First…lets look at Minnesota, led by DFL Governor Mark Dayton, and as Rep. Pat Garofalo would remind us: “You can’t spell FAILED without DFL!”. The DFL is farther to the left than normal Democrats…our MN peeps can attest to that. (I would add that you cant spell mudflaps without ‘dfl’ either…)
Talks imploded Thursday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders in the final hours before a midnight deadline, and Minnesota began a historic government shutdown.
“This is a night of deep sorrow for me,” Dayton said in an address at 10 p.m. that was punctuated by jeers and hisses from Republicans, including some lawmakers.
The governor said his last offer would have raised income taxes only on those earning more than $1 million a year — an estimated 7,700 Minnesotans, or 0.3 percent of all taxpayers, according to the Revenue Department.
Republicans rejected the proposal, Dayton said, because they “prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else.”
Republican leaders made their own statement, saying Dayton’s proposal for dealing with the projected $5 billion deficit would cause irreparable harm to the state’s economy for generations.
“We will not saddle our children and grandchildren with mounds of debts, with promises for funding levels that will not be there in the future,” said House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove. “This is debt that they can’t afford. It’s debt that we can’t afford right now.”
Earlier, as it became clear there would be no deal, Republicans staged a sit-in in the legislative chambers, demanding Dayton call a special session to keep the state running.
So we have the DFL versus the Republicans, at least the Republicans have forced a shut down, now it is up to the people of MN to decide what to do…
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The other budget is what happens when a state elects a fiscal conservative for Governor and retains a conservative house:
HARRISBURG — With 13 minutes to spare, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed a $27.15 billion state budget package into law late Thursday night, narrowly finishing his first spending plan by the June 30 deadline.
While the governor and the Republicans in control of both legislative chambers campaigned on reversing the last administration’s pattern of budget fights dragging into the summer, it took lawmakers until the final moments to complete all of the measures that Mr. Corbett required of them.
With the spending, revenue and other budget bills headed to his desk, the governor told lawmakers that they would not be signed into law until he received a measure aimed at constraining the ability of school districts to increase property taxes.
As the midnight budget budget deadline drew near, the House finally approved that measure with a half-hour left before the Legislature was required to end session for the day. Senators promptly shepherded it to passage as time expired.
At a hastily gathered event in the Capitol rotunda, the governor thanked lawmakers before proclaiming that the budget “confronts and deals realistically with a $4.2 billion deficit.”
“Make no mistake here, this budget is for Pennsylvania working families,” Mr. Corbett said. “It imposes no new taxes on them,” drawing applause from the GOP lawmakers behind him, “nor does it raise any new taxes on them.”
The late-night bill-signing marked the first time in nine years that all of the budget legislation was passed by June 30. It also is the first time since at least 1970 that state spending will decline from the previous year.
That 4 percent reduction in state spending was the subject of months of criticism from Democrats and other opponents who said the proposal cut too deep into education and human services. Nearly every state government program will see a decrease in funding, from lucrative economic development grants to mandated welfare and corrections costs.
The property tax-hike bill that drew controversy was Mr. Corbett’s answer to critics who say that $900 million worth of state funding cuts to schools will translate into higher taxes at the local level.
The legislation strengthens an existing law requiring voter approval for property tax increases that exceed inflation. Mr. Corbett has said that law is ineffective because it allows so many exemptions that districts seldom need to go to referendum.
Tags: Budget Crisis, Budget Cuts, dfl, Minnesota, Pennsylvania
