ST. PAUL, MN – On Tuesday, House Democrats approved a state government finance package (SF2227) that grows government bureaucracy and increases government spending by over $101 million, nearly $21 million more than Governor Walz’s has proposed for the same agencies. The bill also includes an increase to the House budget that funds pay hikes approved earlier this year by the salary commission first established by a Democrat-approved constitutional amendment.
Democrats falsely accused Republicans of voting for legislative pay hikes last fall because of a vote to simply fund legislative operations at the same level as previous years. Notably, the Republican-approved budget did not increase the appropriation for the legislature, but Democrats attacked them for it anyway. The Democrat State Government bill increases funding for the House by $10.5 million—part of the same set of budget bills that cuts funding for nursing homes by $68 million.
“Tonight Democrats voted to fund legislator pay raises while cutting nursing homes in other parts of their budget,” said Rep. Tony Albright, R-Prior Lake, Republican Lead on the House State Government Finance Division. “This is a bloated, irresponsible bill—Minnesotans don’t want state government to continue growing at this unsustainable pace, especially without any effort to make government more efficient and effective.”
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