St. Paul, MN – Only 10 days remain until the first-quarter unemployment insurance payments are due and Representative Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, is calling on House Democrats to fulfill their promises and provide relief for Minnesota businesses.
“Last month, as a result of House Democrat’s inaction, our job creators had to begin paying unemployment insurance payments,” Grossell said. “This is a harmful and unnecessary tax increase. House Democrats need to move on this bill and fix this tax hike that they created.”
Minnesota has a more than $9.25 billion surplus and can afford to fill the Unemployment Trust Fund to solvency, reverse the tax increases on employers, and stop Minnesota from borrowing $50,000 a day from the federal government. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, downplayed the original March 15 deadline, insisting that lawmakers had until April 30 when tax bills were due to take action.
The Minnesota Senate passed a bill to refill the UI trust fund on February 14 on a broadly bipartisan 55-11 vote. Replenishing the UI Trust Fund enjoys broad support from Gov. Walz, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats, but has been stalled thanks to inaction by the House Democrat majority — Democrats have refused to pass a bill of any kind off the House floor, and it’s been 70 days since the bill last received a hearing on February 9. Democrats have also excluded UI repayment from their budget targets released this week, suggesting they have no intention of paying back the UI Trust Fund. If the trust fund is not repaid, it would result in ten years of higher taxes on employers.
"Democrats told businesses that they could delay their payments and that the real deadline was April 30. Now here we are days away from that deadline and Democrats have continued to ignore the plea of our job creators and have not gotten this passed. The money is there, and we need to take action to support our employers as they deal with inflation, supply chain, and workforce challenges," Grossell concluded.
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