St. Paul, MN - Today, the Minnesota Senate held a vote on House File 669, which would have delivered $1.5 billion for local jobs and projects throughout the state. As the bill utilizes General Obligation (GO) bonds, it required a supermajority to pass. Despite having passed with broad bipartisan support in the House, Senate Republicans refused to provide the necessary support for these investments to pass.
Speaker Melissa Hortman and Rep. Fue Lee (DFL - Minneapolis), the Chair of the House Capital Investment Committee and House author of the bill, released the following statements:
“It’s disappointing that Senate Republicans chose to stand in the way of infrastructure improvements that would benefit Minnesotans all across the state,” said Speaker Hortman. “We have worked well with House GOP members and passed a great bonding bill off the Minnesota House floor with a large bipartisan vote. It’s regrettable the Senate GOP chose gridlock over progress for Minnesotans today. In the coming days, the House DFL will continue to work with the House GOP and Senate DFL to move a capital investment bill to the Governor’s desk — with or without the Senate GOP.”
“Hundreds of critical infrastructure projects have gone unfunded for too long, and the refusal of Senate Republicans to deliver support to their communities and others throughout the state doesn’t magically solve this issue; it makes the projects more expensive and causes unnecessary harm,” said Rep. Fue Lee (DFL - Minneapolis), author of the bill and Chair of the House Capital Investment Committee. “There are leaky roofs and windows in state buildings, an inadequate campus chemistry laboratory, unstable riverbanks, kids taking unsafe routes to schools, housing that needs to be built for our most vulnerable, and failing wastewater infrastructure. These projects and more will have to wait even longer because Senate Republicans refused to come to the table and get the work done.”