DeKruif, Woodard: A State Shutdown Doesn't Need to Happen

Editor's note: This is a column from Sen. Al DeKruif and Rep. Kelby Woodard, both Republicans, who represent Northfield.

We are just days from a historic government shutdown and it can be easy to get lost in the political rhetoric. For the first time in Minnesota history a Governor has signed only one budget bill (the Agriculture bill) during the regular session of the legislature. He has indicated he is not willing to fund even the areas that we have mutually agreement upon until he receives his tax increases.

In order to prevent a shutdown, Governor Dayton must call a special session and allow the Legislature to provide him with new budget bills to sign. At this point the Governor has preferred instead to move towards a shutdown which he said would be less “catastrophic” than the Legislative budget he vetoed. Our budget would increase spending by 6% and is the largest general fund budget in the history of our state. If signed, this budget would keep government open and operating.

In preparation for a shutdown, Governor Dayton has released a pared down list of “essential services” that includes the Dentistry Board, his public information office, Giant’s Ridge Golf Resort, bison herd maintenance as well as the Governor’s chef and gardener. His list of priorities in a shutdown does not include Medicaid payments to nursing homes that provide for our most vulnerable, inspections of hospitals and nursing homes, or state funding to K-12 schools. The Governor also did not consider state-funded road construction projects and domestic abuse shelters to be essential services.

There is no need for us to be headed for a July 1st shutdown. The Legislature passed a balanced, responsible budget six weeks before the end of the regular session and made it publicly available for the Governor, his administration, and the citizens of Minnesota to review. Since then, we made two more compromise budget offers which met the Governor’s spending levels in education, courts, public safety, higher education, transportation and environment. We have also asked the Governor to provide details on where he intends to spend the $1.8 billion in tax increases he proposed back in May. In perhaps the biggest compromise to date, we offered to remove our tax relief package for middle income earners in exchange for Governor Dayton to drop his tax increases.

We believe the Governor will live up to his campaign promise and not shut down government over a tax increase. Our latest attempts at compromise show our commitment to Minnesota’s legislative priorities and prevent a shutdown. We are optimistic that the Governor will join us in this effort and not lockout our state employees on July 1st. A recent KSTP poll shows that 8% of Minnesotans support Governor Dayton’s plan to increase government spending while 87% support a plan that maintains spending at its current level or reduces it.

Our budget proposal not only funds Minnesota’s priorities, it also includes significant reforms to make Minnesota more business friendly. Our reforms center on Minnesota becoming the leading economic engine of the Midwest and attracting businesses, families, and students to our state. While the Governor is calling for more taxes, we would like to attract more tax payers.

A government shutdown would be devastating to Minnesota and is completely unnecessary. We would like to continue to work with the Governor to prevent a shutdown and are asking him to call a special session so lawmakers can pass another bill to keep our state government functioning.