Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy issued the following statement in response to the news that Minnesota is facing a $2.4 billion budget deficit:
“As expected, COVID-19 has sent Minnesota’s state budget into deficit. While this budget deficit adds even more challenges to the current pandemic crisis, this virus has shown us once again that Minnesotans prevail by pulling together, no matter what we look like or where we live.
“Pulling together means investing in one another to ensure working Minnesotans and families can make ends meet now and thrive once this crisis ends. It means investing in critical infrastructure to put tens of thousands of Minnesotans back to work, spending money in our communities. It also means asking the wealthy and big business to pay their fair share.
“Thanks to wise fiscal management and past investments, this deficit is not as bad as it could have been. However, corporate special interests and their allies in the Legislature will likely use this crisis as an opportunity to enact painful cuts and slash taxes for the richest 1%. Minnesotans know better. We know that cuts to the vital services that Minnesotans depend on – especially right now – will only make this crisis worse. We know that it’s time for all of us to do our part and pull together as One Minnesota.”