Minnesota Legislature and your money

Video: Senate debates budget balancing bill

By Joe Spear
Free Press Editor

Watching the Minnesota Senate debate a budget balancing bill might seem like watching grass grow, but I say it's more like watching toast burn.

You know they're trying to cook up something we can all swallow but in the end it might just be an unappetizing piece of burnt toast and you'll have to start all over.

OK, enough bad food analogies.

I'll try to whittle this debate down and do what journalists are supposed to do in the day of the incessantly long and winded bloggers.

DFL-lead Senate pushed a bill they say is not a 50-50 compromise with Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Rather, they say they give 85 percent and the governor needs to give 15 percent.

The planned they passed Monday 34-33 called for $736 million in cuts, $433 million in tax hikes on those with incomes over $200,000 and delaying $1.75 billion in school payments.

They get that by taking things they don't like, cutting programs, and doing it to the tune of 85 percent of the solution.

The new taxes, something we know the governor doesn't like, makes up 15 percent of the solution.

The governor of course has said he will veto the bill because of the taxes. No surprise there. They way he said it shouldn't make us too proud of him.

Here is the Pawlenty's statement: "The DFL's proposed tax increase is like Jason on Friday the 13th - it's scary and it keeps coming back....I look forward to vetoing this DFL tax increase."

But the whole compromise issue is worth debate. If you don't want to do something - is it compromising to do it only 15 percent of the way?

The DFL says the governor's solution, having them ratify his unallotment of last year that was rejected by the Supreme Court, has already been defeated with many Republicans in the House joining DFLers in that vote to reject ratifying the cuts.

The governor's spokesman Brian McClung said those Republican votes in the House were a sign of Republicans good faith gesture to show they were willing to work with the DFL "on a plan that doesn't raise taxes."

I can't figure out what the DFL strategy is unless they think they can get some Republican votes for an override since Pawlenty won't be around to carry out any kind of retribution.

Stay tuned.