DFL legislators including Representative Brion Curran (D White Bear Lake) lashed out when it was announced that illegal immigrants would no longer be eligible for MinnesotaCare under the deal.
Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders in Minnesota have agreed to a two-year state budget deal that significantly reduces a looming $6 billion deficit, raises taxes only on marijuana, and is several billion dollars smaller than the state’s record $72 billion budget from 2023.
The deal also brings a big change to MinnesotaCare, a state-run health care program for low income individuals. Under a compromise reached by Gov. Walz, DFL legislative leaders, and House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, adult illegal aliens will no longer be allowed to enroll in MinnesotaCare.
However, illegal alien children will still be allowed on the program.
Back in 2023, Democrats extended MinnesotaCare coverage to illegal aliens over the fierce protestations of Republicans. The GOP has consistently lambasted the idea and worked to write it out of state law. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Department of Human Services announced that enrollment for illegal aliens had exploded past initial projections.
When the compromise on MinnesotaCare was unveiled, DFL legislators from both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature lashed out. First, they staged a protest outside the governor’s office that threatened to disrupt a press conference about the budget deal. Afterward, they held their own press conference denouncing the change to MinnesotaCare.
Every Democrat in the Minnesota Senate including Senator Heather Gustafson (D White Bear Lake) had just opposed a similar change to MinnesotaCare the day before the budget deal was announced.
