The state DFL Party on Thursday renewed its pressure on GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer to release a budget plan and said his statements on a projected deficit put him at odds with outgoing Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

DFL state chair Brian Melendez said Emmer has been denying the threat of a deficit even as Pawlenty has acknowledged the problem and taken steps to alleviate a related cash-flow crisis.

"Where does the Republican Party stand?" Melendez asked at a Capitol news conference, as he called on the GOP to resolve a "rift" over budget strategy.

"I don't see a rift," said Emmer spokesman Carl Kuhl, who said that Emmer doesn't deny the potential for a deficit but says it can be averted by cutting spending.

Kuhl promised "a full budget proposal that will balance the budget" by the middle of next week.

Asked if the plan would specify spending cuts, Kuhl said, "it's going to include more details than what we've seen to this point from anybody else." Opponents Mark Dayton, the DFL candidate, and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner have released relatively detailed budget plans.

Later Thursday, campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said the second installment of Emmer's budget plan would be released at a Friday debate.

Melendez, at the news conference, said the GOP was "trying to have it both ways," with Emmer denying a budget deficit and Pawlenty planning to cover a shortage with a plan that could include short-term borrowing.

As evidence of Emmer's deficit denial, Melendez cited the candidate's comment at a recent debate: "Everybody here keeps talking about a deficit that frankly does not exist if you're willing to live within your means."

Pawlenty on cash flow

State officials said this week they are preparing a line of credit for short-term borrowing that might need to be tapped as early as December.

On Thursday, as he was leaving for a trade mission to China, Pawlenty downplayed the likelihood the state would have to resort to such means, saying the situation "while not insignificant is simply a temporary cash flow issue."

The state's cash levels are projected to dip below a minimum $400 million cushion as soon as December. That's after the state delayed business tax refunds and payments to schools and the University of Minnesota to cover its obligations.

In talking to reporters at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Pawlenty said the state's fiscal situation was "not ideal, but it's not that big a deal and it's manageable."

Pawlenty said such financial maneuvers are "quite common" inside government during bad economic times, but he acknowledged going beyond that to borrow outside money is unusual.

A new budget forecast is due in late November. The last forecast anticipated a shortfall approaching $6 billion over two years starting in July 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210