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State Representative John Lesch
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4224
For more information contact: Nick Halter 651-297-1934
NEWS COLUMN
Making the Tough Decisions
Yesterday in the house we passed a contentious bill of budget cuts. This came a day after many Democrats in Congress risked their political careers to pass historic reforms to our healthcare system. It is hard to draw comparisons from a policy stand-point. Our bill is related to reducing Minnesota’s budget deficit and the national bill dealt with extending health insurance. But both have one very important thing in common.
They sent a message to constituents of all stripes. We declared that Democrats at the state and national level are ready to lead. Our legislation showed that we are willing to make the hard choices. Instead of looking back or putting our heads in the sand we stood up and made tough choices on our budget. This is what Minnesotans expected us to do when they elected us to the state house.
Unlike the Governor, we approached our cuts with the idea that we would do everything we could to support our communities. The Governor presented us with a plan to reduce Local Government Aid (LGA) by about $250 million. What this shows is that Pawlenty is breaking another promise. During his budget presentation he stated that one area of the budget off limits to cuts is public safety. But go out into any city, county, or township and they will tell you LGA pays for those very things.
Our Governor has a bad habit of not calling a spade a spade. By cutting $250 million in LGA he’s getting rid of monies that fund support staff for our emergency services (like police and fire) along with other vital services that make our neighborhoods livable. When he makes such a large cut to LGA what he’s really saying is that public safety isn’t a big priority.
We knew that LGA had to be reduced. With that in mind we approved a cut of $105 million to LGA aids and credits. While not an insignificant number it is over 50 percent less than the Governor’s measure. The House realized that cities couldn’t function with such a severe cut to their budgets. So we decided to do the right thing rather than the political thing.
There is a total cut of $312 million in our proposals. Those reductions come from areas like transportation and higher education. In total they represent cuts to ten budget areas while excluding health and human services and k-12 education. There were many difficult choices to make but without them, our overall budget wouldn’t work.
Interestingly, Republicans failed to support us. You would think a party that declares we need to live within our means would vote for these measures. But they have been busy playing political games at the expense of their constituents. It is much easier to sit back and refuse to offer any support or ideas for budget solutions. Much harder is to deliver on the promise that hard decisions will be made and followed through on.
History is marked by leaders who took the long view. Those who didn’t listen to the instant analysis and followed what they thought their people needed. It was difficult to cut programs that have served many. But it was the necessary thing to do. I can live with that faced with a variety of bad choices; we made the decisions that were necessary for our great state.
News Items
- Rep. Lesch, Senator John Marty and Revenue Commissioner Frans to talk tax reform with area residents at St. Paul town hall meeting - (Posted: 2012-12-12 00:00:00)
- Rep. Lesch Named Chair of the House Civil Law Committee - (Posted: 2012-11-16 00:00:00)
- EARTH DAY A CHANCE FOR REFLECTION, ACTION - (Posted: 2012-04-17 00:00:00)
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