Dear Neighbor,
Please join me for a town hall meeting I will host at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 12 at the LaGrande Town Hall located between Garfield and Alexandria (501 Town Hall Rd. NW). It will be an informal gathering where we can talk about legislative issues as we meet the midpoint of the 2014 session. No RSVP is necessary.
One thing we could talk about is the supplemental budget bill which passed the House Thursday. In a nutshell: It spends $1.2 billion through 2017, including everything from $442 million for MNsure to $150,000 per year to investigate and compensate anyone who owns bees killed by others’ pesticides. It was called the Garbage Bill by some for its wide range and referred to as the Bailout Bill by others for its putting more money into the struggling MNsure program.
A highly concerning aspect of this bill is its “tails,” the money it puts us on the hook for in the future without accounting for now. We are still working toward full recovery from the recession and I do not want to see our government overextend. Keep in mind last year’s budget already increased spending by unprecedented levels and this bill adds to that.
I plan to address this issue more deeply in an upcoming newspaper column. Check the papers for more and I hope to see you at the April 12 town hall meeting.
Sincerely,
Paul