Will legislators finish budget? Will it fall apart instead?

It was the worst of times. It was the best of times. Since it's Minnesota, that's fairly typical for May during odd-numbered ye0rs. Thursday morning, GOP and DFL legislators joined Gov. Walz in announcing that they'd reached a compromise on Minnesota's budget targets. These were supposed to have been finished a month ago. Thanks to the House DFL refusing to work during the first 3 weeks of the session, we're unquestionably heading for a special session and quite possibly for a government shutdown.

While the businesslike press conference was happening, Senate DFL lawmakers did their best to unravel the agreement. They chanted "One Minnesota, right?) Corin Hoggard's report says "Legislative leaders from both parties reached an agreement with Gov. Tim Walz on a budget for Minnesota for the next two years. As they announced the deal, progressive legislators interrupted by knocking on the door and chanting 'One Minnesota, right?' They're upset about one of many compromises -- a provision ending MN Care coverage for adult undocumented immigrants."

That's just the first step in the budget process. The next step requires revisors to translate these targets into legislative language. That's relatively easy with some omnibus bills while others -- think the HHS Omnibus Bill -- are often 1,000+ pages long and exceptionally complex. It's physically impossible for the budget to get finishedby Monday night at midnight. After putting these targets into legislative language, the House, then the Senate, must pass these bills. If there are any differences beween the House and Senate bills (and there's always differences between the House and Senate), the bill goes to a conference commiittee where the differences are ironed out. Then the conmference committee report is sent back to the House and Senate for ratification.

Check this out:

Then check out the POCI Caucus's reaction to the compromises:

Co-Chair of the Minnesota House People of Color and Indigenous Caucus Cedric Frazier (DFL-New Hope) spoke about not wanting to lose the progress made over the last two years, saying "We're talking about tens of thousands of individuals that will be taken off that will lose access to healthcare at the end of this calendar year. What that means is that we've got individuals who are currently receiving cancer treatment, that are currently receiving dialysis care, those individuals will lose access to that care. That means we will lose some of those individuals."

Minnesota State Sentaor Alice Mann (DFL- Bloominton) then spoke about the impact cutting healthcare for undocumented migrants would have. "There is no fiscal responsibility when you do this," Mann said. "When you take away people's healthcare, they end up in the emergency department, it costs money for everyone in the community […] So what we have is a party who is willing to take insulin away from diabetics, inhalers from people with asthma, cancer treatment from people who just want a few more years with their children. All for political points."

I'm willing to offer a solution to this situation. Let's download the CBP Home app for these illegal aliens, then let them sellf deport. Problem solved. And it's fiscally responsible.

Tim Walz and the DFL sat on their hands for 23 days. Then they pushed hard for hand-outs for illegal aliens. They pushed hard for free tuition and free health care for illegal aliens. And yes, they're illegal aliens, not undocumented immigrants. They entered the country illegally. They're hiding out in a sanctuary state, too. It isn't my responsibility to give them tons of stuff that taxpayers have to pay for. I don't hate illegal aliens. I just don't want to pay for their 'free' stuff.