Aaron Rosenthal

We love to brag when Minnesota is the best. This isn’t a list we want to be high on.

Minnesota has the fourth largest teacher pay penalty in the country. Our teachers make 33% less than other workers with a college degree.

Nationwide, the gap is the largest it’s ever been and growing.

Minnesota's Republican Members of Congress voting to hurt tens of thousands of their constituents, so they can send even more money to their billionaire supporters. This is the real class warfare, and Minnesotans are losing.

Just wait until people find out their health care and food costs are skyrocketing, and their kids' childcare is closing all so that we could spend $170 billion more doing this unpopular stuff.

#CoolJobAlert Come work with me! This is an incredible opportunity to design a communications strategy aimed at helping working Minnesotans thrive! Feel free to reach out with any questions!

northstarpolicy.org/hiring/

Opinion: Big Beautiful Bill’s AI regulation moratorium would imperil Minnesota workers and consumers "Minnesota workers deserve an economy where AI innovation and worker welfare go together," writes Aaron Rosenthal, research director at North Star Policy Action.

The Giant Nightmare bill moving through the Senate is bad. Really bad. Our @aaronrosenthal.bsky.social wrote about the growing threat to workers and consumers from AI, and why we needed Minnesota's members of Congress to strike this moratorium on regulations.

www.startribune.com/big-beautifu...

Update since publishing: the Senate has voted to strip the AI moratorium out of the legislation! A win for workers across the country!

Finally, AI adding $7 trillion in wealth could be great, but without regulation, we know that wealth will only flow to the already rich. Sam Altman is already predicting AI creating the world’s first trillionaires (oh joy). Only labor protections will prevent AI from exacerbating existing inequality

Also, these AI policies are not random, as the author claims. Does she think state legislatures are picking AI regulations out of a hat? The policies being considered and passed are thoughtfully crafted pieces of legislation. More than can be said for the author’s arguments.

Don’t claw back progress: The stakes for Minnesota in rolling back clean energy infrastructure aid It’s been of benefit across the state — rural counties in particular.

If you want to see the feds build something like highways again, maybe you should tell Congress not to strip out all of the nation’s funding for clean energy infrastructure! As I said previously, that will help communities across MN (and especially Republican areas).

Opinion: The U.S. can be an AI leader — if states stay out of the way "Today, we need a durable AI superhighway. And Congress needs to enact the proposed moratorium to ensure that this industry is allowed to flourish in America," Annette Meeks writes.

And thoughts on the opposition commentary using the federal highways as an analogy. Highway construction was heavily regulated (unlike the feds approach to AI)! And highway construction ruined lives when it failed to listen to affected communities (e.g. Rondo). Maybe not the best comparison?

Opinion: Big Beautiful Bill’s AI regulation moratorium would imperil Minnesota workers and consumers "Minnesota workers deserve an economy where AI innovation and worker welfare go together," writes Aaron Rosenthal, research director at North Star Policy Action.

My commentary in the @startribune.com highlights a lower profile piece of the Big Horrible Bill: a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation. With AI capacity advancing rapidly, we need policies that align worker welfare with AI innovation, NOT a full ban on state reform.

Minnesota Poll: Donald Trump’s approval rating at 45%, similar to first-term highs The poll found strong support in the suburbs and in greater Minnesota for the president’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in L.A.

Not a fan of the headline here. Trump's approval ratings in MN may be near "first-term highs" as the headline points out, but so are his disapproval ratings! At 54%, more Minnesotans disapprove of Trump today than in September of 2020, mid-pandemic and 2 months before he lost an election!

Great rundown of labor legislation from @maxnesterak.bsky.social and @minnesotareformer.com. Lots of great pro-worker defense! Also happy to see our worker misclassification numbers cited and even happier to see that MN will be carrying out its own analysis thanks to @emmagreenman.bsky.social

As @mprnews.org points out, MN passed almost no new AI laws even as the federal gov't seeks to ban state AI regulation for 10 years. We found that 500,000 MN workers are at high risk of AI impact and highlighted ways to align AI innovation with worker welfare. The time for action is now!

Health insurers are reporting 14-26% increase in health care costs in MN next year, driven by Trump and Congressional Republicans cutting people's health insurance.

🚨NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THIS DISASTROUS BILL. Even if you get to keep your insurance, your premiums are about to skyrocket!

📉Our State of Working Minnesota report finds a major shift: fewer Minnesotans are earning poverty wages. In 2024, the share of workers earning below poverty wages dropped by more than 12%. Recent gains have been particularly strong in communities of color.

🔗 northstarpolicy.org/sowmn-2025/

Lots to celebrate for working Minnesotans. Unfortunately, that also means a lot to worry about, with pending federal cuts threatening so much of the progress made in the North Star State.

"We don’t have to choose between abundant housing and fair pay. In fact, the best way to build more homes quickly and sustainably is to restore the natural alliance between pro-housing advocates and the people who build housing." Our @aaronrosenthal.bsky.social together with @moreneighbors.org

People who build homes 🤝 Abundant housing advocates.

These are natural allies, so it's been concerning to see them pitted against each other. I wrote this post for @moreneighbors.org to call for a pro-housing, pro-labor coalition to come together to build more and build right.

Local View: Stauber could have killed bill that will hurt his constituents From the column: "Whose way of life (is he fighting for)? The Wall Street executive in New York City? The tech billionaire in San Francisco? Or the working family on the Iron Range?"

Rep. Stauber likes to say he's "fighting for our way of life." Casting the deciding vote for the GOP budget shows he's fighting for Wall Street execs in NYC and tech billionaires in San Fran, not working families in MN's 8th Congressional District.

www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/colu...

I would love to hear someone (and particularly MN's Republican Congressional delegation) explain how this proposal isn't a loss for everyone.

Fewer jobs. ✅
Less clean energy. ✅
More expensive electricity. ✅
Trillions of dollars in lost private investment. ✅

👏MAKE👏IT👏MAKE👏SENSE

The GOP Congress is planning a massive bill that will give huge tax cuts to the rich while taking health care and food from the poor. And it has lots of other bad ideas, like prohibiting states from regulating AI. Our research shows why this is such a bad idea.

northstarpolicy.org/progress-and...

I love paying taxes and knowing they’re helping people get medical care, food, and help with housing. Do we think “Make taxes great again” could be a thing?

This left graph showing tax breaks in terms of dollar amounts vs percentages illustrates how expensive it is to cut taxes for the wealthy. Meanwhile, the small breaks given to the poorest 40% are dwarfed by cuts to social programs.

The Trump administration wants to take health care away from working people to cut taxes for the rich.

Minnesota then has a choice: play into Trump's hands and cut Medical Assistance. Or (and I know this may sound silly) KEEP TAXES ON THE RICH IN THE SAME PLACE SO PEOPLE STILL HAVE HEALTH CARE.

Post in which I reimagine pitching the DOGE cuts as a bad movie. If only that were true....

Opinion: Here’s how the DOGE-related cuts reach down into our lives Progress on occupational safety, for instance, is at risk of reversing.

The author of this piece sits on our Research Advisory Committee. He just lost his job because of Elon Musks's cuts. But he's more concerned about all the workers who will be harmed on the job as programs like NIOSH are destroyed.

www.startribune.com/heres-how-th...

One good job should be enough • Minnesota Reformer Workers could go on strike this year if an agreement is not reached, and we urge customers to support good jobs in our communities.

Hoping to retire at 80.
Not being able to get a tooth pulled.
Eating toast for dinner so your son can eat a full meal.
Minnesota grocery store workers deserve so much better.

minnesotareformer.com/2025/04/15/o...

Opinion: Here’s how the DOGE-related cuts reach down into our lives Progress on occupational safety, for instance, is at risk of reversing.

Great piece in the Strib today from Minnesota's own Adam Moskowitz on how Musk's DOGE cuts are hurting workers twice over by laying off talented people whose jobs protect other workers from harm. The Trump administration's hostility towards working people is so transparent.

Today would also be a good day