Uncommon Beginnings
By Senator Steve Green

The House and Senate are both back in Session and there’s a lot going on. Unfortunately while most of us showed up to work on behalf of our constituents in the opening weeks of Session, House Democrats decided not to. Minnesota is watching this laziness and dereliction of duty unfold. Their constituents deserve better.

The Senate is getting to work with far less dysfunction. Senator Kari Dziedzic recently passed away, so there is one vacant seat. That means we are tied 33-33 for the time being and have a “power sharing” agreement in place. That also means we have two caucus leaders rather than one majority leader, two Presidents, two Chairs on each committee, and equal representation on all committees. This does not take into account the precarious nature of Sen. Mitchell, whose court case keeps getting pushed back after she broke into her stepmother’s home in the dead of night. Though she is still a sitting senator and refuses to step down, she does not sit on any of the committees.

With the new year comes new priorities and new budget proposals. In fact, Governor Walz just recently released his. Before I get into details, I want to remind everyone of one thing: just a few short years ago, we had a surplus totaling over $18 billion. Even more when accounting for inflation. After the last biennium, that money is gone. Now we’re looking at an over-$5 billion deficit. Keep this in mind.

I find the Governor’s budget troubling. Democrats grew the government by 40% in the last biennium. Democrats spent the entire surplus. Democrats funded questionable non-profits. Democrats encouraged one-time spending in areas knowing full well agencies would come back asking for more. Despite these undeniable facts, Governor Walz blamed the looming deficit on the spending surrounding things like disability services and special education transportation. Not a single mention of Democrats exploding the state’s budget. The Democrat administrations have grown Minnesota government from a $39 billion general fund budget in 2014 to a $71 billion budget in 2024.

What we need to do is address the areas of over-spending. Agencies have already started coming before the senate, and soon they’ll be proposing their budgets. Will they be looking at cuts? Not likely. That means increased taxes, and that is an absolute non-starter. Cuts of frivolous funding need to be considered.

Governor Walz is also claiming his plan is a “tax cut,” but that’s just not the case. It’s going to be an overall tax increase. Many of his proposed changes, like new taxes and fees, will just drive up the cost of goods and services. He has also been mentioning his sales tax “cut.” I want to be clear: that “cut” amounts to only 7.5 cents for every $100. That helps no one. It’s frankly insulting.

He has also proposed a “fix” for the rampant fraud we’ve seen on his watch. The fraud in recent years has been astounding in the worst way – over $500 million in fraud alone, with millions more in general waste and abuse. Taxpayer dollars right down the drain. Yet not a single Commissioner nor agency has been held accountable for their glaring lack of oversight. Now, Governor Walz is proposing the creation of the Fraud Task Force. Not only is this just an expansion of government, it’s also too little too late. Each agency has their own internal units that deal with fraud. That’s where the failure occurred – there was a clear lack of oversight, spanning multiple agencies. The legislature shouldn’t be let off the hook either, though – specifically the Democrat majorities. They repeatedly gave money to agencies that were failing, and they were giving money to unvetted people and programs, just to turn around, acting astounded by the fraud. A lot of people played a role in getting the fraud to where it is, and all parties need to be held accountable. I just don’t believe creating a Task Force will solve the underlying problem.

There’s a lot we need to fix as we go forward. The theme of the year will be fixing the mistakes of the Walz Administration and the Democrat trifecta, and putting Minnesotans first. We need to prioritize families in this state and make life more affordable for them. Nothing Democrats have proposed has made their lives better, and Governor Walz’s budget proposal will only make things worse.