[ad_1]
NS. PAUL – Minnesota lawmakers have $ 250 million to give away in federal COVID-19 aid, but they can’t agree on how to spend it.
The Frontline Pay Working Group, a body made up of lawmakers and members of Governor Tim Walz’s government, is tasked with figuring out how the pot can be divided among the frontline workers. The panel passed a Labor Day deadline, and it was made clear on Thursday that its Republican and Democratic members are still at odds over who should get the money and how much they should get, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
Republicans want to offer the tax-free bonus to those workers who they say put the greatest risk through close contact with COVID-19 patients: nurses, long-term carers, hospice services, prison guards and first responders, including rescue workers, firefighters and police officers.
“So many have strengthened,” Republican Senator Karin Housley, a panel member from Stillwater, told a press conference. “But some groups have caught our eye (for their) persistent and intimate exposure to COVID every day.”
That’s an estimated little more than 200,000 people, and Republicans are hoping for a check for $ 1,200 for each front-line worker.
The Democrats want to distribute the money more widely. They would add people like restaurant workers and janitors who couldn’t work from home and who kept society going while putting themselves at risk of contracting the disease, often with little protection. The unions estimate the pool would be around 670,000 workers, which would leave about $ 375 per person.
“Something is better than nothing,” Troy Brown, a Minneapolis janitor who contracted the coronavirus, said at a separate press conference convened by unions that support the Democrats’ plan.
Democrats disagree that $ 250 million should be the limit. They suggested that the target should be $ 1,500 per worker and that lawmakers should raise more money.
Walz has suggested that his thinking generally coincides with that of his Democrats. But when the legislature set up the body, they deliberately forced it to be bipartisan. Of the nine members – three Democratic legislators, three Republican legislators, and three appointed by Walz – seven must approve. So you get stuck for now.
[ad_2]
