Posts Tagged: Minnesota

Minnesota’s uninspiring budget agreement

Mark Dayton

Doug Grow of the MinnPost reports on Democratic Governor Mark Dayton’s signing of a budget bill that ends Minnesota’s state government shutdown and the stalemate between Dayton and a GOP legislature. It would be nice to write something like “federal deficit reduction negotiators could learn a thing or two about the tough budget choices made by Minnesotans,” but neither Dayton nor the legislature distinguished themselves. In order to balance the budget, reports the New York Times’ Monica Davey, “The state will delay payments to local school districts and borrow money against expected payments from the tobacco industry.”

House Republicans have their cake, eat it too

Sean Duffy

Ron Nixon of the New York Times looks at several U.S. House Republicans who were elected on a platform of spending cuts but who are also pushing for spending projects of questionable merit in their districts. This is a timely report as House Republicans have taken a “No, more cuts!” position during deficit-reduction negotiations. These Republicans are hypocritical, effective, or both.

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Budget standoff in Minnesota

The MinnPost has lately provided almost everything that anyone would want to know about the budget conflict between Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the state’s GOP-controlled state legislature. The contours of the debate are pretty different than the negotiations going on in Washington, D.C. over reducing the national deficit. (more…)

Republicans, budgets, and abortions

Minnesota state capitol

The Minnesota budget battle is similar to the federal budget battle in that an already complicated process is being further complicated by the demands of anti-abortion lawmakers. Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent reports that Republicans in the Minnesota state senate want to eliminate family planning programs and also want the state to refuse federal cash for family planning programs. Meanwhile, the fiscal-year 2012 federal budget is, in part, being held up by a Republican push to defund Planned Parenthood. (more…)

No consensus from Midwest governors

Monica Davey of the New York Times reports that, “The dismal fiscal situation in many states is forcing governors, despite their party affiliation, toward a consensus on what medicine is needed going forward.” However, that is really not the case at all in the Midwest, where Democratic governors have called for tax increases and Republican governors have called for tax cuts and less federal interference. (more…)

Minnesota won’t yield to highway administration

A federal mandate for new road signs is an example of a misguided federal regulation, or at least a confused political debate about the regulation in question. The Federal Highway Administration wants states to make modern road signs that are reflective, but Minnesota Sen. Al Franken points out that the federal government has not provided the money needed for these signs. (more…)

What’s the slowest way from Milwaukee to Minnesota?

I’ve blogged about how incoming Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker wants no part in the federally funded construction of a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison — Walker says the $750,000 annual operating cost ($0.02 per taxpayer per year) is too much for Badger State residents to pay. However, Walker’s opposition may force Minnesota and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to build a rather unwieldy rail line that connects Milwaukee to St. Paul. (more…)

Foreign aid’s uncertain future

Sharon Schmickle of MinnPost has a really interesting article about how the federal focus on fiscal austerity impacts local contributions to foreign aid. “Federal funding has underwritten Minnesota’s many efforts to help people around the world cope with poverty and disaster,” Schmickle writes. “Minnesota’s church groups, medical missions and farmers with surplus food to share all have leveraged federal foreign aid to do global good deeds.” (more…)