As DFL legislative leaders put forth an offer for a budget deal Friday, they dangled the prospect of approving a pet project of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's in exchange for money for the Central Corridor light-rail project. But the governor's office said it was "underwhelmed" by the overall offer.
DFLers proposed including bonding to help pay for a veterans nursing-care building in Minneapolis, a project supported by Pawlenty but left out of an earlier bonding, or borrowing, bill. Under their offer, bonding money would also be made available for the planned light-rail line between Minneapolis and St. Paul that Pawlenty axed with a line-item veto, even though it had been part of his own initial bonding proposal.
That veto has left transit supporters in a sweat, fearing the loss of federal funds if $70 million in state funding does not materialize. Pawlenty has made it clear the veterans facility and a proposed state park on Lake Vermilion are two projects he wants badly.
In their offer, DFLers also agreed to spending cuts of $164 million proposed by Pawlenty and accepted by the House and the Senate, and an additional $40 million in unspecified cuts, to help erase the state's projected $936 million budget shortfall.
They remained adamant, however, that money in a dedicated health care fund, which Pawlenty wants to tap, be used for expanding health care access, not for balancing the budget.
Brian McClung, Pawlenty's chief spokesman, said in an e-mail that "the DFL budget offer is underwhelming and that the governor is not willing to consider putting Central Corridor back on the table under these circumstances."
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, said that House and Senate leaders wanted to reflect an initial offer on which all parties could come close to agreeing and that the bonding proposals reflected statewide needs.
"We thought it was a good idea to at least say, hey, let's get past the negative swirl around what happened around the line-item vetoes with the bonding bill," she said. "The Central Corridor piece, it's not very responsible to put something in your own proposal and then veto it. We're just trying to help him allay a mistake that he made."
The offer is part of the final dance in budget negotiations as the legislative session's May 19 constitutional deadline looms.
Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636