Dear Neighbor,
A little more than 80 hours remain before the Legislature is set to adjourn and the Democrat majorities still have not produced a complete budget for the next two year.
It is ridiculous how Democrats – with full control of the Legislature and the governor’s office – are running right up to the deadline … and even risk blowing it.
We will be working through the weekend in an attempt to wrap up business on time. Still, a good chunk of Saturday apparently will be spent discussing a bill that would unionize day care providers and personal care attendants. The Senate spent an incredible 17 hours debating that bill on its floor this week.
Parents don’t want a day care union and a recent KSTP survey shows 86 percent of licensed providers themselves don’t want to unionize. Editorial boards from both the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press recently wrote editorials condemning this push. The only people who seem to want a day care union are union bosses, the governor and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature.
At this point, the only way Democrats can pass a complete budget on time is by shutting down discussion to ram bills through the floor. This is a product of the Democrats putting divisive social issues (same-sex marriage and gun laws), increased regulations on employers (minimum wage), pay raises for legislators and constitutional amendments ahead of budget work.
The result? Everyone will pay more for the wasteful spending in whatever budget Democrats cobble together at the last minute behind closed doors.
It will be interesting to see what shakes out when the tax bill gets to the floor. Last night, we received word the governor and legislative Democrats have reached an agreement on a tax plan. Their proposal would increase our taxes by $2 billion. It would give Minnesota the nation’s fourth-highest top income tax bracket (9.85%), raise taxes on cigarettes by $1.60 per pack and more.
Apparently the business-to-business tax the governor abandoned after receiving significant backlash has returned from the dead and is in the bill. This will increase costs for businesses across our state, resulting in higher prices for consumers.
I will provide more information after we have time to sort through the details of the tax bill and get a look at the complete budget … whenever the Democrats make those bills available.
Sincerely,
Tom