Pawlenty blasts federal money he counted on in January

Posted at 3:20 PM on August 10, 2010 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: Tim Pawlenty, U.S. House

Gov. Pawlenty today issued a news release criticizing Congress for passing legislation that would provide financial assistance to states to pay teachers.

"The federal government should not deficit spend to bail out states and special interest groups. Minnesota balanced its budget without raising taxes and without relying on more federal money. The federal government's reckless spending spree must come to an end. "

Pawlenty, who appears to be preparing for a 2012 White House run, isn't telling the whole story when it comes to Minnesota's budget picture.

In January, Pawlenty proposed a budget that relied on $400 million in FMAP money from the federal government-- the same funds in the bill the House passed today. Pawlenty and lawmakers changed course only after they realized Congress wouldn't provide the money by the time the legislative session ended. They agreed to put the funds, if they became available, into reserve.

The Congressional action means the state now has a cash cushion and may not have to borrow money to pay bills as State Finance officials predicted in July.

Pawlenty also fails to mention that he relied heavily on federal money to balance the state's books in 2009.

It should also be noted that the budget adopted by Pawlenty and the DFL controlled Legislature delayed $1.2 billion in payments to schools that will eventually have to be paid back.

The reliance on federal funds, the school funding shift and other one-time funds mean Minnesota's budget problems will get worse when Pawlenty leaves office. The next governor is expected to inherit a $5.8 billion projected budget deficit for the next two year budget cycle. Factor in inflation and the shortfall amounts to $6.9 billion

Comments (4)

Tim Pawlenty sure is good at shirking his responsibility for the office that he was elected for, especially considering that he is wasting his time campaigning for an office he could never seriously hope to win.

Posted by Joshua Miller | August 10, 2010 8:17 PM

Nice job dissecting our disingenuous absentee governor, Tom.

Posted by Karl | August 10, 2010 8:27 PM

Former Governor Pawlenty a hypocrite? Surely you jest. Former Governor Tim is grateful that Federal Stimulus $$$ bailed his donkey out of the budget mess he worked so hard to create. ...and check out the countless days, er, minutes, er, nanoseconds that he's dedicated to supporting Republican local and state candidates in this year's campaign. Bite the various hands that feed him? Not our Gracious Tim.

Posted by Ralph Crammedin | August 11, 2010 8:15 AM

While Timmy's right hand is up saying stop stop the deficet spending his left hand is held open using that same money to balance the state's budget. Pa-lenty of hypocrisy. Run Timmy run. Let your record of no tax increases (but Pa-lenty of fee increases and pushing the burden to other units of government to increase taxes). You've got a snowball's chance in .... to win a nomination for President.

Posted by Greg K | August 12, 2010 9:52 AM

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