St. Paul, Minn. - Following a long debate, including on 70 amendments, the Minnesota House last night passed a sweeping supplemental budget bill containing health and human services, public safety, and state government finance provisions. Despite a $900 million state budget surplus, the bill brought by the House GOP majority was full of cuts and shifts while ignoring many significant needs, including mental health care, the cost of child care and state cyber security, to name a few.
State Rep. Jennifer Schultz (DFL – Duluth) released the following statement:
“This bill is more of the same of what we have come to expect from the House Republicans this session. I served on the bipartisan Health Care Finance Task Force, and after a great deal of work we came up with 33 recommendations to address disparities, increase access and improve the quality of health care of Minnesotans. Not a single one of these recommendations was included in this bill. Not only didn’t the GOP adopt any of the recommendations, in fact they again moved to eliminate funds for MNsure – which completely contradicts the report of the task force – to operate and achieve economies of scale for eligibility and enrollment in public health programs. The bill also harshly attacks women’s health care options by establishing regulations that will close women’s health clinics, and thus reduce access to reproductive health care. This impact will be felt most in Greater Minnesota and in Duluth.
“While the House Majority is more interested in delivering political talking points, I’m more interested in delivering on critical needs for the state of Minnesota. With a few weeks left in the session, I hope we can get to work on prioritizing those.”
Rep. Schultz serves on the Health and Human Services Reform and State Government Finance Committees in the Minnesota House. She can be reached by email at rep.jennifer.schultz@house.mn or phone at 651-296-2228.