Governor Walz’s state human services commissioner, Tony Lourey, says the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate’s budget bill will cut funding more than a billion dollars over four years, with “far-reaching and devastating consequences.” G-O-P lawmakers are concerned about fraud in the Child Care Assistance Program and problems in other areas. Anoka Senator Jim Abeler says, “To add money to a system that we’re not confident about that it is providing the services in the right way, just doesn’t seem responsible.”
Abeler says he’s trying to “get the attention” of an agency that oversees about 37 billion dollars in spending, so that ongoing problems are fixed.