As expected, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a pile of budget bills sent to him by the House and Senate at midday Tuesday, just 12 hours after the 2011 legislative session limped to a close, with no agreement on how to eliminate Minnesota's $5 billion budget gap.
Even as the GOP's legislative leaders were flying around the state, defending themselves for producing a balanced budget without raising taxes, Dayton vetoed nine bills while pointedly criticizing the leaders for choosing to "balance the budget on the backs of the other ninety-eight percent of Minnesotans."
Republicans, whose-budget balancing goal was reached solely with spending cuts, adamantly refused to go along with Dayton's proposal to combine spending cuts with higher income taxes on the 2 percent of Minnesotans who make the most money.
In his veto letter, Dayton added:
With the collapse of the regular legislative session, almost certainly will cause a special session during the next five weeks, because without a balanced budget, the state will begin running out of money and will have to shut down, in all or in part, when the new budget cycle begins July 1.
