Accessibility menu
State Representative Kurt Zellers
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5502
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
DON’T MAX THE CREDIT CARD
By State Rep. Kurt Zellers,
District 32B
In what has become an annual ritual at the Capitol, legislators have once again gone on a spending spree to fund earmarked pork projects instead of focusing on real infrastructure needs like roads and bridges.
The billion dollar bonding bills of 2005 and 2006 were supposed to help our state. They were going to create jobs, and solve state problems. The bonding bill of 2007, which did not survive the veto pen of the Governor, also made the same promise.
Here we are, in 2008, and we hear the same rhetoric as to why we need this bonding bill. In fact, if you saw the debate on the House Floor you likely would not have heard the bill being called a bonding bill. Instead it was consistently labeled as a “Jobs Bill” by the Democrats in control.
The economic forecast for our state that we released last week shows we are now in a deficit and looking at shortages in the future. There is currently a $935 million budget deficit. We constantly hear on the news about how the national economy is slowing down. With these economic conditions the Democrats in control of the Minnesota Legislature want to go on a spending spree and put it all on the state credit card.
Our non-partisan state economist, Dr. Tom Stinson, strongly warned our Legislative leaders that if we want to protect the fiscal integrity of our state we cannot bond for more than $825 million. Should we go over that amount we will seriously harm the credit rating for our state and damage future lending rates. This would be extremely fiscally irresponsible.
What was the response of the Democrat dominated House of Representatives? They passed a $1 Billion bonding bill filled with $11 million dollars for a gorilla exhibit, a brass band sheet music museum and earmarked projects for members all over the state. They decided to throw fiscal responsibility out the window in exchange for political goodies to be brought home at the expense of the hardworking taxpayers of our state. And what makes this even harder to swallow; it was only a week after they passed the largest tax increase in State history – the $6.6 billion transportation tax increase.
So let’s fund priorities. Let’s make sure our roads and bridges are safe. Let’s ensure the safety of our families. Let’s make sure our children are receiving a good education. Let’s leave the pork projects out. We must be fiscally responsible.
--30--
News Items
- Legislative Update (April 20, 2013) - (Posted: Apr 20 2013 2:43PM)
- Zellers Statement on House DFL Budget Framework - (Posted: Mar 19 2013 4:57PM)
- ZELLERS STATEMENT ON FEBRUARY FORECAST - (Posted: Mar 1 2013 6:02PM)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.