Advocates are at the State Capitol today calling on lawmakers to preserve a provider tax on healthcare. Governor Tim Walz says he doesn’t question that Republicans want people to have healthcare but said, “what I do question is if you cannot put forward a plan as solid as the healthcare access fund, and your only argument is we need to repeal this and say no, that is not a plan, that will hurt Minnesotans and I guarantee you that will never cross my desk.” The governor implored Republicans ” don’t blow this up, don’t send 43% of our children into the limbo of what happens if they don’t have healthcare, don’t jeopardize the care of 1.1 million Minnesotans and don’t blow a $1 billion hole in our budget simply for the sake of ideology.” The governor wants to extend a tax on health care providers which expires at the end of the year, so the state-run MinnesotaCare health insurance program can continue or even expand. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says the governor “wants to raise health care costs on every single Minnesotan” and that Walz’s plans would “cause individual market rates to skyrocket.” Here are the governor’s comments from today’s rally.