Capitol View: May 17, 2011 Archive
The Daily Digest
Posted at 6:21 AM on May 17, 2011
by Tom Scheck
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Daily Digest
Get ready for gridlock. Gov. Dayton revised his budget plan with the hopes of compromising with Republicans on the state budget but they flat out rejected it. This is the second time Dayton has moved on his budget plan. Republicans haven't moved at all on their budget targets from March and are now preparing to send their budget to Dayton. They say they were elected to hold the line on spending and that's what they'll do.
Tidbit: Read Dayton's offer and watch video of his newser here.
Republicans are putting forward a budget plan that spends $33.9 billion over the next two years. The targets are lower than what the House and Senate proposed in March. Read the targets here.
Dayton will be on MPR's Midday today at 11am.
GOP Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers were on MPR's Midday yesterday. Listen to the show here.
DFL Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk and DFL Minority Leader Paul Thissen were on MPR's Midmorning on Tuesday. Listen to that show here.
Tidbit: Republicans say there are no GOP votes for Dayton's plan. Democrats say their caucuses will unanimously support it.
The U of M's law school prepares for the loss of all state funding.
Same Sex Marriage Amendment
Opponents of a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage packed the State Capitol on Monday.
Bullying
MPR conducted a six-month investigation into bullying in the state's schools. It found that the state's laws on bullying are much weaker than other states. Take a look at the entire series here.
Vikings Stadium
Gov. Dayton and lawmakers will meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this morning to discuss the Vikings stadium.
Goodell may be asked about an appeals court ruling that keeps the NFL lockout in place.
The Star Tribune says business executives are working behind the scenes on the stadium front.
Fortune 500
3M may be grooming its next CEO.
Under the Dome
The Minnesota Senate passed new limits on abortion.
A federal court upholds the state's political disclosure laws.
The Senate votes to bump up the speed limit on I-35E. It's unlikely to mean anything since a court order mandated the speed limit in the first place.
The Senate confirmed Ag Commissioner Dave Frederickson.
Congress
The U.S. speeds up direct talks with the Taliban.
President Obama will deliver a speech on Middle East policy on Thursday.
The U.S. Supreme Court approved more warrantless searches.
DFL Rep. Keith Ellison will discuss Arab Spring and Anti-Semitism at two different events this week.
Race for the U.S. Senate
Republican Dan Severson faces a tough challenge in a run against DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Watch video of Severson's announcement here.
Race for President
Donald Trump isn't running.
Mitt Romney raised $10.25 million in a single day.
Newt Gingrich campaigned in Iowa but it was a rough start after he criticized proposed GOP changes to Medicare as "Right wing social engineering."
CBS News says Bachmann is likely to get into the race.
AP takes a look at Bachmann's political ascension.
The Washington Post's Michael Gerson says Tim Pawlenty has the edge on Republican populism.
Pawlenty added a South Carolina staffer.
(4 Comments)Dayton rips GOP as "totally unreasonable."
Posted at 12:05 PM on May 17, 2011
by Tom Scheck
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton
Gov. Dayton was on MPR's Midday program today. He said he is no closer to reaching a budget deal with Republican legislative leaders. He repeated his claim that he won't move off of his revenue target of $1.8 billion to help erase the state's $5 billion projected budget deficit. Dayton also criticized Republicans for not wanting to move off of their budget plan.
"How do you negotiate with people who are completely unreasonable?," Dayton asked on the show.
Dayton was on the show just two hours after he met privately with GOP legislative leaders. It sounds like he will meet privately with the Republican caucuses of both the House and Senate later today.
Republicans appear to be ready to send Dayton some of the pieces of their budget plan to Dayton regardless of approval.
Dayton said he won't sign any of the budget bills or the Tax bill until he has agreement on all of the bills. Lawmakers have until May 23rd to finish their work. Dayton wouldn't say when he'll call a special session but said he's less optimistic that a deal can be reached.
On other items being discussed at the Legislature.
Dayton will likely veto the abortion bills. "I won't sign those," Dayton said when asked about those bills.
He said he stands with law enforcement on the "Stand your Ground" bill and doesn't support it.
He also said he won't sign a redistricting bill unless it has bipartisan support. It doesn't.
Listen to the full show here:
Franken debuts consumer rights bill
Posted at 2:03 PM on May 17, 2011
by Brett Neely
(1 Comments)
Filed under: U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON - Responding to a recent Supreme Court decision, DFL Sen. Al Franken today unveiled a bill to allow consumers to sue companies, even when they had already waived that right by signing a boilerplate contract.
The Supreme Court decision in AT&T vs. Concepion allows companies to prevent class-action lawsuits by inserting language into contracts that requires signatories to enter mandatory arbitration and give up their right to sue.
The decision applies not just to consumer cases, but also to employment and civil rights laws.
Franken's bill, introduced jointly with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), would ban those mandatory arbitration clauses from contracts.
The bill is unlikely to pass in both chambers of Congress due to the highly partisan atmosphere on Capitol Hill these days.
But it is likely to please trial lawyers, a key Democratic constituency.
According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, lawyers are the biggest single source of campaign contributions to Franken's campaign, giving more than $1.3 million to his campaign committee and leadership PAC between 2005 and 2010.
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