Dear Neighbor,
Crunch time is just around the corner in the 2025 legislative session. Committees soon will be wrapping up their regularly scheduled meetings and our focus will be spending more time on the floor as a full House debating this year’s biggest bills, particularly related to our state’s next two-year budget.
For now, finance committees are busy develop budget bills for their respective areas. The House’s top-line agreement on the the next state budget includes the largest spending cuts in Minnesota history to address a projected shortfall. There is $4 billion trimmed from the current budget, with an additional $1.2 billion reduction in 2026-27.These cuts are essential after Democrats in full control of the Capitol spent the $18 billion surplus, raised taxes by $10 billion and increased the state budget by 40 percent hike in 2023. This has led to a $6 billion shortfall projected for Minnesota.
The proposed cuts are a step in the right direction, but I believe they should go even further, especially after the reckless spending spree of the past two years. We could start making Minnesota more affordable by eliminating the massive leave program which is exceeding estimated costs even before it has taken effect.
The challenge? Democrats still control the governor’s office, the Senate, and half of the House. With a 67-67 split in the House, at least one Democrat vote is needed to pass any legislation this year. Unfortunately, the folks across the aisle have shown little interest in making the kind of meaningful spending cuts necessary to truly right-size our government. In fact, they want even more tax increases.
Hardworking Minnesotans are paying the bill the reckless spending and unnecessary tax increases enacted under one-party control. There was lots of money in our state a short time ago, but that’s all been spent and we’re facing a shortfall. Who functions like that? Minnesota does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.
As someone who has a background in financials and budgeting, the government’s complete disregard for the concept of living within your means is astounding to me. That’s why I’m here in the House, working to put our state on a more sustainable financial path that respects taxpayers. The spending cuts in the House’s agreement are a step in the right direction. We also need to continue working to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse that’s running rampant in our state, similar to what DOGE is doing at the federal level.
Education is one area of the budget where different approaches will need to be resolved. Decisions made by Twin Cities liberals have left Minnesota students falling further behind and put our schools in crisis mode financially with 65-plus unfunded mandates they passed with full control of the Capitol. Now, the governor proposes slashing more than $240 million in 2026-27 and another $445 million in 2028-29 from education. He wants to cut merit-based teacher compensation (Q Comp), special education transportation, and non-public pupil support.
We need a new direction and House Republicans have developed the Save Our Schools plan to addresses micromanagement, mandates, and misplaced priorities in Minnesota’s K-12 education system. We need to provide our schools with more common sense, added flexibility and fewer mandates so they can make decisions that best suit our local needs.
A lot of work remains to pass a new state budget before our May 19 deadline to adjourn. That’s still plenty of time if we focus on doing the work of the people instead of playing partisan games and treating Minnesotans as political pawns. Remember, bipartisan support is mandatory for bills to pass the House because there is a 67-67 party split, and 68 votes are necessary to pass bills.
Capitol Cross vandalism
It was great to see a display featuring the cross and the Ten Commandments placed on the Capitol lawn to coincide with the arrival of this year’s holy season. It also is incredibly sad someone destroyed it. Reports indicate a man in his 30s was cited for the incident.
Returning to work
It’s hard to believe something as reasonable as asking state workers to show up at the office a couple of days per week could be controversial, but here we are.
The governor recently issued a mandate most of us would support, requiring most government workers to be in the office at least 50 percent of the time starting June 1. The mandate exempts state workers who live 75 miles or more from their state offices, which could apply to people in our area.
It’s been five years since state workers first started working remotely at the onset of Covid-19. Sure, technology has made remote work easier to complete, but it’s time they get back to the office at least some of the time. There are undeniable benefits to spending work hours in an office setting.
Some of the outrage and privilege state workers have expressed while objecting to the governor’s common-sense order is completely out of touch with the taxpayers who are paying their salaries.
Hope you have a good weekend and please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Scott