ST. PAUL – As productive state budget negotiations were ongoing between Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leadership, the GOP abruptly ended talks Tuesday. Instead, they began passing their own conference committee budget bills, which the Governor had already said he would veto.
“In Minnesota, when we have differences with one another, we sit down and talk about them. There are just 12 days left in the session and it’s completely reckless for the GOP to walk away from the table,” Rep. Jennifer Schultz (DFL – Duluth) said. “This maneuver shows Speaker Daudt and his caucus are not serious about getting our work done on time, and the only thing they are serious about is trying to blame Gov. Dayton when their recklessness sends us to special session.”
Monday afternoon, Gov. Dayton offered a series of compromise proposals to the Republicans in the majority of the House and Senate. Rather than responding with counteroffers, as they initially indicated they would, they began setting up floor votes for the veto-bound bills.
Rep. Schultz served on the conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Health and Human Services budget bill. While she had hoped to have the opportunity to provide meaningful input, deals were struck behind closed doors in her absence.
“I drove down from Duluth this past Saturday to participate in the discussion per Gov. Dayton’s request, and to offer my thoughts how to fix the GOP’s half billion dollars of false savings and other harmful provisions, like giveaways to insurance executives and a lack of support for home care workers,” Rep. Schultz said. “Instead, the discussion didn’t start until after the Republicans told Sen. Lourey and I to leave. Any talk about an open process from the GOP so far is simply rhetoric; they have no interest in listening to Minnesotans.”
With the clock ticking down on the session, Rep. Schultz is hopeful bipartisan compromise can be reached, but it will require a different approach from the Republicans.
“It’s clear that the Republicans in the majority know that these bills are not serious, and are completely unacceptable to Gov. Dayton in their current form because they don’t invest in Minnesota’s values. Since inflation isn’t included on the expenditure side, we have very little surplus, and these bills, with large tax cuts for the rich and well-connected, will lead to massive deficits in the future.” Rep. Schultz said. “To get us on course to a productive end of session, this process must be accountable to the public with open, transparent dialog, and numbers set in reality, and not rhetoric.”
The constitutional deadline for adjournment is midnight May 22.