Minn. budget deal preserves paid family leave, boosts school funding but includes cut to undocumented immigrants' health care

A legislative leader said May 14 that Minnesota lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement to fund state government that preserves paid family leave, expands school funding and keeps existing reproductive-rights protections — but that the final spending deal includes cuts to health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants that the leader described as "the most painful vote" they've taken in 20 years.

The budget deal, the leader said, produces "really significant increases in education funding" and keeps a slate of 2023 policy wins intact, while also containing a provision Republicans insisted on that reduces health-care access for undocumented immigrants. "I don't remember ever having to vote for something as painful as that," the legislative leader said. They added that they were the only Democrat who voted for that provision in order to secure agreement to fund state government.

The dispute matters because, the leader said, about 22,000 people…