The Whitney Senior Center lunch program continued uninterrupted Friday despite the state government shutdown since its service was considered essential. / Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com
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A day after lawmakers and Gov. Mark Dayton failed to avert a state-government shutdown, the reactions of St. Cloud-area legislators ranged from reflective to defiant.
State government began a shutdown of historic scope Friday after the two sides couldn’t reach accord on the state’s next budget by Thursday, the end of the state’s fiscal year.
That came after a last-ditch volley of stop-start budget talks melted down Thursday amid finger-pointing between Republicans who control the Legislature and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. The impasse stemmed from Dayton’s desire to increase taxes on high earners to offset spending cuts — a proposal at which GOP legislators balked.
Budget talks are set to resume Tuesday, legislators said.
Some area legislators felt a temporary spending measure could have supplied more time for the two sides to reach a permanent budget compromise. Senate President Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, and Rep. King Banaian, R-St. Cloud, criticized Dayton for not backing such a so-called “lights-on” bill.
As chair of the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee, Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, was more directly involved than most legislators in budget talks.
Gottwalt on Friday blamed Dayton and DFLers for the shutdown. In a voice mail, Gottwalt said Dayton “threw in the towel” on budget talks with a deal still in reach.
“It is very clear to me that Gov. Dayton and the DFL have decided for some time that this was the route they were going to take,” Gottwalt said.
Surcharge talks
GOP legislators have remained adamant that they won’t raise taxes to balance the state’s $5 billion forecast deficit.
But at least two St. Cloud-area lawmakers, Fischbach and Sen. John Pederson, R-St. Cloud, said Friday they would consider other forms of new revenue to balance the budget.
Fischbach and Rep. Larry Hosch, DFL-St. Joseph, said legislators and the Dayton administration held talks about generating new revenue through a Medical Assistance surcharge on health providers. Fischbach said the discussions occurred between the top legislators on health care finance, Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, and Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, and Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda JessonBut Fischbach and Hosch said talks never progressed to the point of such a proposal being included in a formal budget offer between GOP legislative leaders and Dayton.
Fischbach declined to share more details about the provider surcharges, but hinted she could support such a proposal, if structured properly.
“They may be something that could be part of the solution for me,” Fischbach said.
Hosch said such a surcharge almost certainly will be part of a final budget deal.
Failure?
Some legislators bristled at the notion that the shutdown resulted from their own failure.
Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, was among the legislators who packed the governor’s reception room late Thursday night to hear Dayton announce that budget talks had broken down and a state shutdown was imminent.
Dayton has rejected GOP legislative leaders’ proposal for a two-year budget of slightly more than $34 billion. He has said the state needs additional revenue to offset projected spending cuts to colleges and universities, state agencies and aid to the needy and disabled.
But Kiffmeyer is skeptical about Dayton’s push for revenue; she believes it’s motivated chiefly by Dayton’s desire to hike taxes on the wealthy.
“It’s not about revenue,” Kiffmeyer said. “It’s about a tax increase, because they want to go after those who’ve actually worked hard.”
Kiffmeyer said GOP legislators’ next move should be to offer a budget of about $32.2 billion, a figure she estimated as equal to state spending in the previous two-year budget cycle.
Some other legislators felt a sense of regret at how Thursday’s round of budget talks played out.
“It’s a failure of everybody’s part,” Banaian said. “I think everybody will spend time thinking: ‘What else can we do?’ ”
Difficult decisions
Pederson responded affirmatively when asked if he felt responsibility for the shutdown.
“I definitely feel responsible,” Pederson said. “It’s not something I’m proud of at all. But I do believe I was elected to make difficult decisions.
“This is a decision I’m comfortable with.”
Pederson said he’s disappointed Dayton hasn’t embraced reform proposals that Pederson says would put state spending on a more-sustainable long-term trajectory. Pederson cited a proposal passed by the Legislature during its regular session — and later vetoed by Dayton — that would trim the state workforce by 15 percent.
Pederson says he would consider different types of new, nontax revenue as part of a budget deal, but only if it’s coupled with cost-saving reforms.
It’s no surprise that Hosch — the only area legislator not part of GOP majorities in the House and Senate — was most critical of lawmakers for the collapse in budget talks.
Hosch stopped short of blaming GOP lawmakers for the shutdown. But he said he expects they’ll face anger from constituents as they return to their districts this weekend.
“Everybody else has to go to work and get their job done,” Hosch said, “or else they don’t have one.”
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