Accessibility menu
State Representative John Lesch
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4224
For more information contact: Nick Halter 651-297-1934
Press/News Releases
STATE REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LESCH STATEMENT ON FEBRUARY BUDGET FORECAST
The Minnesota Office of Management and Budget released their February forecast today. The projections show that Minnesota has a $994 million deficit for the remainder of the biennium. In November the deficit stood at $1.2 billion. The state was able to lower its deficit through a combination of higher collected revenue ($25 million) and lower spending ($184 million). But the long term budget deficit remains severe. The next biennium has a projected deficit of $5.7 billion.
These figures were released at the same time as a Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) January report on job growth. It showed that Minnesota added 15,600 jobs in the month of January.
State Representative John Lesch issued the following statement after the budget announcement and jobs report:
“I’m happy to see more Minnesotans are getting back to work and that our short-term deficit has shrunk. Eight of 11 sectors in our economy witnessed job growth in the past month which meant over 15,000 people got a paycheck. But we should remember that these numbers only show one month."
“The fact remains that we face large deficits in our future because many people are still out of work. Without the revenue they generate our state can’t keep its budget in the black. This is why we should still be focused on boosting job growth. We’ve touched the bottom of job losses and now its time to grow again. ”
“We are currently waiting for the Governor’s approval on our bonding bill. This would provide over 20,000 private and public sector jobs. This bill can be partnered with job re-training to get our economy back to a position of strength. The economic data shows that once the economy returns, construction and manufacturing jobs will be fewer. So it’s important that we build a strong job re-training program to prepare our workers for the 21st century.”
“While we’ve spotted daylight we’re not out of the woods yet. This is the perfect time to provide a push to our economy to ensure a full recovery.”
News Items
- Rep. Lesch, Senator John Marty and Revenue Commissioner Frans to talk tax reform with area residents at St. Paul town hall meeting - (Posted: 2012-12-12 00:00:00)
- Rep. Lesch Named Chair of the House Civil Law Committee - (Posted: 2012-11-16 00:00:00)
- EARTH DAY A CHANCE FOR REFLECTION, ACTION - (Posted: 2012-04-17 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.