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State Representative Michael Beard
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-8872
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Budget
To the editor:
On Monday, during a special session, the House passed a bill to balance the $3.1 billion budget deficit without increasing the tax burden on Minnesota families. After nearly four months of dawdling, the majority party and the Governor agreed to terms in the waning hours of Sunday night, and we passed the bill Monday morning to pull Minnesota out of the red.
The good news is we balanced the budget without raising taxes. The bad news is the plan does nothing to address the long-term deficit, and that is why I did not support it. The next legislature has a $5.8 billion deficit staring them in the face. With even modest reform, we could have reduced the deficit by at least $2 billion for the next legislature.
The bill accounts for the majority of the deficit by enacting most of Gov. Pawlenty’s unallotments on a one-time basis. My Republican colleagues and I were pushing to make these cuts permanent, but this was part of the compromised reached with the DFL who wanted them to remain one-time. We have been living with the unallotments for more than a year and no major catastrophes have ensued. Most programs have already reworked their budgets around the unallotments anyway and making them permanent would have greatly reduced the long-term deficit.
A funding shift in K-12 education will make up the remainder of the deficit. Payments will be delayed to schools, but they will get 100 percent of the funding they need. This measure is not ideal, but delays like this have been used 18 times before. The money has always been paid back in full each time. The shift does protect schools from the other alternative—funding cuts.
Health care was a contentious issue during negotiations. The GAMC reform, that my colleagues and I worked so hard for, remains intact and is beefed up by some additional funding to help rural hospitals provide care. This nation-leading reform saves taxpayers more than $700 million while still preserving coverage to those who need it.
House leadership pushed hard for the early adoption of Medical Assistance, sometimes referred to as Obamacare. We were able to keep early enrollment out of the agreement, but as a compromise, the next governor can choose whether or not to participate early. Doing so would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and give the federal government even more control of our health care programs.
I’m pleased we were able to balance this deficit without raising taxes, but this is just another quick fix. It’s time to stop kicking the can down the road. As we make these budget decisions we need to look past the immediate need and enact structural reforms to change the way government operates. My Republican colleagues and I have offered numerous ideas to help reduce the long-term cost of government. Ideas like reducing the size of the public sector workforce, zero-based budgeting and creating a Sunset Commission to end out-dated or inefficient programs have all been ignored.
I will continue to work for fiscal responsibility in this state. We must address these long-term budgetary problems so are children are not left picking up the tab. It is my honor to serve as your representative as we work to “right size” our state’s government.
Yours for a more prosperous Minnesota,
Mike Beard
State Representative
District 35A
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