Post by Logan on Apr 30, 2016 5:29:03 GMT -6
Minnesota Legislature’s final budget pieces set stage for negotiations
Minnesota lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on their wildly different plans for a $900 million budget surplus Thursday, pushing the spending debate away from public House and Senate floors and into closed negotiating rooms.
The Democrat-led Senate passed a mammoth budget bill that would devote the surplus to tax cuts, a new preschool program and measures meant to tackle racial disparities. Meanwhile, House Republicans were moving to approve a funding bill for state agencies that includes provisions slashing commissioner pay and imposing a hiring freeze across state government.
With those pieces in place, the real bargaining can begin behind closed doors, where legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton will determine whether a compromise is in sight. The two-year, $42 billion budget passed in 2015 left nearly $1 billion unspent, giving lawmakers a second crack at tax cuts, transportation fixes and other unfinished spending priorities.
The final products from each chamber are worlds apart, leading some lawmakers to sound a note of caution.
Read more: www.twincities.com/2016/04/28/minnesota-legislature-final-budget-pieces-set-stage-for-negotiations/
Minnesota lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on their wildly different plans for a $900 million budget surplus Thursday, pushing the spending debate away from public House and Senate floors and into closed negotiating rooms.
The Democrat-led Senate passed a mammoth budget bill that would devote the surplus to tax cuts, a new preschool program and measures meant to tackle racial disparities. Meanwhile, House Republicans were moving to approve a funding bill for state agencies that includes provisions slashing commissioner pay and imposing a hiring freeze across state government.
With those pieces in place, the real bargaining can begin behind closed doors, where legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton will determine whether a compromise is in sight. The two-year, $42 billion budget passed in 2015 left nearly $1 billion unspent, giving lawmakers a second crack at tax cuts, transportation fixes and other unfinished spending priorities.
The final products from each chamber are worlds apart, leading some lawmakers to sound a note of caution.
Read more: www.twincities.com/2016/04/28/minnesota-legislature-final-budget-pieces-set-stage-for-negotiations/