Muscha-Dist24Valley City, ND (Aug 15, 2013)  –North Dakota Democratic-NPL legislators joined members of the Valley City communities for an intimate round table discussion today. 

Dem-NPL Assistant Senate Leader, Joan Heckaman (New Rockford) discussed the importance of K-12 education in North Dakota, “The fact that we even have to fight to raise the minimum teacher salary, fight to fund HeadStart and early childhood education programs, and fight to come up with real solutions to the childcare crisis when we’re sitting on $1.6 billion additional surplus dollars is a glimpse into just how out of touch the Republican leadership really is. Education and the children in our state should be a top priority.”

 

Representative Naomi Muscha (Valley City) said, “This voter ID law that the Republican supermajority stuck us with is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem. The Attorney General, a member of the Republican Party, has even said that voter fraud is all but non-existent in North Dakota. They are talking about suppressing the votes of people like college students and seniors—our citizens. And it’s just not right.”

 

Representative Kylie Oversen (Grand Forks) discussed the importance of affordable higher education, “We have the opportunity to not only provide a top-tier college education to students in North Dakota, but also an affordable college education. Our Dem-NPL legislators worked to create a scholarship program utilizing our abundant Legacy Fund, and Republicans shot it down. That is unacceptable, and we are determined to do better for the future leaders of our state.”

 

Senator Larry Robinson (Valley City) said, “We hear a lot out of Bismarck about all the wonderful things that happened in the legislature this past session. But what we’re not hearing is about those who are trying to make it working on minimum wage, those who can’t afford childcare, and we haven’t even begun the conversation about the working poor in our state. It’s time to be honest about our state as a whole and hear the rest of the story.”

 

The statewide Dem-NPL Legislative tour will continue next week in Williston and Dickinson and conclude in Fargo and Grand Forks at the end of the month.