SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The joint House/Senate Conference Committee tasked with developing a compromise state Health and Human Services budget will hold its next meeting today at 2 p.m. in Room 1200 of the Minnesota Senate Building. The committee, to be chaired by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), will focus on the same and similar sections of the Operations article of the bill. This will include a discussion of proposals to increase program integrity of the state’s child care assistance program. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have proposed eliminating funding for the program altogether, putting 15,000 families at risk of losing access to child care.
WHAT: Meeting of the House/Senate Conference Committee on the Health and Human Services Budget, HF 2414. Discussion of the Operations article of the bill
WHO: Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), committee members
WHERE: Room 1200, Minnesota Senate Building, 95 University Ave W, Saint Paul
WHEN: 2 p.m. or the call of the chair, Wednesday, May 15
The House DFL HHS budget would help ensure that all Minnesotans can access the high-quality, affordable health care they deserve. It makes prescription drugs more affordable, ends taxpayer handouts to insurance companies, and expands coverage options and ensures care remains available for low-income Minnesotans. The budget also extends the funding mechanism for the state’s Health Care Access Fund, without which funding for over 1.2 million Minnesotans could be in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, in addition to over $1 billion in harmful cuts – including elimination of funding for the Child Care Assistance Program – the Senate Republican HHS budget relies on shifts, gimmicks, and $470 million in made-up savings that non-partisan fiscal staff cannot verify.