Trump policies top the talking points at Minnesota lawmaker town halls
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Many Minnesota lawmakers used this week to reconnect with constituents who filled in-person town halls to express displeasure and some support for their representatives in contentious times.
Once the Easter and Passover recess has ended, a divided Minnesota Legislature will put together a budget with a modest surplus expected but a $6 billion shortfall anticipated for the following two-year budget.
Time and time again in the town hall meetings, state legislators faced questions about what the federal government was doing and how they could take steps to change it. Lawmakers from both parties heard concern about proposed cuts to health programs and Trump administration moves to detain and deport people.
DFL Rep. Robert Bierman of Apple Valley told a crowd of about 600 people at Lakeville South High School that there is only so much local officials can do.
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“These cuts have been coming fast and furious, and we are sitting back in the Capitol working on our budget that is due through committees right now,” Bierman, co-chair of the House Health Policy and Finance Committee said during a town hall event Monday. “We are trying to put together a budget without knowing the storm clouds that are happening above us.”
The “storm clouds” are proposals to cut federal spending to generate enough savings to fund an extension of 2017 tax cuts. Republicans are still working out the details of which programs could be impacted by the plan.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig said she’s carrying legislation that would attempt to put Republicans on the record.
“If you say you’re not going to cut Medicaid, you’re not going to cut Medicare, you’re not going to cut Social Security, you’re not going to cut SNAP, well then prove it by getting on some of the bills that we’re introducing right now,” she told the Lakeville town hall.
During the one-hour meeting that was RSVP-only and skewed toward a more liberal audience, Craig criticized Republicans in Congress for not standing up to President Donald Trump against what she called reckless tariffs and workforce cuts.
“I’m sorry, folks, but if this was a Democrat in the White House hurting family farmers with across the board tariffs, my Republican colleagues would be raising hell right now,” Craig said.
To which a person in the audience called out, “Why aren’t you?”
DFL lawmakers fielded eight town hall meetings across the state this week, in St. Cloud, Duluth, Moorhead and places in between. GOP lawmakers also held a few, including one in southern Minnesota.
About 40 people gathered at an American Legion hall in Fairmont to hear from Republican state Sen. Richard Draheim and state Reps. Bjorn Olson and Marj Fogelman. The discussion focused on local issues, including funding for Head Start and health and social service programs.
Some wanted to criticize the Trump administration for the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador.
“If somebody comes into my home and grabs me or my family member and takes them away, can they know what they’re charged with? And do they have the ability to defend themselves before they’re incarcerated?” an attendee asked the panel.
“I think everybody deserves due process, citizen or non-citizen,” Draheim responded.
Olson, of Fairmont, agreed. But he said he believed the man being held in a prison was found to be a gang member. The U.S. Supreme Court has told the Trump administration to facilitate his return. The attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia says there’s no public evidence his client belonged to a gang.
“And the president of El Salvador himself says he’s not going to send him back. People need to be held accountable for their actions,” Olson said.
Some in the crowd yelled out “no” in response.
Others raised concerns about the recent detention of a student at Minnesota State University-Mankato, where several other students have had their visas revoked, according to school officials. Some attendees stressed that international students there are in the country legally.
Draheim, of Madison Lake, said he’s keeping his focus on issues important to his district, including the impact of budget cuts on long-term care facilities.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the due process questions we had were all on the federal level, and we have zero control over what the federal government does,” Draheim said. “We have enough issues here at the state, so that's the stuff I’m worried about.”
Another attendee noted that a large percentage of farm workers in Minnesota are in the state without proper legal authorization.
Olson said immigration is critical for population growth.
“But the way we can do it is through legal immigration, and that’s what we desperately need to do. We need to overhaul our country in a way in which we bring good people in at a rate that exceeds what we're doing and we don't allow the bad actors in,” he said to applause. “That’s what I think we can all agree on.”
In Ely, there wasn’t much agreement on copper-nickel mining, the top issue there.
Many in the standing room-only town hall of nearly 200 supported keeping in place a moratorium on new mines near the Boundary Waters that was implemented by the Biden administration.
“I am fully for the Boundary Waters and 100 percent against mining,” said Kyle Grant. “There's really no reason at all to have mining that would pollute the Boundary Waters.”
DFL state Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown said he doesn’t support a federal moratorium, and instead wants state experts to determine whether individual mining proposals, such as the Twin Metals mine near Ely, “can happen safely, effectively and in an environmentally friendly way.”
But Hauschild said he’s pushing back against other parts of the president’s agenda, including cuts at federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service. He worries about reductions in Medicaid.
“If you don't think that our rural communities in northern Minnesota will be most impacted by those Medicaid cuts, then you’re foolish, because it will cause a shutdown of some of our rural hospitals,” Hauschild said. “It will cause nursing homes to close.”
Hauschild highlighted what he called a “profound” state Senate proposal to tax social media companies. The excess revenue collected could help stave off cuts to Minnesota disability services or other programs in the next budget, he said.
After the Ely meeting, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said town halls help legislators as they finalize a state budget to make sure they’re on the right track.
“I think we are, and I'm hearing that from Minnesota,” Murphy said.
State lawmakers have to balance a two-year state budget by July to avoid a state government shutdown. Legislative leaders have acknowledged they may need to return for a special session after adjournment on May 19 if Congress approves and the president signs a federal spending plan that significantly changes funding that comes into Minnesota.