This week is known nationwide as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness week, and at the State Capitol, we recently designated March 11 as "MS Day on the Hill." As you know, I along with 400,000 people across the nation suffer from MS, so I was pleased to see so many people involved with the MS movement this year taking their concerns to St. Paul.
On Monday, I was honored to serve as guest speaker at the annual National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Minnesota Chapter Capital Conference in Roseville. Besides sharing my MS story, I told those attending how to effectively lobby lawmakers when they visited the State Capitol on March 11, and told them how I deal with the disease on a daily basis.
My advice to fellow MS sufferers was simple. I told them to listen to their body, their family and their doctor, and above all else, to smile. If they choose to let this disease make them miserable, they will be. If they choose to be happy and engaged, they can be as successful as they want to be.
On the legislative front, our capital investment bill is currently being debated in a House/Senate conference committee in order to craft compromise legislation. But our top priority from here on out will be eliminating the $935 million budget deficit. Gov. Pawlenty has already given lawmakers a framework of how he would like the shortfall eliminated; hopefully the legislature will quickly follow suit.
