A measure designed to assist northeastern Minnesota iron workers who no longer have unemployment compensation has been approved in the Minnesota House. The legislation accomplishes two tasks as it provides an additional 26 weeks of unemployment benefits to laid off workers and also addresses Minnesota's unemployment insurance trust fund.
Minnesota's unemployment fund is financed through a tax on employers – many of which have 10 or fewer employees working for them. The fund currently has a balance of $1.6 billion.
This provision ensures the future solvency of the trust fund while decreasing the amount the small businesses will have to pay.
This bill provides relief for steelworkers and a boost for small businesses so they can reinvest and hire more people in all corners of Minnesota. This extension of unemployment insurance for idled Iron Range workers provides temporary assistance, bridging the gap until existing mines reopen and new mining projects come online to create long-lasting jobs that benefit Minnesota's Iron Range economy and our state as a whole.
This week I introduced legislation that will better fund organizations that help women in crisis, along with their children.
The proposal would ensure that Minnesota's Title X revenue would only be allocated to family planning organizations that do not perform abortions. The initiative is based on a similar proposal that is now law in Wisconsin.
Title X grants come from the federal government and are administered through the states to "family planning clinics."
To me, a family planning clinic should be exactly what the title insinuates: a group that helps a mother or a couple as they face a pregnancy and prepare to expand their family. Abortion directly contradicts the perceived goal of the family planning clinic.
In addition, many Minnesotans are opposed to taxpayer-funded abortions. If this federal funding is being sent to clinics that perform abortions – which is happening year after year – than it's clear that tax dollars are being used for this purpose.
There are many mothers out there who are truly in need, and my legislation seeks to help more of them by funding the organizations that are committed to the health and future well-being of these women and their soon-to-be-born children.
As always, I am interested in your feedback. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at Rep.Kathy.Lohmer@House.MN or contact my office at 651-296-4244. You can also send mail to my office address: 501 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.