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DFL says higher-education budget conference report ready; Republicans tie it to joint convention for University of Minnesota regents
Summary
Representative Nathan Coulter said a bipartisan higher education budget conference report signed by DFL conferees, the Senate chair, both House chairs and the commissioner is ready for the floor, but House Republicans are withholding it pending agreement on a separate joint convention to elect University of Minnesota regents.
DFL lawmakers said a higher education budget conference report is finished and signed by DFL conferees and key leaders, but House Republicans are blocking its consideration in order to press for a separate procedural concession: a joint convention to elect University of Minnesota regents.
Representative Nathan Coulter (DFL), vice chair of the House higher education committee, said the package supports more than 250,000 students statewide, including 226,000 students at University of Minnesota campuses and more than 70,000 Minnesotans who rely on state grant aid. “We have a higher education budget conference committee report that every DFL conferee has signed. We could pass it right now,” Coulter said.
Coulter said the report had the signatures of “the senate chair, both house chairs, and the commissioner of higher education” and called on Republican members to “put the diversions aside” and allow the budget to pass. He described the demand for a joint convention on regents as an unrelated procedural request that should not hold up funding for colleges and universities.
DFL leaders said the negotiations required compromise and that students and families deserve the final budget to be passed without partisan power plays.
No formal floor action on the conference report appears in this transcript; DFL leaders said they would press to have the report brought to the floor and asked Republicans to remove unrelated demands so the bill can proceed.
