Minnesota Republicans rally at Capitol to oppose DFL policies, spending

Republicans chanting, "It's our surplus, give it back!" and wearing shirts with the slogan "stop the madness" rallied Tuesday at the State Capitol to proclaim that Democrats' spending and policy plans have gone too far.

The DFL won full control of state government last year. Lawmakers have since pushed to protect abortion access, add gun restrictions and ensure transgender people from other states could get gender-affirming medical services in Minnesota. Those policy measures, coupled with proposed spending increases, were at the center of much of Tuesday's angst.

"What the Democrats are doing are ramming through all these liberal [policies]. It's not the majority. I'm from rural Minnesota ... We have different values," said Judy Kretzschmar of Bagley. "We cherish our kids and we value the Second Amendment."

She and two dozen others chartered a bus from Bemidji to attend the rally, which Kretzschmar said is the first she's attended at the Capitol. She said Minnesotans are tuning into the legislative action and asking themselves, "What is at risk here?"

The rally landed on the same day former President Donald Trump appeared at a Manhattan courthouse for his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts stemming from a series of hush money payments in 2016.

Some people at Tuesday's event in St. Paul wore Make America Great Again hats and held Trump banners. Several attendees said they support Trump and believe the case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office was political and would not hurt his chances in the 2024 election.

"I think he's the only one that's going to save this country. He's not a politician," said Lori Humble. She unfurled a Trump banner over a railing above the crowd in the Capitol rotunda and called Tuesday "the perfect time to get back out that Trump flag."

But the parade of speakers at the rally were not focused on the former president. Their attention was on DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic legislative leaders, who recently agreed to increase state spending by $17.9 billion in the next two-year budget.

"We are putting numbers to these bills that we will never recover from in this state if we continue down this path," Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, told the crowd. "Our goal is to try to hold that back as much as we possibly can. And we're using every tool in our toolbox to do that."

DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman has stressed that much of the proposed bump in state spending would be temporary, since the bulk of the state's anticipated $17.5 billion budget surplus is one-time cash.

"Everybody wishes that there was $18 billion in both the first biennium and $18 billion in [following years] so we could do, like, big increase in pay that we could carry forward in the future," Hortman said in a recent interview. "Instead, we have to figure out what we can do with some of the one-time money."

Democrats' overarching budget plan also includes about $3 billion in tax breaks. The House and Senate tax bills have yet to be released and details still need to be negotiated. But Walz and DFL legislators have been considering a variety of proposals, including tax credits for families with children, one-time checks and ending state taxes on Social Security benefits for Minnesotans below a certain income threshold.

Republicans, and some Democrats, want full elimination of Social Security taxes.