Political Notebook

Budget forecast brings $1.2 billion of good news

The official budget forecast update news conference is set for 11:30 a.m. but the big budget number has already been leaked. The Associated Press is reporting that the latest forecast shows that the state's projected budget deficit has dropped from $6.2 billion to $5 billion.

We'll find out the details of just why that happened during the press conference. But it certainly must be welcome news to the governor and lawmakers tasked with plugging the budget hole. Dayton has said that if additional money became available he would restore cuts in his proposed budget to nursing homes and home health agencies. Gov. Mark Dayton will hold a news conference at 5 p.m. tonight to offer his response to the budget deficit.

GOP legislative leaders will also offer their take on the budget news at 1:30 p.m. today. With the final numbers out, the big question becomes when will Republicans unveil their budget proposal?

 

Klobuchar to visit southern Minnesota tomorrow

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar is scheduled to make several stops in southern Minnesota as part of her "Innovation Tour" to highlight the potential for economic innovation to create future jobs and boost the economy.

Her day kicks off in Rochester at 10 a.m. with a tour of Gauthier Industries, a metal fabrication company. She will then go to Harmony to tour Harmony Enterprises, a company that makes solid waste and recycling equipment. In the afternoon, she plans to head to Austin to meet with Mayor Tom Stiehm. She also has stops planned in Albert Lea, Fairmont and St. James.

Klobuchar has joined with Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts to introduce the "Innovate America Act." The bill is aimed at cutting red tape to help businesses research and develop new products, target successful education programs and promote U.S. exports in new markets.

Klobuchar chairs the Subcommittee on Innovation, Competitiveness and Export Promotion.

Conservative group targets Walz in new radio ads

The conservative Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (GPS) is going to after 1st District Rep. Tim Walz for voting against the Republicans' proposal to cut $61 billion in spending.

The group is spending $15,000 on radio ads against the Mankato Democrat. The ads begin with former President Ronald Regan saying "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

The ad narrator says it has been 30 years since Reagan spoke those words and now "the American dream is being suffocated by the explosive growth of government under President Obama and Nancy Pelosi. In 2010, Americans told Washington to stop the spending and put America back to work."

The narrator goes on to criticize Obama for proposing a budget that "increases taxes, spending and debt." It then attacks Walz for support Obama and voting against the Republicans' budget-cutting proposal and urges his constitutents to call his office.

"Tell him that voting against budget cuts doesn't cut it. Tell him to stop the spending now to make America great again."

The group is spending a total of $450,000 on these radio ads in 22 House districts across the country. Some of the ads are in support of Republican lawmakers who did vote for the cuts — including newly-elected 8th District Minnesota Congressman Chip Cravaack.

This ad campaign comes as Walz is planning a stop at a Rochester grocery store tomorrow as part of a "Congress on Your Corner" event. It will be interesting to see what kind of feedback he gets from voters on the budget issue.

 

Walz hosts "Congress on Your Corner" event in Roch on Friday

1st District Rep. Tim Walz will be at a grocery store in Rochester on Friday looking to hear from constituents.

The Democrat will be at the HyVee Barlow Plaza, 1315 6th Street NW., in the produce department from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. Walz began naming these events "Congress on Your Corner" in honor of his House colleague Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot during her own "Congress on Your Corner" event at a Tucson grocery store.

"Hearing the thoughts and ideas of southern Minnesotans is the cornerstone of our representative democracy. I am looking forward to the opportunity to hear from folks," Walz said in a written statement.

Dayton's bonding bill — including Mayo Civic Center expansion — gets hearing

The House Capital Investment Committee will hear testimony this afternoon on DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's $1 billion public works bill proposal. That plan includes funding for plenty of area projects including $28 million to expand Rochester's Mayo Civic Center. It also includes funding for renovation work at Rochester Community and Technical College and flood mitigation money for the  city of Austin. Dayton's proposal funds projects costing a little more than half of the $1 billion price tag. He has offered to allow lawmakers to determine how the remaining bonding money should be used.

Committee chair Larry Howes introduced the bill explaining in an e-mail update that it is the right thing to do as committee chair to allow Dayton's proposal to get a fair hearing. But Republicans have made itclear they are not interested in a large bonding bill this session.

In his e-mail update, Howes did say he believes that there needs to be some sort of limited bonding bill this session.

"We need to have a bonding bill this session so we can provide relief funds for flood damage and other projects deemed necessary. We won’t determine the actual size of the bill until our budget is balanced," he said.

Senator drops bid to repeal early Medicaid expansion

Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, introduced a bill that would have repealed the early expansion of Medicaid in Minnesota for adults without children. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton had recently signed that expansion into law and it is slated to begin March 1.

But in a Senate Finance Committee meeting this morning, Hann stripped the repeal from his "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act" bill. The reason? Hann said that a fiscal analysis showed that repealing the measure would end up adding to the state's budget deficit.

"The net effect of the repealer was that there was additional cost to the forecasted budget and after some consideration we felt it might be an easier approach just to not deal with that issue — especially given the likelihood that the governor is not likely to sign a bill that repeals an action that he has taken already," Hann said.

A similar measure is moving ahead in the House and has also had the early Medicaid expansion repeal stripped from the bill.

The GOP senator's bill opposes key provision in the new federal health care law. The bill includes a policy statement that the U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government the right to regulate a person's choice of health care or impose a penalty related to that choice. It would also require the state's Attorney General to take legal action to block any federal law or regulation that violates this policy enacted without adequate federal funding to the state to ensure affordable health care coverage is available to the residents of the state.

"When we say that we are going to allow the federal government to set and define perhaps the largest part of the Minnesota state budget by federal action without our ability to manage that, I find that very, very troubling," Hann said.

DFL Sen. Linda Berglin, of Minneapolis, said she is concerned that Hann's bill would mean that state employees are no longer required to enroll in Medicare when they turn 65 or else the state's insurance will no longer pay their health care claims.

Walz speaks out in favor of union protesters in Wisconsin

1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz took to the House floor to offer his support for union workers protesting in Madison, Wis. The workers are speaking out against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut public employees' benefits and get rid of their right to collective bargaining. Walz, a high school teacher, said that the employees turning out at these rallies include kindergarten teachers.

"The audaity of their demand? The ability to negotiate a living wage, safe working conditions and a dignified retirement. These public servants make our society safe and functioning at an average wayge of $30,000 a year. They did not cause the financial catastrophe in this country. That was the speculators and robber barrons who received billions in TARP funds and then offshored it to avoid paying taxes."

Go here to watch video of his speech.

Tea Party Patriots not happy with League of Women Voters

The Rochester Tea Party Patriots are accusing the League of Women Voters of being a clearly partisan group in the wake of a recent local forum on the issue of voter ID.

Here is how the group sums up the forum in an e-mailed newsletter:

"Those who attended the meeting let us know that it was a put up job. The scenario was well rehearsed. The bottom line was: "Problem? What Problem?" They are circulating a petition that will give cover to the Democrat legislators so they can remain in denial. This petition is not "scientific" but just plain biased.

It is now clear that the League of Women Voters is a partisan group. Understand that if you attend any of their meetings."

This stems from a forum earlier this month sponsored by the league on the issue of whether or not voters should have to show photo ID in order to vote. Local GOP Rep. Mike Benson, R-Rochester, is sponsoring a bill that would require voter ID. Speakers featured at the event were from two organizations: the state League of Women Voters and Citizens for Election Integrity. Both of those organizations testified against Benson's voter ID bill during a House committee hearing citing concerns it could prevent legitimate voters from casting their ballots. But the measure has strong support among Republicans who argue it is needed to prevent voter fraud.

I have reached out to the Rochester league chapter to get a reaction to this. I will post the reaction when I get it.

Update: Here is the response to the Tea Party Patriots' criticism from Kathy Maegerlein, president of the League of Women Voters Rochester.

"Although the LWV is non-partisan, we do study issues and take positions on issues. Our basic position on voting at the national level is that "Voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed", and, at the state level, 'Support improvements in election laws regulating election procedures, voting and school district elections.'

Our speakers presented the results of the report Facts About Ineligible Voting and Voter Fraud in Minnesota, which was done by the Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota, and the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance, which was based on input from over 80 County Attorneys. We also had a good discussion following the presentation with both sides of the issue being heard."

 

Minnesota House to vote on lifting the nuke ban today

The Minneosta House is expected to debate a bill to lift the state's ban on new nuclear plants. This comes after the Senate earlier this month voted 50 to 14 in favor of lifting the ban. In recent years, similar measures won support in the then-DFL-controlled Senate but stalled in the DFL House.

With Republicans leading both chambers, this may very well be the year that a bill scrapping the 17-year-old ban heads to the governor. But DFL Gov. Mark Dayton appears cool to the idea of lifting the ban. In order to support it, he said it could have no impact on ratepayers, it would not increase the amount of nuclear waste and that it would not generate weapons-grade or near weapons-grade plutonium.

Several area lawmakers are on board with the proposal. Co-sponsors of the bill to lift the ban include Rep. Mike Benson, R-Rochester; Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester; Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa; Rep. Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea; and Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing.

If the governor were to veto the bill, it would require some Minnesota senators to switch their votes. Specifically, six senators would have to become "yes" votes to override the veto. The Prairie Island Indian Community in Red Wing has lobbied aggressively against lifting the ban citing concerns that there is not a solution yet to the nuclear waste storage problem. This comes as Red Wing's Prairie Island Nuclear Plant is looking to expand and store more waste on site.

The city of Red Wing has said they want any proposal to lift the ban to include efforts to solve the waste problem. The city would like to see the state attorney general sue the U.S. Department of Energy for its failure to abide by federal law in terms of nuclear storage and to open up the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The city also wants a comprehensive study looking at the cost of storing nuclear waste for potentially hundreds of years and to take steps to ensure that hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from lawsuits filed by Xcel Energy are returned to ratepayers.

It's budget day in St. Paul!

It was the most asked question on the campaign trail: If elected, what would you do to solve the state's projected $6.2 billion budget deficit? Today, we'll find out exactly how DFL Gov. Mark Dayton plans to do that.

The governor is slated to unveil his budget at a 10:30 a.m. news conference at the Minnesota Department of Revenue. While the bulk of Dayton's budget solution is still under wraps, some information has leaked out. The Star Tribune's Rachel Stassen-Berger reports today that the budget will not include any cuts in aid to cities or counties. In fact, for cities and counties his budget proposal would mean more money coming in than this past year because of cuts approved as part of the last budget deal.

Dayton also reiterated in his State of the State address last week that he will move ahead with his campaign pledge to propose raising income taxes on wealthier Minnesotans. He also said during that speech he plans to propose increasing spending on K-12 education every year he is in office.

Republicans have already scheduled a news conference at noon to respond to Dayton's budget proposal. It's a sure bet they are not going to be happy with the tax increases in the bill. The GOP-led legislature last week sent the governor a $900 million budget-cutting bill that included reductions in state aid to cities and counties, higher education and health and human service programs. The governor promptly vetoed that bill saying he did not support a piecemeal approach to solving the state's budget woes.