Budget Negotiations At A Standstill On Taxes, Transportation
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota budget negotiations entered a holding pattern Tuesday, with each side urging the other to take the first step to bridge an enormous divide over tax cuts and transportation funding that has narrowed little through days of private meetings.
Top lawmakers sounded optimistic last week about crafting a new state budget ahead of the Legislature's May 18 adjournment. But after talks with Gov. Mark Dayton at the gubernatorial residence broke up abruptly Monday night, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt put the stalled negotiations at each other's feet.
"If the House wants a deal, it will come together," Bakk said in his office Tuesday. "If they really want to get done on time, we'll get done on time."
Private talks were set to resume at the governor's residence Tuesday afternoon. There's plenty of ground still to cover, from Republicans' wish list of $2 billion in tax relief and nearly $1 billion in health care spending cuts to Democrats' top prize, a gas tax increase for road and bridge repairs.
Bakk said the two sides have mostly nailed down a deal on smaller pieces of a nearly $40 billion budget such as funding for courts, public safety, agriculture and environmental programs.
But the Cook Democrat ramped up pressure on Daudt to drop the tax bill in exchange for ditching the transportation package — a trade he's suggested for nearly a week. With a $1.8 billion surplus, those bills aren't must-haves and are consuming negotiators' precious time, Bakk said.
"I think they're both dead," he said. "It's Tuesday, we have to start focusing on bills that have to pass."
A clearly frustrated Daudt struck back, blaming Democrats' insistence on a tax increase for the impasse.
"I'm not willing to put a stake in something that was everyone's No. 1 priority simply because Gov. Dayton and Sen. Bakk can't have a gas tax," the Republican speaker said. "If anybody's curious as to why we're not moving, Sen. Bakk's statements ... ought to give you a crystal clear indication as to what's holding up negotiations at this point."
Daudt softened the GOP's stance on ending MinnesotaCare, a public health care program for nearly 100,000 low-income residents. After Dayton declared MinnesotaCare "off the table," Daudt said Republicans are merely trying to lay out a roadmap for the program as its main funding source — a tax on health care providers — is set to expire by 2020.
"We need to start the transition," the speaker said.
With less than a week to go, rank-and-file lawmakers are waiting for a high-level deal between the power brokers to start passing budget bills. Meanwhile, the House and Senate are taking up smaller issues like naming highways after slain police officers and regulating ridebooking companies.
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