Republicans again attacked Gov. Mark Dayton's pay raises for his cabinet, this time adding an amendment to a spending bill that would cut money for three departments and direct the state budget director to take it from the salary increases. The House Ways and Means Committee was set to pass a stop-gap spending bill for Department of Human Services, Department of Health and Department of Natural Resources, including money for the Minnesota Zoo, DNR enforcement officers, and money to pay for last year's Ebola crisis.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski offered the amendment to reduce agency budgets and to allocate the reduction to the commissioner salaries. The amendment passed, as did the bill.