SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Today, Minnesota Management and Budget released the November Economic Forecast, showing a projected balance of $1.332 billion for the current biennium. While the forecast does show a balance, it includes inflation on the revenue side, and excludes it on the spending side in several key areas. Estimated inflation will lead to deficits in fiscal years 2022-23.
“Today’s budget forecast shows challenges for Minnesota, including deficits in future years,” said House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “These deficits undermine our ability to provide good schools, good roads, and good health care for Minnesotans. Worse, this surplus story is fiction, because it does not count the increased costs of providing these core services. We need to continue supporting working families and build a more prosperous future for all Minnesotans. House DFL priorities are the same as those of Minnesotans: affordable health care, excellent schools, next-generation infrastructure, and safe communities for all of us.”
“We can’t forget today’s budget balance ignores inflation,” said Assistant Senate DFL Leader Susan Kent. “Without thoughtful investments in what Minnesotans deserve, we’ll jeopardize the things DFLers have worked so hard to build. We must make smart investments in health care, education, and working families to move forward and ensure a better Minnesota for all of us.”
On April 11, we recorded a special edition of the Call of the Senate podcast featuring Senate DFL leadership. DFL leaders in the Minnesota Senate came together today to ask Senate Republicans to work across the aisle on shared priorities like supporting students, increasing access to health care, and ensuring safe and fair workplaces for all Minnesotans. In one of only two divided legislatures in the United States, bills for statewide progress have been refused public hearings in the Republican-controlled state Senate.
