Minnesota House Republicans announced a budget deal on April 1st that would cement in the Democrat's massive spending increases they implemented over the past two years. The House Republicans proposal actually spends more money than liberal Governor Tim Walz' proposed budget. And the Republicans budget overspends by $2.1 Billion, which suggests they plan to use surplus money to pay for their proposed heightened spending.

In the fiscal year 2022-23 biennium budget, total spending was only $52.1 Billion. But after Republicans suffered a massive defeat in the 2022 November elections, Democrats won a trifecta in the Minnesota government with control of the House, Senate and Governor's mansion. The Democrats stole a $20 Billion budget surplus from taxpayers and increased government spending by a whopping 36%, or $19 Billion. 

Here's a comparison of spending levels from the last two bienniums and the Walz and GOP proposals for the upcoming 2026-27 biennium, which shows Republicans' proposal keeps government in the DFL's new bloated government spending levels which is funding fraud and waste. 

When Republicans won back seats in last November's election, ending in a tied Minnesota House, they should've led the way and proposed shrinking government back down to the pre-DFL trifecta spending levels of $52.1 Billion. After all, they campaigned on how reckless Democrats were by growing government.

But yesterday Republicans announced they cut a "deal" with the Democrats a month and a half before the legislative session ends. That "deal" cements in $14.5 Billion of the new Democrat spending and only reduces base level spending (what was projected to be spent) for the upcoming FY 2026-27 biennium by a measly $1.16 Billion. Republicans are proposing to keep the bloated state government spending at an elevated spending level of $66.6 Billion.

(Source - https://www.house.mn.gov/hinfo/FinanceCommitteeTargets2025.pdf)

Surprisingly, Governor Tim Walz' proposed spending is nearly $300 million less than the Republicans, but like the House Republicans, also cements in the new DFL spending levels! 

(Source - https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/documents/budget/operating-budget/gov-rec/mar25/mar25-gov-gf-financial-summaries.pdf)

What's more concerning is that the Republican proposal would actually overspend by $2.1 Billion, since the projected revenues according to the latest budget forecast are only $64.5 Billion and the proposed spending by the House Republicans is $66.6 Billion. Instead of cutting spending by more, they are actually going to use the leftover surplus from the previous biennium to pay for their proposed inflated Democrat level spending. 

(Source - https://mn.gov/mmb/budget/state-budget-overview/current-estimates/)

The Republicans have NOT proposed returning the remaining surplus or the $3.2 Billion in budget reserves the government has confiscated from taxpayers for the last decade. Why is government holding onto our money in a rainy day fund when it could be put back into the pockets of Minnesota families struggling with high inflation?

No matter what way we look at this supposed deal, it does not look good. Why on earth our Republicans cutting deals with Democrats a month and a half before the end of the legislative session? I thought they were concerned about all the new DFL spending and fraud!!!

Here's a tweet from House Republicans in December of 2023 complaining about the Democrat's spending that they now just cemented in with their new "deal."

They are also giving up the one negotiating position they have with a tied Minnesota House. Republicans could, and should, refuse to vote for any budget that doesn't cut back from the increased spending of the DFL trifecta.

More importantly, they are missing an extremely popular chance of giving the largest tax cuts or rebate checks back to Minnesota taxpayers!

Republicans should embrace "The Conservative Budget" of $52.1 Billion in spending, and no rainy day reserve funds, that would free up $19.3 Billion to give back to taxpayers. With 2.5 million taxpayers in Minnesota, that's $7,720 back in your pocket!!!

While they cave to the Democrats, the MNGOP is gaslighting us about this deal. They want us to believe this is some kind of massive victory for conservatives. And for those of us who dare point out the problems with it, famed Team Red cheerleader and former fiscal conservative, Rep Walter Hudson, will gaslight us some more!

Summary

Minnesota House Republicans cemented in the inflated new Democrat spending levels which fund fraud and waste in our state government. Their proposed $66.6 Billion in spending exceeds the projected revenues of $64.5 Billion, so they are likely going to rob the budget surplus owed to you in order to pay for the Democrat level spending they agreed to. Meanwhile, they are missing an opportunity to take us back to pre-DFL trifecta budgets where $19.3 Billion would be freed up to give each taxpayer a $7,720 rebate check.