Minnesota's budget and shutdown

Senators respond to Pawlenty's new budget proposal

St. Paul, Minn. — Using federal stimulus funds, Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposes a further increase for K-12 schools and restores cuts made to colleges and universities.

He proposes spending $27 million more on schools, and $304 million on higher education. The governor also delays changes in eligibility for subsidized health care programs.

The Senate DFL has proposed across-the-board cuts, and a higher income tax. DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher says she doesn't think the governor's budget is balanced, and is planning to release the House DFL budget plan on Friday.

Guests

• Richard Cohen: State senator, DFL-St. Paul, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
• Geoff Michel: State senator, R-Edina, Assistant Minority Leader and member of the Senate Capital Investment Committee and the Education Committees.

More from MPR

• Pawlenty uses stimulus money to reverse budget cuts
  March 17, 2009
• Pawlenty's budget forecast assumes property tax hikes
  March 17, 2009
• New tax plan up for discussion at the Capitol
  March 16, 2009
• Senate DFLers propose $1 billion in education cuts
  March 12, 2009

Resources

• News Cut: Live-blogging the budget