A day after signaling his intention to veto a government pension overhaul, Gov. Tim Pawlenty adopted a different strategy.

Pawlenty at a press conference Thursday indicated the pension change could become a variable in negotiations to resolve a stalemate between Republicans and DFLers over balancing the state budget.

"It's on my desk," Pawlenty said of the pension package. "I'm going to hold it for a few days until we see how the negotiations go."

The House and Senate Wednesday passed the pension overhaul by wide margins with enough Republican support to override a veto if the votes remained the same.

Soon after passage Wednesday, Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung was emphatic about Pawlenty's intentions: "The pensions bill lacks significant reform, continues to provide future increases, mandates additional costs to local governments and makes the structural budget worse by tens of millions of dollars. Despite their rhetoric, Democrats keep piling millions of dollars onto the future budget deficit, which is already at least $4.6 billion under their plan. This bill will be vetoed."

In passing the pension overhaul, legislators warned that doing otherwise would result in more expensive fixes in the future. The overhaul provided for higher contributions from government employees and cities, counties and the state, and curtailed benefits for retirees. It is projected to save $2.1 billion in current pension obligations over five years.