A Week of Political Movements and Touching Speeches
The political theatrics at the Minnesota Capitol ramped up last week as both the House Republican minority and the Senate DFL minority attempted to pressure their respective majority caucuses with aggressive floor activity. On Monday, March 7th, 2022, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R- Crown) lead an effort by House Republicans to suspend the House rules so that H.F. 4060, authored by Rep. Stephenson (DFL- Coon Rapids), could bypass committee and be immediately taken up on the House floor. The bill would impose a temporary moratorium on the gas tax from May 29th until September 6th. According to the House rules, Minority Leader Daudt’s motion needed a 2/3rds majority vote to succeed. After some intense discussion and political posturing, the motion failed on a 67-63.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen (DFL-Edina) made a similar motion to suspend the rules, this time to take up S.F. 3923. The bill, authored by Sen. Aric Putnam (DFL- St. Cloud), would replenish the unemployment insurance trust fund and authorize on-time payments to frontline workers. This was an attempt by the Senate DFL Caucus to link the frontline worker payments that were originally set to be distributed over the summer and fall, to the unemployment insurance repayment with its March 15, 2022, deadline. Again, the motion failed to receive the required a 2/3rds majority vote.
Not to be outdone, Minority Leader Daudt once again moved to suspend the rules on Thursday afternoon, this time to take up S.F. 2677. Authored by Sen. Eric Pratt (R- Prior Lake), S.F. 2677 would use federal COVID-19 relief dollars to pay down the outstanding unemployment insurance trust fund debt and restore the balance to approximately $1 billion. In his remarks, Rep. Daudt chided what he saw as a lack of urgency by the House DFL Caucus to address the unemployment insurance situation before the March 15th filing deadline. House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley) stated the House DFL had no interest in coming to the table on unemployment insurance unless Senate Republicans are willing to discuss frontline worker pay. The tax filing deadline for businesses is March 15th. If the unemployment insurance trust fund is not restored to at least $700 million by March 15th, businesses will see a 14% increase in payroll taxes, as well as the loss of federal tax credits. Again, the motion to suspend the rules failed to receive the requisite 2/3 vote.
A Tribute to a fellow Ranger
On Thursday, March 10th, Sen. Tom Bakk (I- Cook) presented S.F. 3310 on behalf of Sen. David Tomassoni (I- Chisholm). This bill would establish grants for ALS caregivers and appropriate funds dedicated to ALS research. Sen. Bakk dedicated his remarks to his longtime friend and fellow Iron Ranger David Tomassoni, who was diagnosed with ALS last year. Senators from both caucuses took turns sharing their fondest memories of the senator from Chisholm before unanimously passing the bill off the Senate floor.
More Unretirements?
The President of the Minnesota Senate, Sen. David Osmek (R-Mound) announced in late February that he would not seek re-election in his newly drawn Senate District 45. However, Sen. Osmek recently had a change of heart and announced last week that he will indeed be running for re-election; just not in his current district. Instead, Sen. Osmek will move into the neighboring Senate District 17 and take on Rep. Glenn Gruenhagan (R- Glencoe) who has already announced his intention to seek the open senate seat. The two elected officials will go head-to-head for the open senate seat in an area that has consistently voted Republican.
Federal Update
Omnibus Bill Passes
After five months of negotiations, the Senate cleared a massive spending bill for the new fiscal year late Thursday, March 10, 2022. The bill is headed to President Joe Biden's desk and will put an end to a frenzied stretch of negotiations in both chambers last week.
On a 68-31 vote, the Senate passed the 2,700-page, $1.5 trillion omnibus containing all 12 fiscal 2022 spending bills, $13.6 billion in supplemental appropriations to address the crisis in Ukraine and a lengthy list of unrelated measures fortunate enough to ride on the must-pass vehicle.
As Republicans sought, the omnibus allows for almost equal increases in defense and nondefense spending from last year’s levels, with a $46 billion or 6.7 percent boost for nondefense programs and a $42 billion, 5.6 percent increase in defense accounts. Democrats had sought roughly double that amount for nondefense programs.
Leaders in both parties spent hours Thursday negotiating with GOP senators, trying to reach an agreement on amendments they were seeking that would allow for a unanimous consent agreement to proceed to the bill quickly.
The House passed the mammoth omnibus with strong bipartisan support late Wednesday.
Additional Pandemic Aid in Jeopardy
Despite various GOP demands, it was relatively smooth sailing overall for the huge Omnibus package. Earlier in the day, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said the removal of $15.6 billion in new pandemic aid made it easier for more Republicans to support the measure. House leaders said they would take up separate legislation next week for the pandemic aid — without cutting the $7 billion from state governments. But the additional deficit spending assumed in that bill could sink its chances in the evenly divided Senate.
Please reach out to any of the Larkin Hoffman Government Relations team members with any questions.
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