Hello Friends, Earlier this week, the Minnesota Legislature met for a one-day special session to pass our remaining budget bills, funding state government and the services our Shakopee neighbors rely on for the next two years. As was the case for all of our bills this year, everything passed with bipartisan support. I was proud to vote for the many commonsense solutions contained in this budget, even if I wouldn’t call any of these bills perfect - that’s the nature of compromise. You can read nonpartisan summaries of the budget bills we passed during our special session here: While all of these bills are a mix of provisions I like and others I’m not so crazy about, one bill we passed this week was outright wrong and cruel. As a condition of not shutting down the state government, Republicans held the budget hostage until legislation passed that would kick our undocumented neighbors off of MinnesotaCare. While I voted against this legislation, it did pass both chambers. I don’t believe this is a measure that will make Minnesota any safer, healthier, or more prosperous. While that bill was a dark cloud over our work, I remain incredibly proud of what we were able to accomplish this year - especially as it pertains to protecting the hard-fought wins of recent years. |