Minnesota's Republican-led Legislature sent a plan to cut $901 million from the state's budget to Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday, setting the stage for the first showdown with the new DFL governor."We're not trying to poke the governor in the eye with it," said Sen. Claire Robling, R-Jordan, in denying the move was an attempt to paint Dayton into a political corner early in this year's legislative session. "We're not just political poker [players]."After a two-hour debate Thursday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed the cuts by a 37 to 28 margin.Republican leaders instead said they were rushing through the cuts, which would slice $100 million from state agency budgets by June 30, to make sure they were included in the state's next revenue forecast later this month.The Republican-led House passed the same proposal on Wednesday.Dayton, who has not clearly said whether he will veto the plan, is scheduled to unveil his first budget on Tuesday, and had criticized legislators for attempting to pre-empt his announcement with a "piecemeal approach" to solving the state's $6.2 billion budget deficit. The Senate's vote, which was split largely along political party lines, came just one day after Dayton gave his first State of the State address, urging the state's political leaders to work together.
Republican budget-cutting bill goes to Dayton
In rushing a $901 million budget-cutting plan, Republicans said the point was not to politically undercut the new DFL governor, but get started on solving the state $6.2 billion budget deficit
February 10, 2011 at 9:09PM
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mikekaszuba
It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.
