Press Release: Budget surplus shows Minnesota in the right hands

 
Rick Fuentes
(office) 651-414-2863
(cell) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

(St Paul) – The latest revenue forecast shows Governor Mark Dayton and the legislature have built a strong foundation for Minnesota moving forward.  Minnesota’s Management and Budget office shows $1 billion surplus, which will be used to repay Minnesota’s schools after years of borrowing.”It’s great news and proof we put the state in the right hands,” said Linda Hamilton, RN, BSN, President of the Minnesota Nurses Association.  “Governor Dayton and state legislators put the state back into balance.”

Lawmakers put the money where it would work for Minnesotans by investing in kids, seniors, and health care and not back into the pockets of corporations.  Nurses have long warned that Minnesota can’t keep borrowing its way to mediocrity while the elite few profit from the many.

“The Governor inherited $6 billion dollars in debt, and a school system that had to loan us almost a billion of that.  Hard decisions had to be made, and we can see the state of Minnesota is back in balance,” Hamilton said.

Minnesota needs to continue on the path the Governor and legislators set that ensures all citizens are paying their fair share for the services that benefit all of us.  Dayton and lawmakers in Saint Paul need to continue to invest in the future of Minnesota, not repeat the mistakes of past policies that put its citizens deep in debt and in cuts to local services.

“The state’s economy is healthy again,” Hamilton said, “and we need to make sure Minnesota citizens stay healthy as well.”

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