A Future Minnesotans Cannot Afford                                

A Future Minnesotans Cannot Afford
By Senator Jason Rarick 

Last month, the state released its December budget forecast. It showed what we’ve expected all along: Democrat tax increases led to a meager $616 million surplus for the end of 2026, with a massive looming $5.1 billion deficit by 2029. These numbers do not account for any new spending that Democrats will likely push for in the upcoming biennium. Any additional spending will further increase the deficit. Because of this, it’s important we work to balance our budget, rein in the overspending, and prioritize funding that goes directly to benefitting Minnesotans rather than non-citizens.

The announcement of such a large deficit is cause for concern, and it shows exactly what we feared to be true: years of reckless spending by the Democrat trifecta leads to a $5.1 billion deficit that Minnesotans simply cannot afford. Senate Republicans repeatedly warned Democrat leadership that spending was not sustainable, and now we are seeing the effects of Democrats’ runaway spending during the last biennium. It wasn’t too long ago that we had a surplus totaling to nearly $18 billion. Not only was it fully spent, it was done so in tandem with raising taxes by $10 billion. Yet that still wasn’t enough to sustain the Democrats’ spending.

Another issue is that the Democrat trifecta has passed a number of funding bills that directly benefit those here illegally. That means many individuals living here illegally are benefitting from programs that should be reserved for legal Minnesotans. A few specific examples come to mind: Driver’s License for All, the North Star Promise, and expansion of MinnesotaCare coverage.

The Driver’s License for All provision was incredibly controversial, and it provided state-issued driver’s licenses to immigrants who are in Minnesota illegally. Democrats argued it was necessary to keep roads safe, but really, it allows non-citizens access to a form of identification used to receive state benefits, vote, enter federal buildings, and more.

Another controversial bill was the North Star Promise. The goal of this program was to fund college tuition for people with under $80,000 a year in income. Because of how Democrats bungled the bill, the grant program’s funds are eroding away. The bill should have prioritized the education of Minnesota students, but because Democrats wanted this to be widely available to non-citizens, the funds are rapidly depleting.

MinnesotaCare coverage was also recently expanded thanks to controversial legislation pushed by the Democrat trifecta. As of November, non-citizens can apply for health coverage.

Among all these bills, we see a recurring trend: funding for programs that could be incredibly helpful to legal Minnesotans, but are instead directly benefitting non-citizens, with no way to track how much money is going to those efforts. It’s time for us to take a hard look at the state of our budget. Democrats have grown Minnesota government from a $39 billion general fund budget in 2014 to $71 billion in 2024, and Minnesotans are not feeling that same growth in their personal budgets. Families in our state simply cannot afford any more in tax hikes when Minnesota is already ranked the 46th worst state when it comes to local tax burdens.

Minnesotans have been loud and clear: they want us to rein in spending and they want relief. We are barreling towards a future Minnesotans cannot afford. This spending is unsustainable. As we begin the new biennium, I will be focused on repairing the damage to our state’s budget, getting our finances in order, and doing right by Minnesota taxpayers.