Budget pact will be put to test as Minnesota lawmakers fill in details, bring plan up for votes
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A budget deal that is supposed to pave the way to the Legislature’s finish drew more fire Friday from members of both parties, although leaders insisted it would remain on track to an eventual but likely tardy completion.
With a health proposal to revoke insurance coverage to undocumented immigrants already a sore point for Democrats, a separate measure to shutter one of the state’s oldest prisons attracted criticism from across the political spectrum.
Both are part of the wide-ranging yet still not fully detailed proposal to enact a new two-year budget.
On Friday, House DFL and GOP leaders in the tied chamber said they don’t think the pushback will derail the agreement. But nothing is certain until the votes come.
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“I don't see any reason why it has to fall apart if everyone continues to do the work that we need to do,” said Rep. Harry Niska, the House Republican floor leader.
His counterpart, DFL Rep. Jamie Long, acknowledged the bumpy reception but agreed that the broad outlines should hold.
“I think that in any agreement, nobody, no side gets everything they want,” Long said. “And I think that you heard some real passion from our side about concern for folks who are losing health care, which I think is deserved.”
It echoed Gov. Tim Walz, who described the deal alongside House and Senate leaders a day earlier.
The DFL governor highlighted his focus on tamping down growth in government spending without disrupting spending for education, undoing paid leave programs and altering other key priorities of his party’s 2023 agenda.
But Walz, acknowledging a ruckus just outside the press conference where they spoke, said the deal won’t go down easy with everyone.
“Now the hard part starts for all of us — of getting the legislators together and we’ve got to get a majority vote,” he said.
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth praised the fiscal restraint in the agreement. But she, too, said that the larger body will have to hammer out their differences.
“We do have a lot of work left to do, but we are leaving that to our chairs, our conference committees and the full body to make those determinations,” she said. “I’m happy to tell you that with the global targets, we are seeing the largest spending cut in state history.”
She added, “And that is progress."
Once the budget is set, it will be about $5 billion smaller than the one in place now. That was expected given that the prior budget of nearly $72 billion included a bunch of one-time-only spending that lapsed before lawmakers made a single move.
In broad strokes, this budget would rein in growing costs for the state. It would hold education spending flat, cut growth in social services and reconfigure the state's prisons, including shutting down the Stillwater correctional facility by the end of the decade.
Leaders of unions for prison workers held a news on Friday to demand a halt to the Stillwater prison closure plan.
Dan Gorman, a corrections officer at the Stillwater prison, pushed back on Department Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell saying the state has enough space at other facilities to house their inmates.
"If there are 1,200 beds within the Minnesota Department of Corrections, we would like to see where those are,” Gorman said.
Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, is the Republican lead on the Senate Judiciary and said the proposal didn’t get vetted in the open.
“There is no question Stillwater prison is old, but for the Legislature to consider a change of this magnitude, we should have taken a far more deliberative approach,” Limmer said. “I’m concerned that this decision and the long-term ramifications put the public at risk.”
There are 450 members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union members total at the prison and 560 full time positions.
"It disregards not just the people who work in these facilities, but also the broader public who deserves transparency and accountability in these big decisions,” said Megan Dayton, president of Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, which represents some caseworkers at the prison.
A few other agreed upon items could face additional scrutiny. And one part could prove to be a headache for Democrats.
This year, the state began extending access to the subsidized MinnesotaCare health insurance program to immigrants who don't have legal status. Supporters of that move said it would help encourage primary care so people don’t wind up in emergency rooms and leave those costs to hospitals or force higher premiums for others. Republicans called the coverage an example of misplaced priorities and said the costs are adding up.
The deal would revoke the insurance for those adult immigrants at year’s end. Children in those families will continue to be covered. Dozens of faith leaders, immigrant advocates and members of the public crowded the entry to the House chamber Friday to oppose the proposal.
They read off stories of people in Minnesota without legal status who could lose access to health insurance coverage if the measure moves forward. Behind them, dozens of DFL lawmakers stood in solidarity on the steps leading into the chamber.
Deiu Do told the crowd that it was the eighth anniversary of her father’s death. He was an immigrant who lacked insurance coverage. She opposed the proposal.
“This is a direct attack on our immigrants and our public health, and this issue is so personal to me because my dad died because he didn't get the health care that he needed,” Do said. “Instead of being with my family, instead of being able to mourn his death and his life, I'm at the state Capitol advocating for my community.” He ended his thought by labeling the agreement with a derogatory term.
Rep. Cedrick Frazier, a DFLer who is part of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, stood with members of that group shortly after the agreement was announced.
“We cannot vote for that. We are not ready to accept that, for our neighbors, for our friends, for our families,” he said. “We all stand here saying we are not ready to accept that right now, and we will continue to work through how we can move to something different.”
House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman’s voice was breaking with emotion as she addressed the pushback to the agreement on immigrant coverage.
“We go into that eyes wide open that this will change peoples’ lives, in some cases substantially for the worse. But it is a compromise,” Hortman said. “Under the compromise, we will be funding state government in the state of Minnesota. State government is finite and we make these choices.”
Without a new budget, a shutdown could occur starting in July.
It’s possible the health bill that makes the change could get through on the strength of Republican votes, but GOP members weren’t exactly ready to commit to that.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson said compromise is essential in a closely split Legislature — 101 DFLers and 100 Republicans in total.
He said the immigrant coverage is “one of those things that there’s been some compromise on. You saw the compassionate side of it too, with continuing on with the children’s care and that, which I think was a piece that most Minnesotans, can get behind,” he said.
But this could all shift a bit as bills move through their final stages.
Another point of friction is still in flux: It’s about unemployment benefits for hourly school workers. The House will vote on a plan to end those in a few years — something Republicans have pushed for — but the phaseout might not survive final deliberations.
Conference committees are expected to work to finish as much as possible by the May 19 adjournment deadline, although leaders say at least one day of special session is likely.
Hortman said a pre-Memorial Day finish is preferred. Johnson concurred.
“Perhaps, I’m being too Pollyannaish, but I’m very hopeful that we can get this done,” he said.
Lawmakers did get to one more agreement Friday that should hold. They decided that the 2026 session won’t begin until Feb. 17.
