Last week Senate Democrats failed to find bipartisan support to pass a bonding bill off the Senate floor. The bill requires a 3/5 majority vote, which is 41 votes and required 7 Republican senators to vote for the bill. It failed to gain even one Republican vote. 

“We have a historic surplus—there’s no reason we can’t pass a bonding bill in conjunction with meaningful tax relief,” said Senator Jeff Howe (R-Rockville). “Republicans have supported bonding bills because they maintain and fund important infrastructure all throughout our state. We simply want to see the tax relief that Minnesotans have been asking for before we support a bonding bill this year.”

After failing to pass the bonding bill, the Senate immediately voted to reconsider the bill and lay it on the table. This procedural move allows the bill to be brought up again without having to go through the committee process.  

Two weeks ago, Senate Republican Leaders made clear they needed to see movement on tax relief before they voted for a bonding bill. Last week, Republicans attempted to bring a bill to eliminate the tax on Social Security to the floor, which was defeated on a party-line vote. Senate Democrats also brought their own bill to eliminate the tax on Social Security in a procedural vote to move it one step forward. However, Democrats failed to take the bill up for an actual vote that would pass it off the Senate floor and send it to the House for consideration.