Letter spread misinformation about GOP

To the Editor:
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the chair of the 7th District DFL party would write to our local papers to spread misinformation about the Republican budget. Over the years, fewer and fewer Democrats have been elected to the House from the 7th Congressional District, and last year Republican wins in our district helped boost Republicans back into the majority.
The facts are clear: Republicans have been focused on the issues and priorities that Minnesota families in Greater Minnesota care about.
Republicans included funding for market-rate workforce housing in our Job Growth and Energy Affordability bill. This will help ensure that employers remain in Minnesota, and bring new businesses here who can count on workers being able to afford to live close by to their jobs. Ms. Larson’s claim that we included “no money: is not grounded in fact or reality.
Our Jobs and Energy bill continued investments in broadband technology, which will bring high-speed internet access to schools and businesses to ensure they have information at their fingertips.
The House tax bill aims to reduce property taxes on farmers by changing levy referendums to ensure that they are more fair to those who own large amounts of land. Our tax bill also includes tax relief for seniors, veterans, college students and families, which helps families in Greater Minnesota as well as the Metro. Our bill also helps small businesses by phasing out the business property tax, which stifles businesses’ ability to keep their doors open and grow, especially in Minnesota. We have one of the highest business tax burdens in the country, and need to do more to help entrepreneurs grow, especially in rural areas.
Our Health and Human services bill invests more than $138 million in senior care facilities by enacting reforms that will help nursing homes keep their doors open, and help them attract quality workers. Nursing homes in our community could see increases as high as 30 percent or more under our bill. This is in stark contrast to Democrats in the Senate and the governor, who put just $25 million for nursing homes.
Republicans’ focus is on keeping government from growing faster than the family budgets who help fund it with their hard-earned tax dollars. We owe it to Minnesotans to review each and every dollar government spends to ensure it’s being spent wisely. We need to begin to phase out programs that are no longer useful, and make sure the programs we do have are sustainable over the long term.
Even though many of our budget bills passed with bipartisan support, some Democrats may not support our budget. That’s OK. While they fight for their liberal special interests, fight to keep the focus on the Metro area, and spread lies about Republicans to cover their tracks, we’ll continue working for our special interests: Families in all parts of the state, especially in Greater Minnesota.
District 18 State Rep.
Glenn Gruenhagen
Glencoe