Minnesota House DFL outlines priorities and denies quorum amid effort to oust member

An unidentified DFL official at a Minnesota House DFL press briefing on Wednesday said Republicans were conducting “sham proceedings” and that DFL members were focusing on policy work for Minnesotans while withholding attendance from the chamber.

The official, identified in the transcript only as the opening DFL speaker, said: “While Republicans continue to conduct sham proceedings on the Minnesota House of Representatives floor and in fake committees, DFLers are doing real work in their communities.” The briefing presented the party’s priorities and explained why some DFL members are not attending floor sessions.

The DFL speakers outlined a multi-issue agenda centered on affordability for workers and families: lowering costs for childcare, health care and housing; preserving paid family and medical leave; protecting reproductive rights; and curbing what they called unchecked corporate power. Representative Robert Bierman, chair of the Health Finance and Policy Committee, said, “DFLers will prioritize people's health and rein in the private profits of health care, insurance, and drug companies that are harming and exploiting Minnesotans.”

Representative Mike Howard, co-chair of the House housing committee, described a housing shortage and said DFL proposals will “jump start the creation…