Budget negotiations continued Thursday at the State Capitol, with Gov. Tim Pawlenty being more specific about where he'd make cuts to reduce the state's projected $936 million deficit and DFL leaders saying they'd likely make a counter-offer within 24 hours.
Pawlenty, a Republican, sent a letter Thursday afternoon to House and Senate DFL leaders saying he would make cuts in the state's medical assistance programs and some other health and human services programs if DFLers continued to object to proposals to dip into the state's Health Care Access Fund, a dedicated fund to pay for existing health-care programs.
With a May 19 deadline for legislative adjournment looming, Pawlenty on Monday cut in half his earlier proposal to take $250 million from the Health Care Access Fund.
DFLers have rejected the idea of using the access fund, which they have said should not be drained to fix budget problems.
House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, who said Pawlenty's latest letter "really didn't move anything forward," said he expects DFLers to make a substantive counter-offer as early as today.
MARK BRUNSWICK
