Is The GOP Moving Too Quickly To Cut Spending?
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Minnesota lawmakers are moving quickly to cut the state's record budget deficits. Too quickly, some say.
In fact, Gov. Mark Dayton says Republican claims of budget saving in health care are like "Fantasy Island."
Here's what's true: Majority Republicans are moving at political warp speed; passing numerous bills to limit the cost and scope of government.
That's no consolation to people who are targets of budget cuts, like public workers.
Hundreds of workers from the union American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees rallying at the State Capitol called the 2011 legislative session a war.
"We didn't start it," shouted Eliot Seide, AFSCME's executive director. "They're waging it on us. We're not going to roll over."
In fact, in the last 24 hours Majority Republicans moved to cut 15 percent of the state workforce, funding cuts to public universities by $410 million and the biggest cut of all, $1.6 billion from public health care.
Democrats complained about the speed with which the unprecedented cuts are moving, especially in health care.
"We always feel like we're drinking from a fire hose around here, but this is like drinking from 10 fire hoses all at once," said Rep. Tina Liebling, D-Rochester. "If we adopt this kind of process in this legislature? God help us."
The Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee sponsoring the $1.6 billion cut promises help for those who need it.
But for those who might not need as much help?
Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, compared some health care recipients to his children: Deserving of love, but needing to learn personal responsibility.
"If they can be more independent and have a better life, shouldn't we help them go that way?" he said.
"The people who are in a shelter, shouldn't they be encouraged to reach out there and become more independent, if they can be?"
Speaking to reporters, Dayton called the cuts irresponsible, and the dollar savings Republicans are claiming, "made up."
"It's fantasy island," said Dayton. "It's a convenient gimmick to obscure the real consequences of some of these proposed cuts in real people's lives."
But the Republican House Speaker? Unfazed.
Rep. Kurt Zellers said he's confident the new GOP majority is doing exactly what it was elected to do.
"In tough times you prioritize: food, clothing, your house, making sure you have heat, the lights on," said Zellers, who said he promised voters to "watch every dollar as if it was their own."
"Maybe you don't buy a new car or a new mower. You don't take a summer vacation. That's what families across the state have had to do. The state of Minnesota has to do the same thing," he said.
