Legislative update

Dear Neighbor,

House committees are starting to wrap up finance bills that will fund various parts of the state budget for the next two-year cycle. Since the first day of this session, House Republicans have worked on the priorities of Minnesotans, which is reflected our six core pillars for 2025.

After Easter, we will start bringing budget bills to the floor for votes of the full body. We continue pushing for provisions that support these priorities as our new state budget comes together. As mentioned in my last newsletter, cuts to the state budget will be necessary after the former Democrat trifecta spent the $18 billion surplus and raised state spending by 40 percent back in 2023. We need to make cuts, and I personally would prefer going even further to put Minnesota on a more sustainable path – especially after the reckless spending spree of the past two years that now has us facing a $6 billion shortfall.

Meanwhile, Democrats still control the governor’s office, the Senate, and half of the House. With a 67-67 party split in the House, we need at least one Democrat vote to pass any bills this year. The good news is the Democrats’ proposed tax increases that should be non-starters this session. Same goes for the governor’s budget proposal, which I oppose, that would only make things worse by unfairly punishing counties, schools, and property owners.