At town hall, Rep. Craig, DFLers push clear message: Hang on to what we’ve got

Toward the end of a town hall in Lakeville Monday night a question from Gregory in Cottage Grove stumped the panel that included Democratic Rep Angie Craig and six DFL state lawmakers What are selected of the the greater part exciting projects that are on the horizon for us right now in Minnesota For the only time in the hour-long session at Lakeville South High School Craig who represents Minnesota s nd Congressional District took a pass on a constituent s question Eventually Jamie Long the state House s DFL floor leader fielded the inquiry by discussing what the state Legislature can accomplish before its session ends in May A lot of the really big impactful things that we were able to get done last session we re not really going to have a repeat of that the next two years reported Long who represents a district within Minneapolis But we are trying really hard to protect the wins we ve had the last two years Long s answer distilled DFLers theme of the night This is the time to hold onto past legislative wins such as Medicaid expansion in the federal Affordable Care Act and a state increase in per-pupil spending for Minnesota students With Donald Trump as president and GOP control of Congress a vision of an exciting future for Democrats can wait We are joining with our members of Congress to do everything we can to push back on the chaos and destruction that is coming out of D C Long explained to a crowd of hundreds in the high school auditorium who for the the greater part part cheered their elected representatives remarks Attendees seemed to agree asking mostly about how to push back against federal cuts either proposed or enacted by Trump or the Elon Musk-helmed Department of Regime Efficiency DOGE Any mention of Musk s name reliably prompted a chorus of boos Lawmakers talked for majority of the night as a moderator read audience questions A perhaps implicit theme of the night was the political future of Craig a member of Congress since and the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee While Lakeville falls squarely into the representative s district of suburbs and rural areas southwest of the Twin Cities Craig also plans next week to hold town halls in Minnesota s four congressional districts represented by Republicans These town halls Craig declared will highlight that GOP lawmakers are not holding similar meetings Craig announced in an interview that a campaign fund would pay for townhalls outside her district Appealed if this meant she was campaigning for the U S Senate to replace retiring Sen Tina Smith Craig disclosed she would have an announcement regarding her future within the month Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan and Melisa L pez Franzen a former DFL state Senate leader have already reported they will run for the seat While answering questions at the town hall Craig repeatedly mentioned a bill she co-authored to stop cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Venture SNAP in the next federal budget The statute Craig noted is sponsored by Democrats that are self-styled moderates Craig who at times has upset liberal voters noted she is one of Congress s greater part bipartisan members and no stranger to reaching out across the aisle However she has gained no traction in getting House Republicans who hold a narrow - majority to sign onto her bill protecting Medicaid and SNAP from potentially massive spending reductions My Republican colleagues in Congress are letting this administration s power go wholly unchecked Craig declared They seem hellbent on advancing the president s agenda even while they complain about multiple of the actions in private Craig roundly condemned the Trump administration including on immigration which she has previously characterized as an urgent national defense matter No one in this country should be deported without due process she mentioned to enthusiastic cheers State lawmakers meanwhile portrayed themselves as scrambling to fund what they see as popular and effective social operation programs Rep Robert Bierman DFL-Apple Valley speaks at a townhall featuring DFL lawmakers and U S Rep Angie Craig held at Lakeville South High School on April Credit MinnPost photo by Bill KelleyRep Robert Bierman DFL-Apple Valley the co-chair of the Minnesota House Physical condition Finance and Framework Committee began itemizing cuts the Trump administration has already made through rescinding vitality care grants along with cuts that Congress could make in the federal budget due Sept Federal Medicaid payments alone make up about of state regime funding declared Bierman What started out as remarks that were firing up the crowd ended with the Apple Valley lawmaker acknowledging that DFLers are unsure how to complete a state budget by June These kinds of cuts we can t even design a budget to accommodate them with the kind of money we re talking about he announced Both DFL and Republican leadership have noted that they will plow forward with completing a budget by May their scheduled last day of session We have not had a ton of detailed conversations about the impact of federal cuts declared Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman DFL-Brooklyn Park at a press conference last week We purely can t predict what is going to come And I don t think we will know until September or October The post At town hall Rep Craig DFLers push clear message Hang on to what we ve got appeared first on MinnPost