Budget bills, while relatively modest, began clearing the Senate Tuesday night. The Senate approved the omnibus bill on jobs and economic development, which includes about $168 million to finance the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Department of Labor and Industry and the state's Housing Finance Authority. Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel, R-Edina, downplayed it as "a relatively small budget bill," given the size of the state's $5 billion deficit. Sen. Jim Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, criticized it for trimming some programs, saying that "this is a jobs bill that doesn't create any jobs." DFLers complained that the bill trims about $30 million from the state's job creation programs, including elimination of the state's trade office. "This just takes us in the wrong direction," said Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook. ""It's important work. Minnesota businesses need a trade office." "This is a piece of balancing the budget and trying to do things a bit differently," said Michel, the bill's sponsor. Later Tuesday, senators also approved the budget bill to pay for the state's courts and public safety agencies. Nearly half of its $1.7 billion cost would pay for corrections, including the state's prisons.

About $30 million in cuts are "far more cuts than are necessary," said Sen.Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park. Those cuts, he said, the state's Office of Justice program, the Human Rights Department, battered women's shelters, crime victim advocacy programs and local gang and drug strike forces.

Noting that most of the state's law enforcement organizations have opposed the bill, Sen. John Harrington, DFL-St. Paul, said the bill "will compromise public safety."

Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, defended the bill saying "Senate Democrats have refused to recognize we have a spending problem ... No bill is perfect."