Thursday, May 19, 2011

Minnesota - No budging on state budget

No budging on state budget

  • Article by: BAIRD HELGESON , Star Tribune
  • Updated: May 18, 2011 - 11:05 PM
Dayton vows to "reject" GOP budget as Republicans stay dug in on no tax increases. Chances of a deal look bleak.

Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday took his hardest line yet against the Republican budget plan, vowing to "reject" the proposals creeping through the Legislature.
Dayton stopped just short of saying he would veto the budget bills, but his strong words and the GOP's refusal to budge on his tax proposal make it increasingly likely the budget divide will not be bridged by Monday's deadline.
"I'm still pessimistic," the governor told reporters. "The time is extremely limited but, again, I think that's their responsibility not mine. ... There hasn't been any opportunity for us to negotiate these in any meaningful way."
After Dayton's comments, Republican leaders slipped into a news conference to say the governor has made "no effort" to negotiate with them or clearly articulate his concerns.
"There's been a real lack of leadership" from the governor, said Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo. Clearly frustrated, Koch added: "It's hard to have words."
The budget showdown is the culmination of two years of profoundly divergent budget philosophies that propelled Dayton to the governor's office, but also handed Republicans control of the Legislature for the first time in a generation. Dayton wants to raise taxes on the richest 2 percent of Minnesotans to eliminate a $5 billion projected shortfall, but Republicans are equally dug in over their refusal to raise taxes.
If they fail to reach accord by the deadline, a special session and possibly a government shutdown would become necessary to force a budget deal.
The faintest glimmer of hope for a timely conclusion came in an early evening announcement that Dayton would make his case to rank-and-file Republicans in a closed-door meeting Thursday morning. But Dayton, who already has halved his signature tax proposal and upped his proposed budget cuts, said he's compromised enough. The GOP plan, he said, is "not responsible and it's not going to happen."
Another showdown is brewing over the issue of gay marriage.
The House rules committee on Wednesday agreed 13-12 to put a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to a full House vote -- a move that prompted tears from members of some gay rights advocacy groups who packed the room.
Dayton later said he opposed the amendment "with every fiber of my being" and will work to defeat it.
Pushing to deadline
The tough talk between Dayton and Republicans came as the Legislature began a second full day of marathon floor sessions to finalize five months worth of budget bills. Legislators were still grinding through bills at press deadline.
House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said, "We are going to send the governor a balanced budget" no matter what the governor does. "We have a constitutional mandate to balance the budget, and we are going to meet that deadline," he said.
The Senate approved a $600 million state government finance bill that would reduce the state workforce by 15 percent by 2015 and impose steep cuts to state agencies.
The party-line 37-29 vote came after a sprawling, four-hour debate that featured some deliberate segues by DFLers, including Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, who gave a detailed history of King Tut and a recitation of dinosaur exhibits, complete with butchered names of the terrestrial vertebrates. She was, she said, making a point about the value of the Science Museum, which is scheduled for reductions in the Republican bill.
By a 36-28 vote, the Senate also approved the mammoth $10.9 billion health and human services budget, about one-third of the state's budget.
The proposal increases spending in those areas by $500 million over the next two years, but is about $1.6 billion below what is needed to maintain current levels of service.
Republicans frame the measure as bringing long-overdue reductions and reforms to how the state cares for the poor, sick and disabled, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie.
It's also a part of the budget most at odds with Dayton's proposal.
Overall, the measure seeks to cut federal involvement with state health care for the low income and privatizes, trims or ends a wide range of programs. It also reverses Dayton's earlier move of 95,000 low-income Minnesotans from state coverage to the federal-state Medicaid program.
"This isn't a perfect bill," Hann said. "But it's a realistic attempt to look at what funds we have available and try to prioritize and bring about long-term reforms."
For more than five hours, Senate DFLers peppered Hann with questions, criticisms and stories of poor and sick people they said would be harmed by the bill.
"This bill sets us back about 30 years," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
It was just the latest in a succession of long debates.
A long night
The night before, House members worked until dawn pushing through budget bills over the objections of DFL egislators.
Shortly after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Republicans were nearing a vote on the omnibus tax bill when DFL leaders delayed discussion for more than an hour to debate a motion to continue past midnight. Legislators eventually went well past midnight and passed the tax bill 71-58.
That was followed by the higher education budget bill, which DFLers argued would lead to higher tuition or program cuts at Minnesota's public colleges. That bill passed just after 2 a.m.
Debate then moved to the largest slice of the budget, K-12 education. The massive funding bill allocates about 40 percent of the state's general fund budget and contains many controversial policy provisions, which extended debate until after 6 a.m.
As the sun rose, Republican staffer Kevin Watterson tweeted: "This is dumb. I'm done tweeting about people talking for an hour about how they're (too) tired to talk for another hour."
Staff writers Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, Eric Roper, Bob von Sternberg and Warren Wolfe contributed to this report. Baird Helgeson • 651-222-1288

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