St. Paul – Yesterday, House Democrats rolled out their budget resolution for the 2022 legislative session. In their resolution, Democrats would add $7.36 billion to the already $51.7 billion two-year budget that was approved in June of 2021 – which was a 10% increase over the previous two-year budget period. That $51.7 billion budget fully funded state government through June of 2023. However, this additional spending would increase Minnesota’s state budget to roughly $59 billion.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (Republican-Mazeppa) offered his reaction:
“This Democrat budget resolution is a slap in the face to working Minnesotans,” said Rep. Drazkowski. “Increasing spending by $7.36 billion is totally unnecessary and irrational. State government is already fully funded. Right now, people are watching their finances get ripped apart by inflation, and the Democrat response is to put together a bloated, thoughtless spending plan that will help no one. Absurd.”
The State of Minnesota also has a projected budget surplus of $9.2 billion. Additionally, state government has several cash accounts which would increase this surplus to nearly $12 billion.
Rep. Drazkowski continued, “State government has overtaxed hardworking citizens by over $12 billion. We should not be increasing spending by one dime. Instead, we need to take this record surplus and give it all back to the people by slashing state taxes. We need to be helping people, not spending their money against their will. However, Democrats will seemingly stop at nothing to find new, ridiculous ways to spend our money.”
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