Minnesota lawmakers confirm a special session is imminent on WCCO Sunday Mornings
Both Minnesota House Leaders Rep. Lisa Demuth and Rep. Melissa Hortman say the legislature will not meet Monday nights deadline and that a special session of the legislature will be needed to balance the state budget.
What's at stake is the issue of health insurance for undocumented immigrants, which is dividing the DFL party and threatens the entire budget agreement.
When legislative leaders and the governor announced the framework of a budget agreement last Thursday, protestors shouts could be heard from just outside the governor's reception room.
But those weren't just any protestors, they were progressive DFL legislators furious that the deal to balance the budget included ending free medical insurance or MNCare for undocumented adults.
Passed in 2023, the program went into effect this January and the initial numbers have soared. The original projection was that 5,700 undocumented residents would sign up, but so far this year more than 20,000 undocumented have signed up for MNCare.
The deal does keeps insurance coverage in place for undocumented children. GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m. and said, "The expanse and the extension of the amount that is being paid by Minnesota taxpayer has exploded. People that are here can get health care if they need it. This is just how its being paid for they can purchase health insurance on the private market if they choose to on their own."
DFL House Speaker Rep. Melissa Hortman is defending the deal, but with DFL defections likely can the deal survive?
The Minnesota House is tied 67-67 and the DFL has a one vote majority in the Senate. Hortman says other major programs passed in 2023 have survived in this budget agreement, including two of the biggest paid safe and sick time and paid family and medical leave — two sweeping programs that will affect almost all workers in the state including those who work part-time.
Hortman was also a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m. and said, "It was a demand by the GOP to settle the budget. We fought really hard. We were in a room about 12 hours a day together from about April 30 to May 14 with the Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and Governor and me fighting really hard to preserve this health care."
Under state law the legislature must pass a balanced budget by the end of the legislative session. If they don't they will have to go into special session — the drop dead date is June 30.
If no budget agreement is reached by then the state government will enter a government shutdown. That has not happened since 2011. With the slimmest of margins in both the Minnesota House and Senate it remains to be seen if the existing budget framework and its cut to adult undocumented health insurance can survive.
