State of Minnesota Archives: on Budget & Economy
Tim Walz:
Level playing field for working families, small businesses
My proposed budget aims to level the playing field by supporting working families, helping small businesses stay afloat, and ensuring students catch up on learning. My budget ensures that those who have been hit hardest by the pandemic have the
resources they need to get back on their feet. It gives a tax break to more than 300,000 Minnesota families, makes nearly all Paycheck Protection Program loans tax exempt for small businesses, and provides cash payments to over 32,000 Minnesota families.
Source: 2021 State of the State Address to the Minnesota legislature
Mar 28, 2021
Mike Murphy:
Incentivize developers to build quality senior housing
Our society has an obligation to provide seniors in need with safe and affordable communities in which they can happily live. Mike has heard far too often that current seniors living in Minnesota are "unaffordable" even though they live
in what is defined as "affordable housing communities." We need to establish lower housing costs for seniors and incentivize developers to build quality senior housing communities in Minnesota.
Source: 2022 Minnesota governor campaign website MikeMurphyForMN.com
Feb 16, 2021
Paula Overby:
Stimulus AND market-led recovery
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Stimulus better than market-led recovery"?
A: Oppose--It is not an either or question. They can work in tandem. The issue is how we get from one to the other.
I support a massive realignment of government spending away from war toward social investment, restructuring our education and health care systems which constitute the fastest growing costs in America today.
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Minnesota Senate candidate
May 13, 2018
Jim Newberger:
Market-led recovery better than stimulus
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Stimulus better than market-led recovery"?
A: Oppose
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Minnesota Senate candidate
Mar 15, 2018
Jason Lewis:
Across-the-board budget reductions
The federal budget has doubled since 2002 and now totals an astonishing $4.1 trillion dollars. It remains the single biggest drag on economic growth and job creation, because wasteful government spending crowds out productive private investment.
An unsustainable debt of $19 trillion is putting America on the road to Athens. Net interest on the debt will be nearly $800 billion in a decade, according to the CBO.
Yet Washington insiders cut another back room deal last year, undoing the 2011 budget caps and adding another $112 billion to domestic discretionary spending. And though the federal government collected a record $3.25 trillion in 2015,
we have a 2016 deficit of $600 billion. We need across-the-board budget reductions because no matter how you finance big government spending--whether taxes, borrowing, or printing money--it all comes out of your pocket.
Source: 2016 Minnesota House campaign website JasonLewis2016.com
Nov 8, 2016
Jim Newberger:
Work to reduce government growth and waste
I am a traditional conservative who will uphold the values that have made Minnesota great. To the best of my ability I shall:-
Protect Life.
- Adhere to the Constitution.
- Work to reduce government growth and waste.
- Uphold our Constitutional liberties.
- Cut government spending.
Source: 2014 MN State House campaign website JimForMinnesota.com
Nov 1, 2014
Al Franken:
Economy is "top down" and "rigged" in favor of the wealthy
Among the issues the candidates discussed Wednesday:Economy: Franken said the economy is "top down" and "rigged" in favor of the wealthy. He said he has been focusing on getting young people trained to fill available jobs.
He said students should be able to refinance their student loans and called for an increase to the minimum wage.
McFadden said that under Obama and Franken, the U.S. has had the slowest rebound from a recession in its history and the federal debt has soared.
He said he has a plan to get the economy back on track, consisting of three "E's"--energy and mining, education and effective government.
Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press on 2014 Minnesota Senate debate
Oct 8, 2014
Jim Abeler:
Borrowing places our sovereignity at risk
Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.
Abeler: Strongly Agree
Question topic: Briefly list political or legislative issues of most concern to you.
Abeler: Debt & deficit: we must live within our means, and cannot rely on borrowing. That places our sovereignity at risk.
Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2014 Minnesota Senate race
Jul 2, 2014
Tina Smith:
Strengthen Minnesota's economy through economic development
Tina has been instrumental in helping Governor Dayton strengthen Minnesota's economy through job creation and economic development. Tina personally led the effort to make the first-of-its-kind
Destination Medical Center in Southeastern Minnesota a reality. That project will generate more than 30,000 new jobs and leverage over $5 billion of local and private investment in Minnesota's economy over the next two decades.
Tina has also led the administration's efforts to build a better government to serve the people of Minnesota--implementing key reforms that have saved taxpayers billions of dollars, significantly reduced
wait times for job-creating environmental permits, enhanced accountability in state government, and improved essential services for Minnesotans.
Source: 2014 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign website MarkDayton.org
Jul 2, 2014
Jim Abeler:
Led $3.8B in human services cuts to close MN budget gap
Abeler has been a state representative for 15 years and served as chairman of the state health and human services finance committee in 2011. Those experiences will be helpful when it comes to dealing with issues like the federal deficit and health care
reform, he said.Abeler said the $17 trillion national deficit, and massive debt to foreign countries, are issues that national legislators will need to contend with. "If we don't get that under control, it will consume us," he said.
Abeler said his past legislative experiences would help in trying to find a solution. When Minnesota was faced with a $6 billion state deficit in 2011, Abeler led the committee that found a way to cut $3.8 billion in human services
spending through permanent reductions. Cuts were made carefully to avoid harming the people who receive state services, he said. As a measure of the bill's success, he noted that Gov. Mark Dayton has kept the reductions in place.
Source: Marshall Independent on 2014 Minnesota Senate race
Nov 28, 2013
Mike McFadden:
We've been spending like a drunken sailor
Q: Every few years, Congress fights over the federal debt limit. Would you have any preconditions on whether you'd support raising the debt limit? A: We're looking at close to $17 trillion in debt now. It represents almost 80% of our GDP, and that's
problematic. As it comes to debt ceiling negotiations, I would be front and center in any part of those negotiations, and I think what needs to be measured is, on one hand, we need to provide some fiscal constraint in terms of government spending.
We've been spending like a drunken sailor and we have to stop that.
That's got to be measured against what that does to our credit in the world market for borrowing money if we violate our debt covenants.
Source: Minneapolis Post on 2014 Minnesota Senate race
Jul 15, 2013
Mark Dayton:
Lift us out of miserable deficit-to-deficit cycle
We have repaired much of the fiscal damage we inherited, but we're not done yet. We face another deficit, projected at $1.1 billion, for the next biennium; and we still owe our schools another $1.1 billion.
My budget for the next biennium would lift us out of this miserable deficit-to-deficit cycle. It would eliminate the $1.1 billion deficit, balance the biennial budget, and begin the following biennium with a projected surplus.
Where do we want Minnesota to be in a year, or in a decade? We will not agree on every aspect. However, if we can discover our shared goals, perhaps we will find greater accord on how best to achieve them.
We can also better assess whether the path we're now on will lead us to them.
Source: 2013 State of the State speech to Minnesota Legislature
Feb 6, 2013
Jesse Ventura:
Concentrate on what's necessary, not what's nice
We build and maintain roads, bridges, prisons and schools. We educate our children, we care for our elderly and we protect the public's safety.
Unfortunately every year that we do more it will cost you more in taxes. It is my belief that when we are facing a two billion dollar budget deficit we should concentrate on what is necessary and not necessarily what's nice.
Source: State of the State address to 2002 Minnesota legislature
Jan 3, 2002
George W. Bush:
Too much government spending will end prosperity
Gore offers an old and tired approach. He offers a new federal spending program to nearly every voting bloc. He expands entitlements, without reforms to sustain them. 285 new or expanded programs, and $2 trillion more in new spending.
Spending without discipline, spending without priorities, and spending without an end. Al Gore’s massive spending would mean slower growth and higher taxes. And it could mean an end to this nation’s prosperity.
Source: Speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nov 1, 2000
Mark Dayton:
Don’t “give it all back”; economy will sour someday
Dayton may also be the most liberal of the major DFL Senate candidates. He is the only one who says he’ll push for immediate universal health care, and wants the federal government to pay for 90 percent of special education costs,
instead of the current 12 percent. Dayton says he may be running against the tide by arguing for more government spending in an era of “give it all back”, but he says now is the time to invest in education, health care and Social Security.
“If we don’t take advantage of this budget surplus at the federal and state level, which always comes to an end, as economic cycles always do, to improve the quality of public education, to help seniors pay for their prescription medicines;
if we don’t do it now, I fear for the future of this country, especially when we fall in more difficult times,” Dayton said.
Source: Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio on-line
Aug 1, 2000
Jesse Ventura:
Never, ever forget it's the public's money
Within one week of my election, I set three top priorities: budget, budget, budget. Today I am releasing mine to you in a handy wallet form. They boil down to this:- Be fiscally prudent--never, ever forget it's the public's money
- Do what's
necessary; not what's nice to do.
- Prevent future costs where possible.
- Insist that projected budgets are balanced for 4 years
- Set a responsible budget, live within it, and settle-up any surpluses with taxpayers at the end of the biennium.
Source: 1999 State of the State Address to Minnesota Legislature
Mar 2, 1999
Page last updated: Oct 13, 2021