Media blackout
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Governor Pawlenty and legislative leaders met this afternoon to discuss the budget. I wish we could tell you what they did but we're told there's a self imposed media blackout even though these are discussions dealing with taxpayer money.
So I figured I would give you a session recap of where we are at this point in the session:
Governor Pawlenty released a budget in January that increases spending 9% but the 9% isn't an across the board increase since schools aren't getting a 9% increase in revenue. Since then, Pawlenty has called for the Legislature to compromise with him even though he hasn't moved an inch on revenue in public discussions.
Meanwhile DFLers in control of the House and Senate have decided to send Governor Pawlenty an income tax increase even though he has repeatedly said he would veto it. They said they were optimistic he would sign it. Now they're sending him another slate of budget bills that Pawlenty didn't agree to and may be veto bait.
Republicans in the House have spent the last five months doing everything they can to make the DFL majority look bad. Most noticeably are the multi-hour floor debates on bills that pass with 120 or more votes.
Republicans in the Senate can't decide if they want to vote with the DFL majority or the Governor. In fact, some members speak at length on how bad the DFL budget bills are but then vote for them.
Now back to regularly scheduled programming...
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