Hortman, Winkler Talk “Aggressive” End-of-Session Push
Two and a half weeks remain of the 2019 legislative session, and local DFL House leaders expect this to be a long weekend of budget negotiations.
“We have three complete budget proposals that we’re bringing to conference and to negotiations, and in order for this session to be different from so many that preceded it, we need to do things differently. We need to continue to drive very, very aggressively,” said Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman and House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler spoke Thursday about what they called “an aggressive conference committee schedule.”
The DFL-led house, the Republican-controlled Senate, and DFL Governor Tim Walz set a Monday deadline to agree on spending caps so conference committees can get to work on 10 different budget bills and a tax bill.
“It was the speaker’s initiative to bring these new deadlines to the table in the first place and get agreement from the Senate and Governor Walz,” said Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley. “The House has been pushing because we know it is very difficult to finish a legislative session on time when you have divided government. In fact, it has been at least two decades since that has happened.”
The legislative session adjourns May 20.
