Minnesota Senate Republicans have added 350 million dollars to their one-billion-dollar bonding proposal in hopes that a bill which failed last month will get enough votes in this special session. Saint Paul Democrat Sandy Pappas says even at 1.35 billion dollars, “It’s still gonna be hard to take care of all the needs of our state facilities.” Rochester Republican Dave Senjem responds, “Obviously there’s differences. There’s differences in some respects because we’re different political parties. But it’s our job to come together…, to reconcile with our opposite party in the House and to try to make this work.” At the end of the regular session last month, Democrats’ two-billion-dollar bonding bill failed in the Minnesota House because Republicans said it was too large.
One additional wrinkle: House G-O-P Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says it’s “very unlikely” House Republicans will supply the necessary votes to pass a bonding bill unless Governor Tim Walz is willing to talk about relinquishing his COVID emergency powers.