Divide in state's delegation mirrors national split

With the seconds ticking down toward an economic abyss Monday, members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation found themselves as deeply divided as their fellow legislators and constituents.

Citing wildly opposing reasons, two conservative Minnesota Republicans -- presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack -- joined two liberal DFLers -- Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum -- in opposing the deal negotiated over the weekend.

Meanwhile, four other Minnesotans in Congress -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- joined the bipartisan majority that voted to end the partisan brinkmanship that had threatened to wreak havoc in the credit markets.

The House vote cleared the way for final passage Tuesday by the U.S. Senate, where Minnesota Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are expected to be part of an overwhelming majority for the compromise plan that raises the nation's debt limit.

The agreement belied months of bitter partisan wrangling that left none of the Minnesota lawmakers happy, and a few bitter about the close call for the nation's economy.

"We're being told to make a decision with a gun to our heads," said Ellison, who led a liberal bloc in opposition to the debt deal, which could trim more than $2 trillion in government spending over the next decade.

That still wasn't enough for Bachmann and Cravaack. "It's like putting a 3-inch Band-Aid on a 5-inch artery wound," Cravaack said after the vote, which came after a day of behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the White House and congressional leaders.

Ellison and McCollum were among 95 Democrats who voted against the package, which many White House allies saw as a deal they couldn't refuse.

"After a frustrating process that took far too long, I am glad we finally reached an agreement and acted tonight to avoid default," said Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz. "This compromise is not perfect. Compromises never are."

Minnesota Republicans who backed the deal expressed the same sense of muted satisfaction. "If it were my bill, it wouldn't look like this," said Rep. John Kline, a close ally of Boehner. "If it were their bill, it wouldn't look like this."

In the end, Kline said, the deal struck with President Obama "cuts more than it raises the ceiling, and it changes the way we're doing business."

But to Democrats like McCollum, the trillions of dollars in cuts were too high a price to pay at a time many people are out of work and need help. She also balked at the GOP strategy of tying the cuts to a debt ceiling increase, something that has rarely been controversial in the past.

Bachmann, the founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, dismissed the agreement within hours of its announcement Sunday night.

Among the first in the House to reject the final plan, Bachmann charged that Obama "continues to press for a 'balanced approach,' which everybody knows is code for increased spending and taxes."

The agreement headed for passage today, however, contains no tax increases, something of a bitter pill for many Democrats, including those who plan to vote for it.

"A large majority of Americans believe that cutting our deficit should be balanced," Franken said. While much of the negotiation process focused on the ratio of spending cuts to tax increases, he said, "there's no ratio here -- it's 100 percent cuts."

Klobuchar said the vote in the Senate is expected to be far less dramatic than the House ballot. "Everyone wants to get something done," she said. "We can't afford to let out country go over a cliff."

Typical of the e-mails was one from Louis Lintereur, a retired businessman from Lakeville, Minn., who wrote to both Klobuchar and Franken:

"Our current deficit was jointly caused by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party," Lintereur said. "The only way it will be solved will be through cooperation with each other. It's time for all you legislators to put your political affiliations aside and act as Americans."

Amid the increasingly urgent calls for bipartisanship, the naysayers found themselves at risk of being placed at the political margins -- or at least outside the power circles of Washington.

"I'm in a bit of a pickle," Cravaack wrote in a fundraising plea to supporters last week. "Big Labor Union Bosses, MoveOn.org, and other liberal special interests are increasing their attacks against me. Meanwhile the Republican establishment in Washington isn't happy that I stood on principle."

For Cravaack, the vote was an echo of the $38 billion in budget cuts approved by Congress earlier this year. That agreement also was opposed by Bachmann from the right, and Ellison from the left.

"This is a very difficult decision for me personally," Ellison said hours before Monday's vote. "The last thing I want to do is not do all I can to protect the full faith and credit of the United States."

Kevin Diaz is a correspondent in the Star Tribune's Washington Bureau. Twitter: StribDiaz