FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Paul, MN — The release of the State of Minnesota’s February Budget and Economic Forecast provides a tool for policymakers and the public to understand the state’s current and future budget and economic landscape. It provides an important but incomplete picture that will inform the governor and legislators as they act to respond to sweeping federal changes and their impact on the state’s budget, economy, and people.
As they do so, we call on state policymakers to:
- Take bold action to prioritize and protect Minnesotans’ health and economic well-being;
- Ensure Minnesotans can access health care, food support, and other public services, regardless of their immigration status or other identities or circumstances beyond their control; and
- Raise revenues, especially from those with the most resources, in order to replace lost federal funding, protect crucial services, and sustainably meet Minnesotans’ needs.
Minnesotans are facing ongoing challenges with rising costs and economic uncertainty, and the harm from the ICE Operation Metro Surge. The state needs to step up for Minnesotans that the federal government would leave behind, and to meet needs that are not reflected in these forecast figures.
Since July, we’ve been making the case that Minnesota policymakers must protect and expand critical public services as the state responds to H.R. 1, which provided large tax cuts to high-income households while doing little to address the challenges of everyday Minnesotans trying to get by.
Nonprofit organizations, local governments, and Minnesotans across the state are bracing for the full impact of federal funding cuts and harmful policy changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) passed in the federal budget reconciliation bill (HR 1), as well as the potential harms from ongoing federal attacks on funding for child care, health care, and other services that Minnesotans count on to stay safe or keep their families together.
The Minnesota Budget Project is calling for a sensible approach to prevent increased hardship across the state in the aftermath of these unprecedented federal actions, the threats of substantial additional federal funding reductions, and the need to put our state on a path to be raising enough revenues to sustainably fund public services in the long run.