Governor Tim Walz is expressing his appreciation for state lawmakers in balancing the budget during this week’s one-day special session.
The Governor says the future looks bright as the deficit in the second half was cut in half..
“Not only do we have about two billion dollars on the bottom line which we meet our constitutional responsibility to balance the budget, we are nearly balanced in the second biennium out. That puts Minnesota in a strong position.”
The governor says he will call lawmakers back if changes will need to be made to the budget once federal cuts are handed down from Washington. That’s a possibility that concerns DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy…
“I’m worried that Congress will act in July and make deep cuts in Medicaid in particular which will have an impact on the general fund here in the State of Minnesota, not to mention the healthcare system. And if they do that, if the cuts are as deep as they’re talking about, we will have to come back.”
In the meantime, though the state’s new budget includes deep cuts, Murphy says it sets the state up for a smaller deficit closer to the end of the decade…
“It sets a budget that will be stable for Minnesota and for our future, while investing in the things we treasure, our families, our children, our schools, our communities.”
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson said many Senate Republicans feel the new budget still adds too much spending on government. GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth said the decision to cut undocumented health insurance, while difficult, was needed for Minnesota residents and their tax dollars…
“We knew that was going to be a hard decision, but when we looked at it, and made the decisions that we needed to, also including a compromise of keeping undocumented children on until age 18, we knew that it was going to be hard but we were able to get that work done.”
The governor has said he won’t veto the measure, and expects to sign the budget.
(content: courtesy MNN)
