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State Representative Paul Thissen
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5375
For more information contact: Carrie Lucking 651-296-4169
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MINNESOTA PRIORITIES FOR MINNESOTA'S FUTURE Floor speech on Governor Dayton's budget by Minority Leader Thissen
The GOP has the wrong priorities - job-killing, economic recovery-crippling priorities. In order to protect the special interests and richest Minnesotans, the GOP is willing to set our state and the things we care about back dramatically.
We face challenging times, and everyone agrees that we need to make difficult choices and cut spending, but Minnesotans also believe strongly in shared responsibility and broad prosperity. What responsibility will the richest 2% of Minnesotans take for the budget deficit if the GOP gets its way?
None.
Yet middle class families will feel the squeeze of the GOP budget. They will pay more and get a lot less under the GOP budget. They will pay more to commute on the bus from Eagan to the city, or get less by sitting in longer traffic jams. They will pay more for their kids to go to college, and their kids will get fewer course offerings and fewer opportunities to succeed. Hard working families will pay more school fees for things like sports and debate, and get less individual attention for their children in overcrowded classrooms.
There is no shared responsibility in the GOP budget because of GOP misplaced priorities. The GOP asks all of us hard-working Minnesotans to bear far more of the budget balancing and lets the richest Minnesotans who have see big tax breaks over the past 10 years pay not a single penny. The GOP asks a lot of all of us who are contributing to the economic recovery, but asks the special interests and big corporations that ship Minnesota jobs overseas to do nothing.
The GOP budget priority example can be summed up like this. The Republicans are slashing support for innovation, growing small businesses, and start up companies while protecting tax breaks for big corporations. Minnesota may have the next Google starting in a garage in St. Cloud or Crookston or Grand Rapids, or Rochester; but the GOP budget makes it virtually impossible for that business to grow. The GOP kills small businesses with higher property taxes, and cuts innovation grants and technical assistance. Maybe that is why local Chambers of Commerce are speaking out against the GOP budget.
And in order to protect the very richest few, the GOP is kicking 125,000 Minnesotans off of health care. Not only is this the wrong priority for our state, but it also means that all of us who have health insurance will pay higher premiums. This is just wrong.
The question that all of us should be asking ourselves - and that Minnesotans should ask - is do we want a budget that protects our fragile economic recovery by asking something of all Minnesotans or do we want a budget that lays waste to our state by furthering the middle class squeeze?
The state economist has already answered the question. He says that a balanced, fair approach where the richest Minnesotans pay their fair share is the best way to protect our fragile economic recovery.
We have the opportunity to get the job done for the people of Minnesota by negotiating a fair deal – not planting our feet firmly in cement. We owe Minnesotans that fair deal – a deal where everyone takes a fair responsibility.
If we want our economy to recover, we need to protect middle class pocket books, not raid them. We need to keep property taxes down. If we want our economy to recover we need to grow small businesses that create jobs, not kill them. If we want our economy to recover, we need to create jobs not kill them.
Our priority is a fair deal for the people of Minnesota where they get more and pay less far outweighs an unfair GOP plan that protects the special interests and richest Minnesotans but makes the rest of us pay more and get less.
The GOP priority is to side with special interests and the richest Minnesotans.
The GOP priority is historic cuts to higher education, the economic engine of this state.
The GOP priority is cutting our children’s classrooms.
The GOP priority is a refusal to invest in our youngest learners.
The GOP priority is increased taxes on small businesses.
The GOP priority is thousands upon thousands of layoffs.
The DFL stands with the middle class for broad prosperity.
Today, we stand for fairness.
Today, we stand for jobs.
Today, we stand for lower property taxes.
Today, we stand with police, firefighters, teachers, and nurses.
Today, we stand for broad prosperity.
Today, we stand with Minnesotans and their priorities.
And today, the GOP stands with the special interests against everyday Minnesotans, plain and simple.
News Items
- Speaker Thissen to Establish Select Committee on Controlled Substances and Synthetic Drugs - (Posted: May 29 2013 1:15PM)
- Minnesota House Finishes 2013 Session with Balanced Budget, Historic Investments in Education, Job Creation, Property Tax Relief - (Posted: May 21 2013 12:44AM)
- Governor Mark Dayton & DFL Legislators Hold Invest in Education “Pep Rally” with Minnesota teachers, parents and students - (Posted: Apr 21 2013 4:21PM)
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