Hello from St. Paul, On Monday, lawmakers returned to the State Capitol to take part in a one-day special session that allowed us to finish approving outstanding budget bills and several other pieces of prominent legislation. In all, 14 bills were debated. All of them had been heard in committee, and all of them had been previously negotiated prior to special session being called. One of the biggest wins of session was approving new language that addresses a significant taxpayer-funded giveaway: free health care for illegal immigrants. In 2023, an all-Democrat led legislature and Governor Walz approved a law allowing illegal immigrants to receive free MinnesotaCare coverage. MinnesotaCare is a health coverage program for low-income individuals and families who do not have access to employee-sponsored health insurance and do not qualify for Medical Assistance (MA). Their estimates projected 7,700 applicants would apply for the program over four years at a cost of $196 million. Less than two years in, the Minnesota Department of Health found more than 17,000 have already signed up. This means Minnesota’s taxpayers are spending more than $550 million to provide free health care to people who shouldn’t be here in the first place, as the federal government is not providing any matching funds for this program. A negotiated agreement between House and Senate leadership and the Governor’s Office will eliminate free health insurance for adult illegal immigrants. As for the budget itself, we secured $5 billion in spending reductions from the previous cycle, which results in the largest spending cut in state history. We also stopped more than $8 billion in tax increase proposals brought forward by the other side of the aisle from becoming law. There is no doubt if they had a one seat majority, Minnesota’s families would once again be paying the price. This was a unique session. The House was a statistical tie with 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats. Were we able to get everything done that we wanted? No. But if you look at state government as a being a three-legged stool, with a Democrat governor having one leg, a Democrat controlled Senate having another leg, and House Republicans having half of the remaining leg, we did what we could to not only hold the fort but try to implement meaningful changes. I think it’s safe to say we stopped the bleeding, but it’s also fair to say there’s more work to be done. |