The Minnesota Senate last week passed a $100 million bill to help businesses recover in the wake of Operation Metro Surge — but only after nearly four hours of partisan debate, mostly about fraud.
“It feels like you’re not interested in what the bill really says,” said its author, Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, ahead of the final vote. “You’re just interested in getting up and talking about fraud.”
The Thursday debate on the Senate floor captured the divided tone of this year’s Legislative session, with DFL lawmakers’ calls for a response to federal actions this winter continually triggering criticism from GOP lawmakers about the state’s response to social services fraud.
Amid a lack of bipartisan support, none of the DFL’s bills responding to the federal actions have passed.
Related: Gauging the cost of Operation Metro Surge is a work in progress, but some numbers are emerging
Indeed, the Senate floor session focused little on the reason behind the $100 million stimulus bill: to support businesses that are struggling after weeks of many Minnesotans avoiding public spaces due to fear of federal agents’ sometimes violent and illegal immigration enforcement tactics.
The loan program would distribute funds to businesses that can demonstrate they lost over 30% of their revenue between Dec. 1, 2025, and Feb. 28, 2026, due to Operation Metro Surge.
Some GOP lawmakers dismissed the suggestion that businesses were harmed at all.
Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, described the bill as asking to give $100 million “to people in Minneapolis who decided not to work that day, or that month, or that series of months, who are now claiming that they are economically hurt, caused by a self-inflicted wound.”
And he worked in a fraud reference, saying, “This is the type of exposure to fraud that we have been doing in the past, set up for more corruption and exploitation in our state.”
As Sen. Nathan Wesenberg, R-Little Falls, put it: “Socialism sucks, vote no on this bill.”
Uphill climb in the House
Most of the four hours were used to debate a series of amendments, largely proposed by Republicans, related to fraud prevention and immigration policy.
For example, it took nearly an hour for lawmakers to decide whether the bill should say “up to” 5% of the $100 million “may” or “must” be used for things like detecting, preventing and investigating fraud.
“Changing the ‘must spend 5%’ to fight fraud to a ‘may spend up to 5%’ is of zero confidence, and in fact, it dilutes and waters down the Republican language of this seriousness to stop fraud in the state to the point where it’s a continuation of the Democrat mentality. It’s to allow fraud,” said Sen. Eric Lucero, R-Dayton.
The final version says the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) commissioner “must” authorize up to 5% for that purpose.
Lucero also said Minnesotans are not confident that DEED will “do the right thing” because its top official answers to Gov. Tim Walz.
Still, after hours of back and forth like that, the bill is unlikely to become law.
It still needs to pass in the House, where Republicans are sure to raise similar objections — and where the balance between parties is split 50-50.
Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, is the lone Republican who voted with Democrats on Thursday.
Abeler said he personally knows business owners who are struggling as a result of the federal surge.
“For some of these individuals, it’s truly traumatic. And these people were not in the streets, they weren’t here illegally. They were just here, trying to do business in the North Metro,” Abeler said.
Related: Protecting police, pursuing ‘agitators’ and fraud, fraud, fraud: What Republican legislators are up to in St. Paul.
He said that day’s discussion revealed holes in the legislation — but he still supports its intent.
DFL lawmakers’ response was more pointed.
Sen. Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul, described speaking with an elder who said he was more fearful of federal immigration agents than the Communist Party of Laos.
“(It) impacts the mom and businesses in my district, especially when you have an ICE agent storm into a restaurant on the East side of St. Paul with guns drawn, no criminals in place,” he said.
Champion, the bill author, said Republicans made several inaccurate statements on the floor that day. He also repeatedly said he takes fraud seriously.
“I hear people say it’s the Democrats’ coordinated effort that caused this problem,” Champion said. “I would just ask that you wake up from that nightmare.”
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