The Frontline Workers Pay Working Group was brought together to divide $250 million amongst our frontline workers for all their hard work and dedication to helping Minnesota get through the pandemic. The bipartisan group has to complete their work before the Legislature can be called into a special session to vote on it.
Instead, Senate Republicans are deflecting the issue at hand, putting the health of Minnesotans at risk by threatening to fire the state’s top health official amid a pandemic, when Minnesota’s hospitals are full and COVID-19 cases are on the rise. It is not the time to play partisan politics and stonewall critical work that will help Minnesotans.
“Frontline workers deserve this pay and it is time that we resolve this issue for them,” said Senate DFL Leader Melisa López Franzen. “The Senate Republican’s continued politicization of Minnesota’s COVID-19 response is currently what is standing in the way of getting the bonus pay out to frontline workers, who have already been through so much during this pandemic. The Republican threat to take out the Health Commissioner during the fourth surge of the pandemic is a dangerous political play that needs to be taken off the table so we can get this work done for Minnesotans. We simply can’t afford to take that risk.”
“We’ve worked in good faith and heard testimony from countless Minnesotans and it’s time to get this job done for the frontline workers who have done so much for all of us,” said Senator Erin Murphy (DFL-Saint Paul), member of the Frontline Workers Pay Working Group. “Senate Republicans are creating a political controversy to shift responsibility, a classic political tactic that Minnesotans will see through. When we do go to a special session, paying our essential workers should be the top priority and not political games.”
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