If greedy few are unhappy, something's going right

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We are in this legislative session's endgame. Minnesota has made historic progress, but lawmakers haven't yet made most of their highest-stakes economic decisions. Those outcomes are especially critical when we have the biggest surplus and worst economic and racial disparities here in our state. If unaddressed, this disparity will hinder our future prosperity.

Analysts will hype up the complexity and mystery surrounding the negotiations in the coming days. Don't listen to them. At this point it all comes down to one question:

Will Minnesota's elected officials choose policy and a budget that puts our children, families and workers first? Or will they kowtow to corporate CEO demands and profits?

Consider the policies that have been on the agenda for months but haven't quite gotten done yet: paid family and medical leave, a policy corporations are desperately attempting to stop by spending big and spreading lies; earned sick and safe time, which passed the House two and a half months ago and has been put off in the Senate since; the MinnesotaCare public option; the child tax credit and the renters' credit; the Prescription Drug Affordability Board; tax rules that would make big, multinational corporations pay what they owe. The list goes on, but the theme is consistent.

The Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act is a timely example. Just last week, corporate lobbyists essentially blackmailed Minnesota to stop this popular and desperately needed policy, threatening to move promised investments out of state if they don't get their way.

This is not the first time — nor will it be the last time — we've seen these types of desperate threats seeking to stall the essential progress we're making for our community. Legislators have a choice at this moment: finally stand up to groups like Big Pharma, or allow corporate lobbyists to set the line at which our progress comes to a screeching halt.

Our leaders should be very careful as they consider corporate lobbyists' threats and demands to halt the DFL trifecta's agenda. When we allow greed, fear and division to win, special interests keep using them to come back for more.

Minnesota's success was built by workers and families the powerful have forgotten, as our voices have increasingly been drowned out by corporate power. We've witnessed the results particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Corporate profit margins grew to 70-year highs, while the average Minnesotan's wages actually fell 1% between 2019 and 2022 (adjusted for inflation). As the wealthiest corporations and richest households have raked in billions, the rest of us struggle to pay bills artificially inflated by corporate greed.

Minnesotans from diverse places, backgrounds, and incomes elected our governor and the DFL's House and Senate majorities with the belief that we were voting for leaders who would finally stand up for us. Voters rejected the fear, division and greed wealthy corporations spread across our screens and our neighborhoods, in favor of a vision for a Minnesota that would work for everyone.

That is who we are in Minnesota. We show up for each other and work hard to support our families, our neighborhoods and our communities. All of us deserve fair wages, quality health care, good schools and reliable transportation. We should all be able to take the time we need to get better when we're sick and care for our loved ones when they need us. And we should be able to start a family on our own terms and afford a place we're proud to call home.

When we've talked about our greatest accomplishments this year, we've often put them in terms of making Minnesota "the best state for families and kids." Truly, there is no higher goal. We can live up to that commitment only by choosing those families and those kids over big corporations. This is our moment to begin taking back the power that has until now been disproportionately concentrated among the greedy few.

If the corporate lobbyists end up angry, you'll know elected officials chose wisely.