DFL ready to end session without final agreement with governor
After several days of trying to characterize the close proximity of an elusive budget agreement, DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller of Minneapolis was grasping early Monday morning for a new metaphor.
"I would say at the sock hop, the couple is dancing, but they're not quite touching yet," he said.
But that anticipated budget embrace is unlikely to happen this year. Negotiations on an overall agreement for a $35 billion, two-year budget shifted Sunday to a deliberately piecemeal approach. Pogemiller and his DFL colleagues were trying to iron out the remaining differences in the individual spending bills that cover education, state government and health care.
"Right now, we're trying to make sure that all three legs of the stool are happy. And I think what we're not totally clear on is whether everyone is happy," he said.
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The House and Senate quickly passed a reworked economic development bill. But no other bills were ready for action, and most lawmakers went home for the night late Sunday. That leaves them 15 hours on the final day to negotiate and pass the largest parts of the budget, as well as a tax bill.
DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich of Chisholm said he expects the Legislature to get its work done on time, and avoid a special session.
"We're going to do it by any way possible. When we come to agreement with the governor and with the Senate on what bills we can process, we're going to move them forward and get them to his desk," he said.
Sertich said DFL leaders will work with Gov. Pawlenty until the very end to make sure they pass bills he will sign. But the governor's spokesman, Brian McClung, said there is no agreement to sign any of the remaining bills and still no agreement on the spending targets.
"We're going to be examining all these bills very closely. Because in some cases, we weren't part of putting the final product together. And we're taking a look at them, and the governor is going to reserve his right to line item veto or veto bills that were put together like that," he said.
House and Senate negotiators completed work Sunday night on the two biggest parts of the budget, funding for public schools, as well as health care and social service programs. The revised K-12 education bill now includes a 2 percent increase in the basic funding formula in the first year and a 1 percent increase in the second.
Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, said a trimmed-down Health and Human Services bill will still provide health care coverage to many uninsured children.
"We will have I believe about 30,000 kids added to MinnesotaCare. So, that is a big step toward making sure all the kids in the state are covered," he said. "Certainly it doesn't cover them all but it's a significant step. And given the fiscal restraints that were agreed to, this is a significant increase."
Republicans were also tallying up their accomplishments. House Minority Leader Marty Seifert of Marshall said Republicans were successful in blocking bad policy, bloated spending plans and tax increases.
"Had we not had a Republican governor with a minority big enough to stop these things, we would have massive spending programs that are out of control and massive tax increases that would be unsustainable and unaffordable," he said.
House and Senate negotiators worked most of the night Sunday and into Monday morning to finish a tax bill. They reached a compromise with the governor for the partial closing a tax loophole that lets Minnesota companies shelter income through foreign subsidiaries.
The House and Senate will be scrambling to resolve other issues too before the midnight adjournment. Final action is still needed on a constitutional amendment to provide dedicated funding for natural and cultural resources. A vote to over ride the governor's veto of a gas tax increase is also likely in the closing hours of the session.
