Pawlenty, Dems to focus on public works, more cuts

Democrats in the Legislature say they intend to quickly pass a public works bonding bill when the 2010 legislative session begins in February.

They made those comments after legislative leaders met privately with Gov. Pawlenty Friday afternoon to discuss the upcoming session.

DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher said Pawlenty appeared willing to sign some sort of public works package in the first month of session.

"We are on the same page on that and we'll work together very quickly to do that," Kelliher said. "Now there was no talk about the size of what the governor was willing to sign nor was there any discussion on our part of that.

"Our current statements that we've said in the past hold that we expect to pass a bill somewhere around a billion dollars."

A spokesman for the governor said Pawlenty will release his bonding bill proposal next week and it will be in the neighborhood of $750 million. Both sides said there was no breakthrough today on the $1.2 billion deficit the state faces.