Gov. Mark Dayton signs extension for Iron Range unemployment benefits

Minnesota legislators broke a monthslong stalemate on Thursday to deliver a 26-week extension of jobless benefits for laid-off Iron Range workers.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton delayed a flight to California to sign the measure into law, after demanding that the House and Senate pass separate bills granting the unemployment benefits and approving a $258 million reduction in unemployment taxes for businesses.

Iron Range legislators who at earlier meetings gave long, dramatic speeches decrying political gamesmanship greeted the passage of the measure with a three-word statement: "It's about time."

"I'm glad we took the political football off the field," Rep. Jason Metsa, DFL-Virginia, said after the House vote. "Now we can get on with the work for the rest of the people around the state."

It was a dramatic finish to a frenzied day that began with no expectation of a deal at all.

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said he texted House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, Thursday morning to say that he didn't think anything would happen on unemployment benefits that day because Dayton was heading out of town for the Easter recess.

Soon afterward, Dayton issued a sharply worded statement calling for legislators to approve the unemployment benefit extension. He vowed to stay in Minnesota until he signed the measure, and left a message on the speaker's phone reiterating his plea for action.

Without an agreement, the Senate on Thursday morning passed the tax cuts in a bill and sent it to the House. It joined a previously passed measure to extend Iron Range benefits, which the House had not acted on.

The move created a showdown with House Republicans, who suddenly had both measures they said they supported and increasing pressure to pass them.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said around lunchtime that a deal appeared unlikely that day after he received a text message from Daudt saying he would not approve the legislation without the addition of what DFLers believed to be a controversial blanket statement in support of mining, a key issue in the Iron Range.

Given high stakes controversies over the PolyMet and Twin Metals copper-nickel mining proposals, Bakk said such a statement could have unintended legal consequences. He wanted to see it vetted through the legislative committee process.

"You are making the likelihood of getting the $258 million unlikely later in the session," Bakk said he texted back. "My caucus was not crazy about it in the first place."

"It's a pretty freakin' high-risk strategy," Bakk told reporters of the speaker's demands. "I don't have to do that $258 million. … He's playing a pretty high-risk game and unfortunately the people being used as pawns in it are the Iron Rangers."

Bakk added: "I think it spells real trouble for the session that we can't get something this easy done."

The unemployment extension was expected to be a relatively easy fix addressed in the first week of a short, election-year session in which legislators had other weighty matters to tackle, such as transportation funding and a bonding bill.

With the session dragging toward its second month, the chance for a speedy conclusion seemed to be slipping.

But House Republicans decided at a private caucus meeting an hour before their session to accept the DFLers' compromise. The deal: Vote for a measure extending unemployment benefits, vote for a bill granting tax cuts and let the concerns over mining language slide — for now.

But the speaker said Republicans wanted to do what was right.

"I think folks on the Iron Range have waited long enough for this. … There's a point at which somebody needs to step up and show some leadership and be the adult," Daudt said.

Daudt called Dayton before the session was to begin, assuring him the House would pass the measures.

Dayton said in a statement that he was "thankful."

The House then swiftly passed both bills. "We were the ones that broke the deadlock," Daudt said.

The governor praised legislative leaders after the vote, saying in a statement, "I hope today's results will show the way to the resolution of future legislative differences."

Daudt, too, presented an optimistic front.

"I think this sets a great tone as we move forward," he said, "and I'm optimistic that we'll continue to work together well into the future."

The Department of Employment and Economic Development's unemployment insurance office will be contacting all affected workers by early next week. The first benefit payments will be sent to workers within days.