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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about President Obama

Cravaack's Mille Lacs fish story has a happy ending

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 13, 2012 - 2:36 PM

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First-term Minnesota Republican Chip Cravaack, who was defeated for reelection, will get some consolation before leaving the U.S. House next month.
 
A modified version of his Mille Lacs Lake Freedom to Fish Act, which passed the House in August, made it through the Senate Wednesday evening under the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012. 
 
The bill, introduced in May, would restore Minnesota’s authority to permit and inspect commercial fishing guide vessels on Lake Mille Lacs, taking the U.S. Coast Guard out of the picture.
 
In March of 2010, the Coast Guard began requiring fishing guides on Lake Mille Lacs to acquire a federal “six-pack” boating license to continue to do their jobs.  Cravaack said the federal certification is difficult to obtain and can cost individual fishing guides up to $2,000 in fees, training, and travel costs.
 
Cravaack, now working out of a basement cubicle, called the Coast Guard requirements a burdensome administrative overreach by the federal government. His bill was carried in the Senate by Minnesota Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken.
 
It is now headed for President Obama’s desk for signature.

Obama to pitch on 'fiscal cliff' on WCCO today

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 13, 2012 - 10:06 AM

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As part of the White House’s continuing effort to build broad-based support for his approach to solving the “fiscal cliff,” President Obama is doing a round of regional press interviews this afternoon, including one with WCCO in the Twin Cities.
 
Other stations on the president’s schedule today are WPVI in Philadelphia, WSCV Univision in Miami, and KCRA in Sacramento.
 
The White House has embargoed the interviews from the Diplomatic Room until 4 p.m. Central Time, meaning the tape could roll on the Good Neighbor anytime after that.

Pawlenty visits White House on 'fiscal cliff'

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 6, 2012 - 1:15 PM

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Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the White House Thursday representing the Financial Services Roundtable, according to a White House official and a spokeswoman for the bank lobby group he now heads.
 
Pawlenty, a former presidential contender, was in the West Wing to discuss business issues related to the “fiscal cliff.”  A White House official said he met only with staff, not President Obama.
 
Elise Brooks Perkins, communications director for the Financial Services Roundtable, said she could not discuss any other details about the meeting.
 
Pawlenty is the chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable, an organization that represents large banks and other financial-service providers.
 
The visit comes a day after Pawlenty suggested the Democrats have the upper hand in fiscal cliff negotiations, telling a panel sponsored by Bloomberg Government in Washington, “You can’t corner people so totally and so badly that they have no way out.”

White House says middle-class Minnesotans could pay the price

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 5, 2012 - 9:19 PM

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In an effort to galvanize support for President Obama’s proposed middle-class tax cuts, the White House released new data Wednesday showing what’s at stake for taxpayers in Minnesota and other states if Washington goes over the “fiscal cliff.”

Apart from approximately 2 million middle class Minnesota taxpayers who would see their federal tax bills jump (an average of $2,200), some 542,000 low and moderate income families in Minnesota would lose the Child Tax Credit, worth an average of $1,000 a year.

 
On top of that, there are 203,000 middle-class Minnesota families that would no longer get help paying for college under the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which also is scheduled to expire.
 
On a lighter note, The Action, an Obama-aligned group that has been trying to pressure Minnesota Republicans in Congress to relent on raising tax rates for the top 2 percent, is planning to organize Minnesotans from around the state to sing “fiscal-cliff themed carols” at the State Capitol at 1 p.m. Thursday.
 
The group also is promoting an effort by Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz for force a vote in the U.S. House on extending the Bush-era tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income, something he says would help 100 percent of taxpayers, not just the bottom 98 percent.
 
So far, Walz has gotten 178 Democrats to sign on, but no Republican takers. He would need about two dozen defectors to get a vote of the full House.

What the state forecasts say

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: December 5, 2012 - 11:57 AM

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By Baird Helgeson and Jennifer Brooks

Despite an improving economy, Minnesota state leaders face a new, $1.1 billion budget deficit, according a new economic update released Wednesday.

Minnesota has been pulling itself up during a fragile economic recovery, but the sliver of additional tax revenue is not enough to keep up with rising costs, the numbers show.

The budget numbers, which are always a moving target, are more uncertain than usual as Washington leaders debate the so-called fiscal cliff, which could plunge Minnesota and the nation into another recession.

Minnesota Management and Budget has released the complete economic and budget details. The new budget number will become the foundation of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget proposal, expected to be released next month.

The improving economy in the current budget cycle will allow the state to repay $1.3 billion borrowed from public schools to balance the state budget. However, the state still owes the schools more than $1 billion and the new deficit means there is no immediate plan to pay back the balance.

“The economy is a little weaker than we thought it would be last February. Not a lot weaker, but a little weaker,” State Economist Tom Stinson said.

The uncertainly around the fiscal cliff is a bigger drag on the economy, Stinson said. If President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders fail to strike a different budget deal, a menu of tax hikes and deep spending reductions will kick in and begin tugging at an already anemic economic recovery.

“There’s no reason for us to have a recession in 2013 or 2014,” Stinson said. “And if we do, it will be self-inflicted. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have one.”

If the two sides reach a deal and bring new predictability to taxes and spending, it could unleash a torrent of pent up spending and give a notable boost to the economy in Minnesota and the nation.

“One can imagine increased business spending and increased business hiring once they knew what the rules could be,” Stinson said.

The twice-annual economic forecast takes into account an array of indicators, including local economy, the national economy, even the financial instability spiraling throughout Europe.

Minnesota's economy is already doing better than many parts of the nation. Minnesota’s unemployment rate is hovering around 5.8 percent, about two full percentage points better than the national average.

Minnesota’s construction sector endured the worst of the last recession, and has suffered the most stubbornly high unemployment rates. Stinson said he finally sees that sector improving in a significant way.

“We are expecting the housing sector to begin to turn around and begin to grow over the next couple years,” he said.

The healthcare industry continues to outperform many other sectors, particularly as Minnesota baby boomers edge toward retirement.

Dayton is going to use the budget forecast data to form his budget proposal, which is likely to include a plan for a massive retooling of the state tax system.

The changing economy has left the state relying too little on income and sales taxes and placing too much reliance on property taxes, Dayton has said.

Dayton’s revenue and budget officials want to distribute the tax burden more evenly, potentially lowering some taxes and increasing others.

Stinson said a reshuffling of the tax laws could finally break Minnesota out of the cycle of annual budget deficits that caused years of statewide reductions and borrowing. State leaders haven’t made a comprehensive reform effort since the 1980s.

“We certainly need to make sure that Minnesota’s tax system is appropriate for dealing with the economy that we have in 2012 rather than the economy that existed in 1984,” Stinson said.

Read the full budget forecast documents here.
 

Full Budget Forecast

inside the StarTribune