Government Shutdown
By Claire Robling
July 5, 2005
Until about 9:30 Thursday night, I was hopeful that the Legislature would be able to avert a partial shutdown of state government, Although negotiations had been going poorly for most of June, earlier in the day we had passed the Agriculture, Environment and Economic Development bill with only a few dissenting votes. Most legislators, including myself, seemed very eager to close up a budget deal, avert a shutdown, and go home for the approaching July 4th weekend.
Instead, my hope turned into frustration and disappointment when the Senate DFL Majority walked away from the bargaining table late Thursday evening and adjourned the day's session without notifying Republican senators as we waited in our offices. With only hours left until the end of the fiscal year, that move made a government shutdown a certainty.
At a time when the public is understandably frustrated with government and all lawmakers are being painted with the same "failure" brush, I struggled with what to write for this column. I want to avoid the "blame game." I don't want to excuse the stalemate at the Capitol or the shutdown. They are indefensible and I am embarrassed by our current state of affairs.
On the other hand, I think it's very important to share the whole story, the big picture you don't see on the nightly news or read about in the morning paper.
While there is a fine line between casting blame and holding people accountable, at some point, the public has a right to know there are just some leaders at the Capitol who do not want to compromise yet and who have played a large role in ensuring this stalemate drags on indefinitely.
I heard a good analogy the other day: Current state budget negotiations are a lot like a jury trial. Even if 11 jurors see the logical conclusion and want to work together to deliver justice, one obstructionist -- one person with a different agenda -- can derail that goal entirely.
I think there are a lot of people in both parties at the Capitol, from the Governor down to rank and file freshman Democrats, who want to set a responsible state budget and go home. But as long as a few powerful leaders in the Senate DFL Majority have a different objective, it's nearly impossible to get the job done.
All I can do at this point is give you my word that I will do everything I can -- from the high level work of supporting new budget offers to the lower level solutions of asking the Senate DFL to elect new leadership who might be more flexible -- to break this logjam.
It's unproductive and often unfair -- but I do think it's important that the families of our district have the comfort of knowing Governor Pawlenty, Senate Republican leader Dick Day and House Speaker Steve Sviggum have been willing to give nearly everything to reach a compromise. As disappointed as I am in this shutdown, I am proud of these leaders' sincere efforts to give their Democrat counterparts a deal they can accept with dignity. While it's tempting for lawmakers -- like any normal humans -- to stubbornly remain tied to their own beliefs and goals, we understand that very little progress is possible without flexibility.
In the past few weeks, Governor Pawlenty and our Republican leaders at the Capitol have displayed admirable flexibility. In addition to offering to support a 75 cent a pack cigarette wholesale fee as a last resort, the Governor put forward new dollars from corporate tax compliance initiatives and gambling revenue from a "Racino" at Canterbury Park. In total, Governor Pawlenty has increased his budget proposal from $29.8 billion to $30.5 billion -- an addition of almost $700 million. When added to existing revenue, this would provide an 8 percent increase in spending over the next two years, a rate that is well above inflation.
As of this week, the Governor put on the table an offer that provided 97 percent of the spending levels the Senate DFL Majority requested and many significant policy and funding initiatives they'd long called for. The latest offer included a hefty 9 percent per pupil funding increase for our schools (4 1/2
percent each year), a pay hike for state workers, increased local government aid, funding for the new Clean Water Legacy Act and additional transit and transportation dollars.
Although I would have voted to put the Governor's offer into law, to be honest, there are some who felt the Governor gave too much. Unfortunately, the Senate Majority declined the governor's offer and, surprisingly, decided to stop negotiating and adjourn the Senate session Thursday evening without a budget solution.
At 9 p.m. that evening Senate DFL Leader Dean Johnson told the media that he was incredibly close to reaching a budget deal with the Governor. Yet moments later, he walked into the Senate Chamber and adjourned for the night -- without even informing other senators or giving us a chance to vote on the decision.
I have talked to the Governor about the status of negotiations at that point and believe that the two sides truly were within inches of reaching an agreement -- he had given up several more of his requests which the Democrats objected to in a last ditch effort to make a deal before the midnight deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
So now it's back to the negotiating table. Hopefully, one of these many attempts will end in an agreement soon. I realize that there are many people adversely affected by the lack of progress. I am saddened and disheartened that nearly 9,000 state workers are laid off and the public can't receive certain services from these fine public employees. I do not take special sessions or government shutdowns lightly; I do not find them acceptable in any way. It's time to put partisanship and stubbornness aside, to forget about the television cameras and press corps, and get the job done for the people we serve.
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