SAINT PAUL, MN—Today, the House GOP capital investment “bonding” bill failed to receive a supermajority required to pass the House. 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 Democrats.
Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-Saint Paul) released the following statement:
“The bill that failed today was the most partisan bonding bill I’ve seen in 18 years in the legislature. Bonding bills are meant to create jobs and invest in Minnesota communities. This bill was created without the input of a single Democrat and solely for partisan politics. It’s rare that I’m proud to vote against a bill, but this was one of those cases. We have the capacity to bond for $3.5 billion dollars, yet Republicans set an arbitrary cap of $800 million. They skipped over needed projects at our colleges and universities, rail crossings, bridges and other high priority projects in Democratic districts, simply to choose projects in Republican districts. We’re down to the point where we’re counting the hours left in the legislative session, and choosing to waste time on a bill everyone knew would fail demonstrates that Republicans are incapable of governing.”
Rep. Tim Mahoney is the DFL Minority Lead on the House Committee on Jobs and Economic Development.
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