Minnesota House DFL'ers and Republicans clearing the first hurdle in working together under this year's power-sharing agreement.
The two sides have agreed on a budget framework to guide spending decisions and ultimately produce a new budget that is required by the end of this session.
"Now going forward, in the House and in the global budget negotiations it's really important that we leave our ideological battles to the side and we focus on completing a state budget for the people of Minnesota that is the job of this session," DFL House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (Brooklyn Park) explains. "If we can do that, we can complete our work on time and that's what Minnesotans expect of us."
The agreement calls for a reduction in state spending of more than $1 billion.
DFL Representative Zack Stephenson (Coon Rapids) says negotiators were disciplined on focusing on the numbers.
"We set aside the ideological battles over policy and efforts to revisit past debates and really focused on getting a budget done," Stephenson says.
The framework, along with Governor Walz's priorities, will guide lawmakers' spending decisions for the rest of the session.
Earlier this month state budget officials released an updated economic forecast showing a smaller than anticipated surplus for the next two years, and a projected deficit of $6 billion in the 2028-29 biennium.
