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House DFL Leader Paul Thissen Statement on House GOP Bonding Bill

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

SAINT PAUL, MINN. – With less than a week remaining in the session, House Republicans finally posted their Capital Investment bill at 9:00 p.m. last evening. Despite repeated offers by House Democrats to work with House Republicans to craft a bipartisan bill, House Republicans put together the bonding bill behind closed doors and without any input from the House Democrats.



House DFL Leader Paul Thissen released the following statement:



“The right way to pass a bonding bill is to secure input from Minnesotans, work together to craft a bipartisan bill that balances priorities across the state, and to do so in a way that allows the public to participate. On each of these counts, the House Republicans have failed.



Everyone knows that a bonding bill requires votes from Republicans and Democrats, yet House Republicans have refused to work with Democrats to craft a bill. Instead, they have cobbled a bill together behind closed doors with just a few days left in the legislative session. Perhaps not surprisingly, the bill includes very few priorities for House DFL members and falls far short on needed statewide investments.



The lack of interest the House Republican Majority has shown in working together to pass a bonding bill is unusual. Democrats in the Minnesota House want to see a bonding bill passed that makes critical investments across the state and puts people to work, but it appears as though the Republican majority has no interest in actually passing a bill this session. If so, that would be truly unfortunate for Minnesotans who desperately want their legislators to work together to strengthen communities across the state."



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