Category: State Issues
Poverty isn’t a lack of character; it’s a lack of cash
The following TED talk by Rutger Bregman was filed April, 2017:
Republicans the leading force behind nonsensical cuts
The following commentary by Rep. Linda Slocum was posted on the Sun-Current website May 20, 2017:
To the Editor:
In response to a recent letter by Metropolitan Council Member Steve Elkins (“Legislature’s transit cuts would be dangerous”), I write to provide a critically important clarification.
Mr. Elkins is right that the transportation budget that passed out of the House would cause draconian cuts to transit, amounting to a 40 percent reduction in basic bus service and thrusting thousands more cars onto our traffic-jammed streets. Continue reading “Republicans the leading force behind nonsensical cuts”
DFL Chairman Ken Martin’s Statement on the Passing of Former DFL Chairwoman
“The DFL was very sad to learn of the passing of former DFL Chairwoman Koryne Horbal yesterday evening. Koryne was a giant in the DFL having founded the DFL Feminist Caucus in 1973 and later serving as a United States Representative on the Commission on the Status of Women of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
“Koryne mentored many young women thinking about running for office long before there was an Emily’s List or womenwinning. She was a passionate advocate for Equal Rights and for reproductive rights who never stopped fighting for the women in our society. Continue reading “DFL Chairman Ken Martin’s Statement on the Passing of Former DFL Chairwoman”
Losing federal transit funds would be a shame
The following commentary by Peter Dorsen was printed in the Eden Prairie News May 18, 2017:
I truly recognized why I was not a Republican when I was appointed to the WHite House Commission on Aging by former Sen. David Durenberger. They advocated discontinuing Meals on Wheels for us seniors. I quit.
Equally reprehensible in a different way is the GOP-endorsed transportation bill that contains cuts in funding to Metro Transit for the Southwest Light Rail Transit. All I know is now way I’m heading into Minneapolis except in a comfortable seat on a Southwest Transit bus with a friendly driver and WiFi. I confess, whoever, I love trains. Continue reading “Losing federal transit funds would be a shame”
Senator Steve Cwodzinski on Teacher Licensure
What happened to making child care affordable?
The following commentary by Rep. Peggy Flanagan was posted on the MinnPost website May 11, 2017:
As you read this, there are 4,997 families in Minnesota on a waiting list to access affordable child care. While they wait, often for years at a time, the very child-care facilities where they want to send their kids are hanging on by a thread as they struggle to keep their doors open.
We have an affordable-child-care crisis on our hands in Minnesota. And this was the year we were supposed to do something about it. Instead, Republicans in the state legislature are not only failing to move forward with a bipartisan plan to expand affordable child-care opportunities; they are actually making the problem even worse. Continue reading “What happened to making child care affordable?”
Senate DFL Week In Review: May 12, 2017
Last Friday, a group of Senate DFL legislators accepted an offer from a local St. Paul school principal to take a tour of his school, and learn how the current education budget bill proposal will lead to severe cuts to services at his school, Maxfield Elementary.
Principal Ryan Vernosh shared stories about the challenges his students face, including the fact that some 30% of the students who attend Maxfield have experienced homelessness this year. The St. Paul Promise Neighborhood School has made leaps and bounds over the past few years, but Vernosh explained to legislators that budget cuts are forthcoming if the current Republican education proposal is passed into law. Continue reading “Senate DFL Week In Review: May 12, 2017”
Who is the Republican-Controlled Legislature Working For?
Is that Republican agenda working for you, fellow citizens?
Call me a slow learner. It was finally after reading about another rollback of current policy by the Legislature that I figured it out. The notion has been rolling around in my head for an embarrassingly long time without the words to define it, but now I have the words. Those in power at the Legislature this year are not promoting a Minnesota agenda. It’s a Republican agenda. Good for the state? Who cares? Good for Republicans? Pass it any way you can.
I’m furious at the attempts to roll back environmental rules, reduce clean air and water protections, remove voter-protection policies, refuse to protect internet privacy — the list could go on and on. I wasn’t born in Minnesota, but I have lived here since 1966. I value the quality of life that Minnesotans — old and new — value and are proud of. I love our lakes, clean air (I came from California, where in 1966 you really could see the air you had to breathe at the end of the block), our clean election system and campaign-finance rules, and our desire to care for the least among us. I love a lot of other things as well. But I don’t love the Republican agenda. Going back to the days of robber barons and “Father Knows Best” doesn’t work for me. I want progress, advancement, a rising tide lifting all boats. Nope. The Republican agenda doesn’t work for me, and it doesn’t work for Minnesota.
Judy Finger, Apple Valley
Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 6, 2017
Senate DFL Week in Review: May 5, 2017
WEEK SEVENTEEN: May 5, 2017
Budget negotiations likely to be tense from the start
With just over two weeks left to negotiate a more than $40 billion budget for the next two years, there is a wide gulf between House and Senate Republicans and DFLers. Caucus leaders from both parties met behind closed doors with Governor Dayton this week to outline a framework to begin budget negotiations. Continue reading “Senate DFL Week in Review: May 5, 2017”