(ST PAUL, MINN) – With just days left in the Minnesota legislative session, Governor Tim Walz and legislative leaders have come to an agreement on a budget deal.
“I’m pleased to say that we came up with a budget that is fiscally responsible,” Walz said. “It puts Minnesota on a continued path to fiscal responsibility, making cuts where they were needed, but investing in our people in a way that we all believe making Minnesota the best place for a family and a child to grow up in.”
While no specifics were announced in the press conference, leaders praised the work done by leadership.
“This budget framework invests in shared goals like education, healthcare. In family budgets, it prioritizes children and workers and working families across the state of Minnesota. This was not an easy budget to balance,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said. “Sometimes things that are very hard are also good, and I’m proud of the work that I have done with my colleagues here.”
House Speaker Lisa Demuth said there were people who believed that the budget deal could not be reached – but legislators ‘have proven, to this point, that we can get this work done.’
“The global targets that we have come up with today demonstrate that in this division, in the legislature so closely divided, that we have agreed to do what is best for Minnesotans and actually making some hard decisions, but doing overall what is best,” she said. “We do have a lot of work left to do, but we are leaving that to our chairs, our conference committees, and the full body.”
Demuth says the global targets are leading to the largest spending cut in state history – nearly five billion dollars from biennium to biennium – calling it ‘progress.’
Among the changes is that the legislature is cutting the funding to allowing undocumented adults in Minnesota to be a part of Minnesota Care – but allowing children to remain on the program.
The state, beginning January 1, began allowing providing health insurance to those who choose to be in Minnesota illegally. Projections were that 5,700 were going to be a part of it.
“By April 24th, it had exploded,” Demuth said. “Instead of just the 5,700, it had exploded to over 20,000 people that had joined that free healthcare.”
Ahna Minge, State Budget Director, says that, depending on if the projections hold true, lawmakers will have to find about $290 million worth of cuts.
“Which is a vast improvement from the $2.4 billion that we were projecting they’d have to find back in February,” she said.
