Minnesota Budget Bites

The May budget projection will guide the decisions that policymakers make in the remaining weeks of the legislative session, and the months beyond. They remind us of how many of our neighbors are struggling, and the importance of taking swift action to reduce the hardships that Minnesotans and their families are facing as a result of the pandemic, and to start building for the economic recovery.

While they have taken some preliminary steps, federal decision-makers should further boost the Medicaid dollars it sends to states, make that increase last until the economy recovers, and maintain strong requirements to protect health care coverage.

Minnesotans are doing their part. We must be able to count on Minnesota policymakers to continue to take aggressive action to meet the public health and economic security needs of everyday Minnesotans, and to draw on the resources needed to do so.

Excluding immigrant Minnesotans – who make up close to 9 percent of our state’s population – puts them and their families at risk, and it makes it more difficult for our state and communities to recover from this public health crisis.