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Minnesota House DFL leaders lay out legislative agenda amid ongoing dispute with Republicans

Bitter battle over control of Minnesota House continues
Bitter battle over control of Minnesota House continues 01:56

MINNEAPOLIS — The first week of Minnesota's 2025 legislative session has been chaotic, but not much substantial work has happened in the House. 

On Friday at PICA Head Start Training Center in Minneapolis, Democratic leaders laid out their agenda for the session amid an ongoing power dispute with Republicans over who can and should control the chamber. 

Accessible child care, education, affordable housing, health care, reproductive rights and protecting the environment were among the issues listed during a news conference Friday.  

Democrats also made remarks about the ongoing rift with House Republicans, saying their proceedings in the chamber were a legislative coup. 

The conflict began after a judge in an election contest ruled the DFL winner of a Roseville seat did not live in the district at the time of the election, shifting what was a tied chamber after November's election to a 67 to 66 edge for Republicans. A special election to fill that seat is scheduled for Jan. 28.

On Tuesday, the first day of the legislative session, House Democrats didn't show up to the chamber in an effort to deny GOP lawmakers the ability to do anything with the one-seat majority they have, at least for now. But Republicans moved forward anyway, electing GOP Leader Lisa Demuth as the Speaker of the House and conducting other House business. 

On Wednesday, Democrats filed a lawsuit accusing Republicans of acting unlawfully when they convened for session as a majority and elected a speaker.

"The principle of upholding our elections and supporting our democracy is important enough to do hard things," said Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park. "Sometimes when you aren't willing to stand up for something, you have to ask, do you really stand for it in the first place? What we're doing is hard. We're taking some heat for it, but the principles we're standing up for are important enough to take that heat."

Republicans stand by organizing as a majority and have been critical of how Democrats have handled themselves. 

"We're in this situation because of a series of laws broken by Democrats, starting with the candidate in 40B, the governor, the Democrats who chose to violate the law and not show up yesterday, and then the Secretary of State who overstepped his bounds," said Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey on Wednesday. "We're confident that the Minnesota Supreme Court is not going to get involved in the way that the House chooses to organize itself. The right way to deal with that is for members of the House to show up here and have those discussions and have that those votes, and that's what we're doing." 

This is a developing story. Stay with WCCO for more information.

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