Friends and neighbors,
The past several weeks at the Capitol have been eventful, with Democrats continuing to force their extreme policies through the legislative process and to the governor’s desk. And a recurring theme is their desire to favor their runaway liberal agenda and controversial spending demands over the essential needs of Minnesotans.
Democrats pass their public safety priorities
Violent crimes are still on the rise, and Minnesotans want to feel safe again in their communities. Yet when the Democrat majority made their public safety priorities known, they chose to give convicted felons a blanket right to vote – no matter their crime – and allow non-citizens the right to a driver’s license with no safeguards in place.
Under the Democrat’s felon voting bill, violent criminals, including rapists and murderers, who are still on probation can now vote. While I have supported efforts to restore voting rights after a set period of time on probation, I do not support a blanket restoration immediately after release from prison, especially while some judges and prosecutors fail to adequately charge and sentence violent criminals. Instead of passing policies that are soft on criminals, we should be working to ensure that there are fewer victims by demonstrating that violent crimes will have harsh sentences.
The second public safety priority passed by the Democrat majority and signed into law is their Driver’s Licenses for All bill. This legislation is vastly different from the bipartisan proposals of the past, as non-citizens can now receive a state-issued Class D identification that is identical to a Minnesota resident’s license. The lack of simple safeguards in this bill makes Minnesota, and our nation, susceptible to countless fraud and abuse. Bad actors will now have an all-access pass to carry out illegal activity. We can all stand behind the need for safe roads, but we could have achieved this goal without jeopardizing our safety and security.
The Democrats’ public safety priorities demonstrate that their agenda is not to address Minnesotans’ public safety concerns and ensure safe communities. Instead, their Driver’s Licenses for All and Felon Voting bills reward criminal behavior and open Minnesota to further fraud and abuse.
Democrats refuse to return taxpayers’ surplus
Minnesota’s Department of Management and Budget (MMB) recently released its February revenue forecast, which provides information and an outlook for Minnesota’s financial picture. The report shows that our state is looking at a nearly $19 billion surplus. Democrats, however, will tell you the surplus number is only $17.5 billion.
This is only because they recently passed a bill to bake inflation into the automatic budget. This legislation causes the state budget to remain on autopilot and reduces the size of the surplus reported to the public, which will make passing tax cuts more difficult. That is, the cost of government will increase automatically and will grow without any legislative input. I see this as just another tool that Democrats can use to not give you back your hard-earned money.
Senate Republicans, however, want to get this money back into your pockets. And that is why we recently introduced our ‘Give it Back’ tax plan to provide $13 billion over two years in permanent tax cuts and one-time rebates. Our tax plan includes permanent tax relief for all taxpayers, child tax credits, property tax relief, and the full elimination of the Social Security income tax. It’s clear that government has taken far too much from taxpayers and it’s long overdue to give it back.
Even though Minnesota is looking at an astronomical surplus, Democrats are proposing massive tax and fee increases that would impact the pocketbooks of every Minnesotan. We must determine how to return the money to Minnesota families, not look for new ways to grow government and put more burden on the backs of taxpayers. It’s clear that Democrats, however, prefer their controversial spending demands over the essential needs of Minnesota families.
Sincerely,
Andrew