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State Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2439
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
LET’S PROVIDE AID, WHERE AID IS NEEDED
By Tom Hackbarth
State Representative
The Governor has called us into a special session to provide a flood relief package for southeastern Minnesota. That area is in definite need of relief funds. Numerous businesses, houses, roads, and bridges were wiped out in the torrential rain fall in August. Special sessions are called to deal with emergencies that occur when the Legislature is not in regular session and this certainly qualifies. I fully support providing relief for our fellow Minnesotan’s.
I am extremely disappointed at how poorly run the House chamber was run during the special session. We were supposed to convene at 5:00 pm, but the Democrats who are in charge did not do so until 5:15. By 5:30 we had recessed for a dinner break for what we were told would be an hour or hour and half long. Many members sat at their desk in the chamber from 6:30 until 11:15 waiting for the House to reconvene. In what would have been plenty of time, over 6 hours, to pass a relief package and go home to our families we sat waiting around, twiddling our thumbs. Talk about the government inefficiency and waste with the Democrats in control.
During all this time many rumors and news reports circulated about what the big hold up was. The most heard reason, reported by the media, was that the Democrats were having the tax bill prepared to pass once again. This being the same bill that they passed at the end of the regular session and the Governor vetoed shortly after. Passing a tax bill was not in the agreement the Democrats made with the Governor. The tax bill would have greatly expanded the scope of the special session. The Democrats tried to use a real disaster that affected thousands of Minnesotan’s to further their own political shenanigans.
What was supposed to be a one day special session quickly turned into a three-ring circus. The same people who could not control themselves in the regular session by proposing over $5 billion in new tax increases tried to do the same thing in a special session. Many of the Democrats have said we should come back for a few more days and work on other problems.
In fact, Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL – Minneapolis) offered a motion to have us reconvene on October 11 to deal with problems like education, transportation, and the tax bill. The issues that the Democrats on May 22 told us were taken care of on time without the need for a special session were the same issues the Democrats now were saying needed to be addressed in a special session. Because the Governor is the only one who can call a special session, the Democrats wanted to keep power in their hands and not adjourn the special session. However, after realizing this grab for power would not be passed, Rep. Kahn withdrew her motion.
What was supposed to be and could have been a short, two hour session to help out disaster victims turned into a large food fight with democrats screaming we need more time to do more work. I am baffled at how the Democrats can take a straight disaster relief bill, which was drafted before the special session started, and screw it up so badly they thought they needed to offer a tax bill, and the numerous other bills there members want.
It is clear the Democrats in Minnesota are more concerned with their own political desires than the need to provide a meaningful relief package to our flood victims.
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