Minnesota State Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake) today issued the following statement about Democrat end-of-session delays. 

“There are about 31 hours left before the constitution says we must adjourn. The Senate has been in recess virtually all day Saturday, after spending a large part of Friday in recess. Since the beginning of Friday morning, the Senate has spent about 14 hours sitting around waiting for Democrats and only about 7 hours working. And we continue to wait and wait.  

“This has been an awful process. Conference committee reports are a mess, with wildly different topics being lumped together in unrelated bills. Deals are being struck behind closed doors with no public testimony. The minority is being left in the dark as to what’s happening. Democrats are using procedural rules to stifle debate. And now there are rumblings that Democrats, despite having complete control of Minnesota government, are planning to call a special session because they can’t get their work done. 

“This is a terrible way of governing, and Minnesotans deserve better. 

“We are ready to work together. We’ve shown that when Democrats work with Republicans to create bipartisan bills, we can move swiftly and efficiently. But instead of cooperation, Democrats seem to be insisting on jamming through a partisan agenda while relying on the vote of a senator charged with a felony.”