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State Representative Tara Mack
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5506
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
PRESS RELEASE
Rep. Mack Reacts to the Budget Bill
On Monday the House successfully passed a bill intended to be the first of three parts to balance the current $1 billion budget deficit. The bill covers approximately $312 million worth of reductions but does not address HHS or K- 12 Education, the areas that account for 70 percent of general fund spending. House leadership has rough proposals on how to address the additional deficit but have not yet put legislation forward.
State Representative Tara Mack (R-Apple Valley, Burnsville) voted against the bill because she disagrees with the approach House leadership is taking to balancing the budget.
“This piecemeal approach is leading us to a false choice between raising taxes or cutting money to our schools. It doesn’t need to be this way,” she said.
Mack believes state government needs structural change not just one-time spending reductions. The bill does nothing to address the looming $5.8 billion deficit next biennium.
“A number of my colleagues proposed long-term, cost-saving ideas, but the majority party used parliamentary procedure to block most of these from even being voted on,” said Mack. “When tackling a problem as important as the budget all points of view need to be heard.”
House leadership’s plan also fails to address the additional $2.7 billion that will be added to the deficit if their lawsuit is successful.
“Leadership used $25,000 in taxpayer money to sue to overturn the unallotments Gov. Pawlenty used to balance the budget last year,” said Mack. “I believe if they are confident enough in the suit’s merit to use taxpayer dollars, their budget plan must address that additional deficit.”
Mack said balancing the budget is the most important task facing the legislature this session and a long-term solution must be reached.
“The situation calls for more than the band-aid of one-time spending reductions,” she said. “We need surgery—dramatic structural changes—so we do not end up in this same position year after year.”
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