During Thursday’s Senate Debate on House File 3, legislation protecting our elections from foreign influence and increasing voter access to our democracy, Senator Steve Drazkowski made an unsupported claimaccusing the Minnesota AFL-CIO and our affiliated unions of engaging in money laundering.
Drazkowski’s accusation came ahead of his amendment naming unions as “foreign-influenced” entities. His amendment failed, but not before receiving support from all 33 Senate Republicans.
“Outrageous and unfounded claims from Senator Drazkowski are nothing new,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham. “But his amendment receiving support from the entire Senate GOP Caucus to a bill designed to strengthen Minnesota’s democracy is a clear endorsement of the MAGA Republican misinformation and conspiracy theories that are putting our nation’s democracy at risk.”
The Minnesota AFL-CIO is a labor federation with a democratically elected board and leadership that represents the shared values and priorities of Minnesota’s union movement – a movement consisting of more than 300,000 working people from every corner of our state. The federation’s independent volunteer political program and campaign contributions have supported both Republicans and Democrats over the years.
“When politicians make outrageous claims like these about the Minnesota AFL-CIO, they are insulting the working people who make our state run every single day,” Burnham added. “Senate Republicans need to take a hard look at whether they are going to continue following the MAGA conspiracy path or change course to work with their colleagues to improve life for working Minnesotans.”