Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO/KFGO) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders announced a one-day special session on Monday to pass the remaining parts of the next two-year budget, ending weeks of limbo in the most closely divided Legislature in state history.
Lawmakers have been urgently working to balance a budget since the regular session ended on May 19. Legislators had hoped they’d be able to finish by that day, but several sticking points left them working overtime.
There is a tied House and one-seat advantage for Democrats in the Senate, making negotiations fragile. Walz described the dynamic earlier this week.
“This bipartisan budget agreement makes thoughtful reductions in state spending while keeping us on track to make Minnesota the best state in the country to raise a child,” Walz said in a news release Friday. “It is the result of hundreds of hours of good-faith, bipartisan debate on the best ways to improve the health, safety, and wellbeing of Minnesotans.”
Among the most contentious issues is the GOP and DFL compromise to roll back state health care coverage for undocumented immigrants. Progressive DFL lawmakers protested the health care cut, threatening the bipartisan agreement.
Walz and leaders agreed that the session would begin Monday at 10 a.m. and end by 7 a.m. Tuesday. It will focus only on the budget bills at hand in addition to a stand-alone bill to remove undocumented immigrant adults from MinnesotaCare.
Comments