Obama Rips GOP’s “Radical Vision” For US

President Obama appears to have finally given up on negotiating with Republicans.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, President Obama ripped into Republicans for their lack of compromising and for the first time mentioned his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by name.

“This congressional Republican budget is something different altogether. It is a Trojan Horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it; a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training, research and development, our infrastructure — it is a prescription for decline.”

Full transcript of President Obama’s speech to the Associated Press luncheon.
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MN State Budget Forecast-A Small Surplus

Minnesota has a budget surplus. But it’s not a lot, and by law it will be used to restore the state’s “rainy day” fund and start paying back the more than $2 billion dollars the state owes school districts for delaying payments.

The forecast, and reaction from Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, Republicans and Democrats. … Continue Reading

MN Has A Surplus For A Change-Sort Of

State budget forecasters say Minnesota will have an $876 million surplus at the end of the year. That’s a welcome change from the multi-billion dollar deficit that greeted Governor Mark Dayton after he took over from departing Governor Tim Pawlenty.

But despite the good news, the states finances are a bit gloomy because the economy is expected to get worse through 2013.

DFL Chair Ken Martan says there is still really a deficit because the state has borrowed money from school districts.
“The economic forecast that was released today does not reflect the irresponsible borrow and spend tactics that the Republicans have used to balance our state’s budget. In spite of the surplus, Minnesota still has a $1.4 billion debt to our children and schools because the Republicans decided it was easier to take money from education rather than raise taxes on the rich. Middle class families are shouldering higher property taxes because the Republicans refused to make millionaires pay their fair share. Last summer’s state shutdown was completely due to the Republicans refusal to give an inch on taxes, a move which cost the state $60 million. The Republican budget strategies rely on one-time borrow and shift methods that have maxed out our state’s credit card; their celebration of today’s budget news is misguided.”

Continue reading to view video

Governor Dayton Signs Bills, Ends MN Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton’s has signed the 12 spending and borrowing bills the legislature passed in special session last night and early this morning.

His signature starts the process of restarting Minnesota government which has been mostly shut down since July 1st because Republican Leaders and the Governor could not agree on a state budget. After several weeks of enduring a shutdown, the Governor agreed to the Republicans last offer as long as it addressed just the budget and not policy issues such as abortion, stem cell research and school vouchers.

That caveat caused some rifts within the Republican party. Republican Senator Michelle Fischbach didn’t even vote for her own Higher Education bill because it didn’t contain the cloning research ban that she wanted in it. The bill passed 35-30.

Rep. Winkler Urges DFL “Spending Discipline” & End To GOP “Tax Obstructionism”

Video by Bill Sorem
Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL Golden Valley/St. Louis Park) says both Republicans and Democrats need to make changes to avoid future “very irresponsible” budgets like the one that will be passed during tonight’s special session. He said those changes will only happen if the public demand them.

Representative Winkler said the public needs to “demand that Republicans get off their tax obstructionism and they need to demand that Democrats maintain spending discipline even when we do raise revenues so we are investing in the right things for the state’s future.”

He says most DFL members will be voting against a “very irresponsible” budget. He says the only thing good about it is state government will reopen and people will go back to work. He says the real harm this budget will do is over the long term as Minnesota descends into “financial chaos”

Politically he says Republicans will be worse off because they are the ones borrowing 1.4 billion dollars and “putting the state into a fiscal train wreck situation”.

Representative Winkler says there are a lot of important progressive goals that Minnesota needs to accomplish and “this budget really undermines our ability to do any of those.”

“People need to be aware of how bad our state finances are. They need to get informed. They need to demand that Republicans get off their tax obstructionism and they need to demand that Democrats maintain spending discipline even when we do raise revenues so we are investing in the right things for the state’s future.”

More video: Representative Winkler floor speech about Republican borrowing bill. … Continue Reading

Governor Dayton Calls Special Session To End MN Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton and Legislative leaders this morning signed an agreement outlining the terms of a special session to complete the budget. The Governor has signed a proclamation calling the Minnesota Legislature into a special session beginning at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

Governor Dayton and leaders of the Republican Majority and the DFL Minority have agree to limit the session to just 12 bills.

To pass the bills in a timely manner, the agreement says the House and Senate rules will be suspended, as will the State’s constitution.

Under the agreement, no amendments to the bills will be considered.

The agreement and what bills are going to be considered.
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Reliance On Borrowing Prompts MN Constitutional Amendment

Frustration over a borrowing plan authored by Republicans and reluctantly endorsed by Governor Mark Dayton has led DFL and apparently Republican legislators to ask how state government borrowing can be prevented in the future.

A framework agreement between Republican legislative leaders and Governor Dayton calls for borrowing money from schools by delaying payments to them and borrowing money from yet-to-be-paid tobacco settlement dollars to close the state’s budget gap. The $1.4 billion in borrowing will cost much more than that to pay off.

Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) says when there is a special session, he will offer up a constitutional amendment that would not allow the state to do such borrowing. He says the amendment has the support of both DFLers and Republicans. The amendment would need approval of the voters in the 2012 general election.

“I think everyone will admit that putting our current deficit on the credit card is bad for Minnesota and we should retire this irresponsible budget practice for good,” said Representative Winkler in a press release.

Press release from Representative Winkler … Continue Reading

Gov Dayton Offers To End Shutdown

Governor Mark Dayton “reluctantly agrees” to the last Republican offer made on June 30 to end the Minnesota shutdown.

The last offer shifts school aid payments to $700 million dollars, and issues $700 million in “tobacco bonds” to cover the remaining gap.

Dayton added three conditions to his offer. First the Republicans must abide by their public statements that they will take all policy issues off the table. Second they must drop their arbitrary 15% across-the-board reduction to employees in all agencies, regardless of their funding source. Third, that after all the budget issues have been resolved in a special session, Republicans must support and pass a bonding bill in that session not less than $500 million to put people back to work throughout Minnesota.

If Republicans agree, a special session could begin within three days.

More video and Dayton’s offer to Republican leaders … Continue Reading

Teacher Says MN GOP Cramming Education Policy “Down Our Throats” In Budget Bill

In Rochester, Minnesota a teacher explained clearly why Governor Mark Dayton has not signed an education budget bill. While Governor Dayton and Republican leaders are close on the dollar amounts, the two sides are miles apart on the policy that shapes where those dollars are spent. The man spoke during a public forum Governor Dayton held in Rochester, Minnesota on the budget.

“It’s not just about the money. This is not just about the money. This is about trying to cram ideological policy. The K-12 education funding bill is 40 something pages long and most of that is policy that’s trying to be crammed down our throats, including vouchers, unfunded mandates things that education reforms that have not been data driven or shown to be effective. Governor Dayton said from the get-go, ‘get the policy items out of that bill. We hear much about the two sides being so close together, and I think they are in terms of the money, so my comment first of all is to the Republican leadership: get those policy items out (of) there. Maybe this log jam can be broken if people just sit down and all we’re going to do is talk about the dollars. (applause) ”

Related story: “Reality Check” from WCCO-TV finds Republican claim that Governor Dayton is close to agreement on education bill is not true. WCCO-TV reports the education bill contains policy “poison pills” that Governor Dayton will not accept.

Small Business Owners OK With Higher MN Taxes

Two owners of Minnesota small businesses give Governor Mark Dayton some unexpected support during his public budget discussion in Rochester, Minnesota.

“My name is Brad Nelson, I’m a member of the Rochester area chamber of commerce. I work in town and some years ago my wife and I started a small business.

“About five years ago we invested another, close to three-quarters of a million dollars in our business and not once ever did we discuss Minnesota tax rates. They’re irrelevant to me.

“If the tax rates to sustain the Minnesota I grew up in need to go up a little bit, as a small business owner and a member of the area chamber of commerce I’m more than happy to pay it. I’ll just go out and make more money. And that’s an incentive to me to make a little more money. We just never discuss Minnesota tax rates.

“I want the quality of life to stay the way it is in Minnesota, the way it is, the way I grew up in. And (Representative Steve) Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa), no offense, but we never discussed tax rates and I never would dream of leaving Minnesota. So thank you.”

During his brief statement at the forum today, Representative Steve Drazkowski (R_Mazeppa) did not say that taxes cause businesses to leave Minnesota. But the Republican party has made statements to that effect in the past.