Minnesota Senate GOP unveils legislative agenda

Published: Jan. 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM CST
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

ST. PAUL, Minn. (GRAY) – Minnesota Senate Republicans will once again be the minority party as early as next week. DFL Senator-elect Doron Clark will join the Senate, breaking a temporary tie that kicked off the legislative session in the Senate.

The outlook didn’t deter Republicans from unveiling a comprehensive legislative agenda on Thursday.

“[Our priorities include] balancing the budget without tax increases, demanding accountability for agencies to stop waste, fraud and abuse, and putting families first by reducing mandates and lowering costs,” Caucus Leader Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) said.

Many of the priorities presented aren’t new for the Senate GOP.

Tax policy has taken center stage for the party before, but some legislation, like a tax on tips, is new for the party.

“We need to be repealing our taxes like the gas tax inflator, getting rid of the tax on tips, and creating a government efficiency board,” Senator Karin Housley (R-Stillwater) said.

It’s unlikely some of their most ambitious policies will get traction with the DFL.

One area where the two parties have found some common ground, however, is fraud. There’s a difference in approach to the issue, but DFLers have put forth their own proposals to tackle fraud.

“I’m a co-author on [DFL] Senator [Heather] Gustafson’s Office of Inspector General Bill, and I look forward to working with her in a bipartisan manner to get our waste, fraud, and abuse under control,” Senator Michael Kruen (R-Blaine) said.

Party Leader Mark Johnson says he’s optimistic that a power-sharing framework to start the year has set the stage for working across party lines. Since the start of the session, a power-sharing framework has yielded two Senate presidents, shared committee leadership, and no clear majority leader on the Senate Floor.

Johnson says the agreement needs to be broken by a majority to go away.

“Our agreement requires 34 votes to break that agreement,” Johnson said. “The bipartisanship that you’ve been seeing in committees and on the floor and in leadership, that’s all wrapped up in that agreement. I’m hopeful that we can continue that going forward.”

DFL Senate Leader Erin Murphy said earlier this week that the agreement was “temporary by nature,” indicating that the party intends to end the agreement once they have 34 members.

Murphy also issued a statement about the GOP’s press conference Thursday, calling them out for not addressing Trump’s federal spending freeze:

“My Republican colleagues are clearly uncomfortable talking about the threat Donald Trump’s reckless funding freeze poses to Minnesota’s budget, as seen by numerous public statements downplaying or denying the impact these cruel, severe, arbitrary cuts would have in our state and communities,” Murphy said. “Minnesota Republicans claim authority on responsible budgeting and government accountability but have nothing to say about a president who fires inspectors general and attempts to slash the federal budget overnight. If Republicans want to make wise decisions with our budget surplus and prevent a deficit, they can start by condemning the Trump administration’s attempt to force Minnesota, and millions of its people, into a state of emergency.”