Dear Neighbors,
The legislature returned from its Easter/Passover break this week, beginning what’s sure to be a busy final six weeks of the 2023 legislative session. Omnibus budget bills started coming to the House Floor for votes on Wednesday afternoon. These massive bills, many hundreds of pages long, will constitute the state’s new two-year budget.
This year, Gov. Walz and Democrat leaders in the House and Senate are looking to increase overall government spending by about 40%, from $52 billion to $72 billion. To make matters worse, they are proposing to spend the entirety of the $17.5 billion budget surplus and raise your taxes by billions.
As they say, elections have consequences, and Minnesotans are about to find out if this sort of out-of-control spending and massive tax increases is what they really voted for when they put Democrats in complete control here in St. Paul.
The priorities of Democrats are completely out of step with everyday Minnesotans. While they insist on giving hundreds of millions of dollars away to nonprofits with little to no financial oversight, they refuse to address the nursing home and long-term care crisis impacting communities across Minnesota.
It is no secret that our rural nursing homes are facing a funding crisis and they need our help so that they can keep their doors open and continue providing care for seniors.
The DFL budget makes no additional investment in Minnesota’s nursing homes beyond a $4 million grant program for critical access nursing homes. With a $17.5 billion surplus, the House and Governor Walz propose to spend 0.01% of their record-setting budget to help nursing homes pay their caregivers a livable wage and preserve access to care across the state.
Here are a few things that Democrats think are worth prioritizing over our seniors:
- $200 million for a train to Duluth
- 18% increase to state agency budgets
- Pay raises and $17,000 a month in rent for the Governor and family to live in a lakeside mansion
- $110 million for undocumented immigrants to obtain state-run health care
- $100 million for “violence interrupters” to take the place of law enforcement officers
- $500 million for a redesign of the State Office Building in St. Paul
We’re constantly told by our Governor that budgets are “moral” documents. There is nothing moral about what Democrats are doing to our seniors and the folks that take care of them. They deserve better.
Staying in Touch
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me to share any thoughts or concerns you may have about state government or the job I'm doing as your representative. It would be great to talk with you. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-8237 or via email at rep.brian.daniels@house.mn.
Have a great day,
Brian