Letter – Time to get back to work, curb government spending

To the editor,
During this unprecedented time of concern over COVID-19, I would like to recognize those on the frontlines who are working in the medical industry as well as firefighters, law-enforcement, school personnel and childcare workers.
We all need to do our part by practicing social distancing, hand washing and protecting the most vulnerable among us, but we also need to realize shutting down a large percentage of Minnesota’s private economy will bring severe revenue problems in the future, especially with almost 500,000 Minnesotans filing for unemployment.
We must be proactive by addressing non-critical state spending now. Here are just a few areas that the legislature should consider immediately:
• First, the state could suspend construction on the South West Light Rail project, which is costing the state over $140 million per mile.
• The state should temporarily suspend the prevailing wage law, which according to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, is the fourth highest in the nation and increases the cost of all state subsidized projects by about 20 percent.
• We should suspend all green new-deal laws and regulations which artificially inflate energy costs on our businesses and citizens unnecessarily.
• The governor should also immediately suspend the sanctuary city status of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which acts as a magnet to draw in illegal immigrants, crime, and public health issues, driving up the cost of state government expenditures. We need to care about Minnesota citizens first.
We also need to discuss the essential versus nonessential business model that has been used to determine which businesses can remain open. This model has serious inconsistencies and inequities expressed by many business owners.
A few examples: Under the governor’s original executive order, many contractors who generally work alone or outside by themselves had been considered nonessential and were restrained from working.
Florists are also considered non-essential, even though many are sole proprietorships.
A business owned by a couple, with no other employees, was considered nonessential under the governor’s order, even though the owners live together.
Instead, we should use a model based on the CDC recommendations which stresses behaviors that are safe versus those that are unsafe, because the word “essential” is too subjective.
Changing this approach would allow all small businesses to operate at a minimum level, giving them a better opportunity to survive.
Last Tuesday, House Republicans forced the first vote to end Gov. Walz’s peacetime emergency powers and begin the process of safely reopening Minnesota’s economy by continuing social distancing and prioritizing health and safety.
While I voted in support of the resolution, it ultimately failed due to DFL opposition. The reality is that the governor’s emergency powers will likely not end until the DFL majority in the House believes a change is needed. Even with every Republican supporting the resolution, we simply do not have the votes to end it.
Please contact Gov. Walz at 651-201-3400 and tell him to end his emergency powers immediately.
By God’s grace we will get through this, but we need a strategy to address the public health problem without crippling our private economy.
Sincerely,
Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen,
Glencoe

Rep. Gruenhagen’s district includes McLeod and Sibley counties