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News From Representative Anderson
Both houses of the Legislature released their spending targets yesterday, with House Republicans being briefed on our numbers before they were made public. Of course when the deficit is this large, significant cuts have to be made. Our package reduces future government spending by $3.8 billion, in addition to providing some tax relief to lower and middle income taxpayers. In total, the House Republican plan calls for $33.9 billion in spending over the coming two years, with the biggest share of that going to K-12 education. I am pleased that our kids' education is still this state's top priority, and this budget proposal shows that.
Under current state law, projected state spending was due to increase by 29 percent, which is unsustainable. Even with these proposed cuts, over-all spending compared to the last biennium will increase by just over 4 percent. Under Governor Dayton's plan, which was released several weeks ago, state spending during fiscal years 2012 and '013 would go up by 14 percent.
This plan balances the state budget with no tax increases. It reduces state agency funding by 15 percent and freezes public employee salaries for two years. Over-all, it reduces projected spending by 13 percent.
My other main priority was to insure that our nursing homes do not suffer any cuts. This budget does that, in addition to holding veterans and our courts harmless.
Both sides are obviously far apart in their budget proposals. Now the real work of setting the actual spending within each department begins. It's my hope that we can accomplish that by May 23rd.
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Sincerely,
Paul