Democrats have taken a few shots at Gov. Tim Pawlenty for leaving the state facing a potential deficit of $5.6 billion after he leaves office.
On the Midday radio program Tuesday, Pawlenty offered a rough outline for how he'd handle the problem.
First, he suggested slowing repayment of the money the state borrowed from K-12 schools.
That reduces the deficit by $2 billion, he said. Then he recommended making his emergency budget cuts imposed summer permanent. That gets you down to $2.6 billion. He said there are some other "easy cuts" that get the deficit below $2 billion. If economy improves, that takes care of some of the rest. "It's not difficult – at all – to bring it down to something manageable," he said. It "melts away pretty quickly."
He also wasn't going to let Democrats bash his fiscal record without a response.
Tuesday afternoon, he issued this statement:
"DFLers who express concern about the size of the projected future budget deficit should look in the mirror. If they had passed my February budget recommendations and made the unallotment cuts permanent, next budget's projected deficit would've dropped by more than half. Their unwillingness to make long-term cuts is driven by their desire to raise taxes next year when I'm not here to stop them, but they're not hearing the public outcry against bigger government and more spending."
