Accessibility menu
State Representative Paul Thissen
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5375
For more information contact: Carrie Lucking 651-296-4169
Press/News Releases
ANOTHER POTHOLE ON THE ROAD TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY Floor Speech on House Omnibus Transportation Bill from Minority Leader Thissen
This bill is yet another pothole on Minnesota’s road to economic recovery. The problems with this proposal are illustrated in 2 prototype Minnesotans’ stories.
Jim is a commuter in Apple Valley. For 4 years, he’s been taking the commuter bus to his job in downtown Minneapolis. Under this bill, his ride will now cost $7 each way - $14 a day. Or worse, he will no longer be able to take the bus because under this proposal, 50% of the bus routes in the metro will be eliminated.
So either due to cost or a lack of availability, Jim will hit the highway, along with an additional 22,000 Minnesotans displaced from the bus or train – clogging our roads, sitting in longer and longer traffic jams, and stalling out our economic recovery statewide.
The other story is Evelyn’s. As a senior, she depends on a weekly bus ride in Mankato to get groceries and pick up her prescriptions. Unfortunately for Evelyn, and every single senior citizen in greater Minnesota, she will be stuck at the bus stop with no way to get what she needs to survive as a result of this bill.
Throughout Minnesota, there are thousands upon thousands of Evelyns and Jims that will be left on the side of the road to economic recovery. And even more Minnesotans will be stuck with crumbling roads, which not only slows down their commute, but also slows down the movement of needed goods statewide.
All week, we are going to hear budget proposals that put our economy in reverse – revisiting policies that have failed hard-working middle class people like Jim and so many like him. In order to insure that the richest Minnesotans don’t have to pay a single cent, people like Jim will be asked to pay dollars more per day.
Our economy – and our state budget – needs to work for working people again. The road to economic recovery has been long, and this bill is nothing but a detour away from success.
News Items
- DFL Leaders Eager to Confront Minnesota’s Challenges with Focus on Economy and Middle Class - (Posted: Jan 9 2013 2:21PM)
- State Representative John Persell appointed Majority Whip - (Posted: Dec 21 2012 1:11PM)
- Speaker-designate Thissen to Establish Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs - (Posted: 2012-12-19 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.