Special legislative session looks unlikely in Minnesota

Despite support from state government's two top Democrats, a special legislative session to extend unemployment benefits for laid-off Iron Range mine workers appeared unlikely Thursday due to resistance by GOP House Speaker Kurt Daudt.

Gov. Mark Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk have pushed a special meeting of the Legislature, first for January and then in the first week of February. They wanted to extend unemployment benefits by 26 weeks for several hundred workers, and to start solving Minnesota's non-compliance with the federal Real ID requirement, and possibly to start addressing economic disparities afflicting Minnesota's black community.

"When people are really pushed to the brink of total disaster, that to me is when they need the government they depend upon," Dayton said. "And I hope that can be a bipartisan response."

http://www.startribune.com/special-legislative-session-looks-unlikely-in-minnesota/366102261/