Gov. Walz reflects on session, looks towards November

The stage is set for a full matchup between incumbent Governor Tim Walz and GOP challenger, former state senator and physician Scott Jensen. Candidate filings closed yesterday. Walz joins Cathy Wurzer for a brief conversation.

The following is a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity. Listen to the full conversation with the audio player above.

Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller thought the deal to spend some of the surplus, give back some, keep some on the bottom line for a rainy day was good. But when it came to the spending priorities, he thought there were just too many differences. Now you said this week there's only a $200 million disagreement on funding. Can you flesh that out?

Well, it's a pretty small disagreement. This is a good proposal for Minnesota. It's solid, it's bipartisan, we all agreed that we would, we'd return $4 billion — largest tax cut in Minnesota history — we would put $4 billion into education, transportation, nursing homes, child care — and we would put $4 billion on the bottom line, which is responsible to do that.

And as we got into this we just, you know, we split the money amongst ourselves with our priorities. But these are shared priorities. And we're just, we're struggling now, I think because, to be candid, I think some of these folks just think maybe it's a little better just to not do anything and have a message rather than delivering for Minnesota.

One of the issues is health and human services. We had a billion-dollar target in there, Republicans want about $820 million for nursing homes and long-term care, which no doubt is needed, but that squeezes out the child care, the opioid work and some of those things.

And we've simply asked them to help us free up federal dollars to make up the difference. And to do that we just need to put in a little state money [to] free up federal dollars. So I think the biggest difference right now is education. We were good on … we were close on transportation, it makes no sense to not take advantage of the federal dollars that was passed in the infrastructure act, and then it’s health and human services. It's a small difference.

We're in agreement, we're close on the tax cuts, certainly want to remove Social Security tax for seniors, get some renter's credit in there. And we've compromised. I had a budget out in January. Some of these things did not come up until late in May. But we compromised.

I think it makes sense to send checks back to people, more fiscally responsible people need the money in their pocket right now, but I compromise with them. So I think we're close. I think if folks are back listening to their constituents, Minnesotans don't understand why we couldn't get this done.

Does interest in a special session, governor, pick up now that the candidate filings have closed the fields for various races are set? Is it a little easier to get to ‘yes’ for a special session?

I think so. I think folks, some folks who said the quiet stuff out loud would tell you that there were folks that didn't want to compromise. Because especially in the GOP Senate, there's such a rigidness there.

We saw people who were pragmatic legislators, conservatives the day is long, but weren't pure enough. So they got challenged, they lost their endorsements and others. I think we're worried about primaries. So I do think it makes it a little more palatable for folks to recognize that that compromise is a virtue, and it's what Minnesotans want.

What's the status of talks among leadership right now? Will you meet yet this week, what's going on? How would you characterize the talks at this point?

Yeah, we spoke and it was cordial. And I think that commitment is still there. I think Leader Miller does want to get this done. I think he's, you know — just like Speaker Hortman does, you got a pretty broad caucus of different ideas.

We agreed to go home over the Memorial Day weekend, they wanted to have legislators spend time with family. But I think listening to constituents, and then I said this week — midweek, which is today or tomorrow — I want to get back together with them and hash out the deal so that we can come back and finish this up quickly.

Again, we're not in a budget year, but we are in a unique opportunity, especially where folks are seeing globally inflationary prices. And right here in Minnesota, get some money back in the pockets of folks and then make sure property taxes stay low by investing in schools, public safety — it can be done.

Since the end of the regular session, there's been a mass murder in Buffalo, New York, another school shooting. We talked with Minnesota students yesterday who walked out of class against gun violence. If there is a special session, where does gun control fit in — if at all — given what's happened in Buffalo, New York and Texas?

I think it's always the right time to talk about it. This is I mean, it's heartbreaking. And my message to folks is it doesn't have to be this way. It's not this way in other countries. It's not this other in free democratic countries who have access to firearms in a legal manner.

Your guest who was on an earlier segment on red flag laws. I've been proposing that since before I ran and the red flag law I proposed was the very one that the Republican governor of Florida signed into law. And again, listening to that segment: no, these proposals won't stop everyone. But what if we'd have been able to stop Uvalde? I mean, just one is enough. And it’s our students, listen to them. They're telling us they don't want to live this way. They're telling us to do something about this. And there are common sense things that are supported by 80-90 percent of the public. And if not now, when?

So, you know, the Legislature will make their decision. I don't vote on anything over there. But I think if they're listening to parents — I being one of them — my son came home from school and he's talking about, you know, his classmates and they're just, they're tired of this. They're tired of the drama, and they just are asking us, what can you do about it? This idea that nothing can be done. And this is just as natural as the sun rises, is just the biggest myth that's ever been perpetuated.

Other countries have seen these mass shootings: Scotland, Australia, and they stopped. They stopped the shootings and their citizens are as free and have access to legal firearms as anyone else. So I just think now's the time and our children are demanding of us.

Listen to the full conversation with the audio player above.

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