Dear friends and neighbors, As we wrap up our second week of session I have some exciting updates for you. I am pleased to share our top priorities for this session and how we are planning to achieve them. We also had some exciting events in St. Paul this week that I will tell you about. Session PrioritiesOur first 10 bills of the session have been announced and some have already been introduced in committees. These bills establish our priorities and goals for the session, which include: - Stopping the Fraud
- Making Minnesota Safe
- Making Minnesota Affordable
- Using Minnesota Tax Dollars for Minnesotans
- Building for the Future
- Raising Standards, Reducing Mandates
These goals will be reached with appropriate legislation, which we have already started working on. HF8I signed on in support of HF8 this week, which is a bill that lifts the nuclear moratorium in Minnesota. Removing the nuclear moratorium will allow us with a greater opportunity to reduce our greenhouse gas concerns and more electricity options for citizens. Additionally, it will create more union and non-union jobs within the state, which is great! Addresssing FraudAs we have seen in the past few years, fraud has been running rampant in Minnesota, especially in state government agencies and programs. One of the key goals of this session is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, which I am a major proponent of. We have seen that spending and taxes have gone through the roof, for programs that are not appropriately monitored. Spending like this makes life less affordable for everyone, so we aim to fix that this session. March for Life On Wednesday, we remembered the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion in the U.S. 51 years ago. The MCCL March for Life took place on the Capitol steps, and it was moving to see thousands of Minnesotans out in the cold and rallying for this great cause.   Where are the Democrats?It has been almost 2 weeks since we started session, and my Democrat colleagues are no where to be found. It is their duty to represent in St. Paul and collaborate with the rest of us legislators. I sincerely hope they will start doing what they were elected to do so that we can address issues such as school funding, housing, and wasteful spending, as a team.  |