisan 55-11 vote. Replenishing the UI Trust Fund enjoys broad support from Gov. Walz, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats, but has been stalled thanks to inaction by the House Democrat majority — it's been 69 days since the bill last received a hearing, and Democrats have excluded UI repayment from their budget targets released this week.
“What we are seeing is more of the same— Democrats doing nothing but causing more financial pain for Minnesotans,” Kresha said. “They waved off the original deadline, and they not making any effort to bring much-needed relief to our businesses.”
With a more than $9.25 billion surplus, Minnesota can more than afford to fill the Unemployment Trust Fund to solvency, reverse the tax increases on employers, and stop Minnesota from having to borrow $50,000 a day from the federal government. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, downplayed the original March 15 deadline, insisting that lawmakers had until April 30 when tax bills were due to take action.
“Believing a Democrat’s promise in this state is proving to be a huge mistake. Our job creators must navigate inflation, supply chain issues, workforce challenges and now, unemployment payments that could have been avoided,” Kresha concluded
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