Minnesota bills aim to help federal workers targeted by cuts, layoffs
Democrats in the Minnesota Legislature introduced proposals to assist federal workers targeted by spending cuts in the Trump administration.
Tens of thousands of employees have been fired or offered buyouts to exit. Other positions have been eliminated when funds have been rolled back in an effort to shrink the size of government.
Several of these actions face legal challenges in court.
The administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, also offered workers "deferred resignations" for voluntarily stepping aside from government service earlier this year with a warning that if they didn't, their job could still be at risk.
DFL lawmakers on Thursday said they are trying to protect Minnesota workers who took that DOGE deal, making clear in law that doing so does not amount to quitting their job because they were "misled." It would allow them to file for state unemployment benefits. In general, quitting would make a person ineligible.
"Imagine getting an email that says a 'fork in the road," and it says you can decide to retire early or face the consequences. These are the messages and the comments that I'm getting from constituents. Decide now your own fate, leave now or face the consequences," said Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown. "That is not how the government works."
A separate proposal would create a relocation bonus program offering $10,000 to veterans fired from their federal jobs if they move to Minnesota. Some of the federal cuts have come to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which employs 8,700 people in Minnesota, and at least a dozen of them here faced termination recently.
"The last 80 days must have felt like a betrayal," said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis "Trump and Musk and their DOGE bros are jerking these men and women around who have dedicated their lives to serving our communities and the United States of America."
The program calls for $6 million for those bonuses at a time when the state budget is strapped for resources. Lawmakers have begun negotiations for the next two-year spending plan and are bracing for their own cuts to government programs to stave off a looming $6 billion deficit in the future.
Not to mention any of these proposals would need GOP buy-in in a divided state legislature.
When asked about the DFL-backed bills, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said ensuring the state isn't in the red in a few years from now is the top priority.
"I think we need to more focus on the fact that we have a booming deficit over our budget because of what was spent over the last two years. Those are things that we are addressing right now to make sure we have a balanced budget," she said.
Gov. Tim Walz last week said he instructed his state agencies to prepare for any federal grants they build into their budgets to be slashed, too. He launched a dashboard tracking those dollars to Minnesota — those that have already been canceled and other programs at risk.
Thirty-five percent of the current two-year state budget ending June 30 is federal funding, according to the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget.
