Pawlenty’s proposed budget cuts draw angry response
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 10:49 am
- 10 Comments
Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s plan to cut state spending by $750 million over the next two years — with major hits to health and human services, higher education and aid to cities — is not attracting many fans. Since its unveiling yesterday afternoon, the proposal has been roundly criticized by local elected officials, university leaders and advocates for the poor and disabled. Here’s a roundup of opinions about the proposed budget:
Pat Mellenthin, executive director of The Arc of Minnesota, on proposed cuts to health and human services:
The Governor may try to paint this as simply reducing the growth in HHS spending, but let’s be honest. The projected growth in HHS spending is not intended to fund excesses. Those projected increases in spending are based on anticipated real costs and real needs of real people. The Governor can’t pretend that people’s lives won’t be seriously impacted by his proposed cuts.
Robert Bruininks, president of the University of Minnesota:
Gov. Pawlenty’s budget recommendations today are just the first step in a long budget process. His proposal for the university’s budget carries with it enormous consequences. It will impact the quality and affordability of the education we provide. It will impair our ability to serve as a job creation engine for the state through research and development. And, it will have an inevitable impact on our workforce, tuition and our ability to attract research grants – just as it did five years ago when the state cut $195 million from the university.
Dane Smith, president of progressive think tank Growth & Justice:
Minnesota’s shared prosperity and quality of life rest on a foundation of wise public investment in human capital and physical infrastructure. This budget plan threatens that already weakened foundation with a dubious and unrealistic cuts-and-shifts strategy.
R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis:
We recognize that the current financial situation needs a shared sense of sacrifice. However, it’s unfortunate for the taxpayers of Minneapolis that the Governor is looking to make the state’s lack of financial management another burden for our residents.
Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, on a proposed wage freeze for state employees:
Our members earn on average $38,000 a year, and like most Minnesotans they’re struggling paycheck to paycheck and shouldn’t have to sacrifice alone while corporations see their taxes cut in half.
Dave Van Hattum, policy program manager at Transit for Livable Communities, on a looming $91 million shortfall for regional transit providers:
Without addressing the transit operating deficit, the Governor will prevent people from reaching their jobs. This doesn’t make sense in this economic climate. At a minimum, maintaining public transit service must be part of a Minnesota budget aimed at advancing prosperity.
Jan Malcolm, CEO of Courage Center, a Minneapolis-based physical rehabilitation facility:
While our services would be cut by almost $1.7 million under the proposed budget, the broader effects on the community would be far more severe. The Governor proposes to completely eliminate physical, occupational, speech and audiology therapies from all public health insurance programs for adults in need of rehabilitation.
John Van Hecke, director of operations and planning for progressive think tank Minnesota 2020:
The Governor’s budget recommendations continue the tired conservative policies that failed middle-class Americans these last eight years. Slashing investment in healthcare, communities and colleges while handing out tax giveaways to large multi-nationals will not create good-paying jobs for working Minnesotans. This plan will only make Minnesota’s recession worse.
10 Comments
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 11:31 am
Pawlenty’s “plan” is a self-serving furthering of his national political aspirations. His proposals for lowering corporate taxes are long-term solutions for a “right now” problem. It’s also incredibly convenient that we need this tax reform all of a sudden. These problems have been festering for years, and the old notion of GOP “fiscal responsibility” and “limited government” are nowhere to be found under Pawlenty’s time in office. Another pro-bailout, pro-corporation Republican with his own agenda coming first.
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
Republicans have one answer to every problem. The answer is always tax cuts that slant to the wealthy.
They are like old time doctors who thought every problem could be solved by bleeding the patient. Now matter how sick the patient bacame, more blood was drained. Inevitable result is that the patients dies, which only proves how sick he was. The bloodletting came too late and was not done vigorously enough.
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
“tax cuts that slant to the wealthy. ”
Business taxes are regressive.
From the 2007 Tax Incidence Report
” Although the legal impact of each of these taxes (business taxes) falls on the business entity, each is partially shifted to consumers (in higher prices) or in some cases to labor (in lower wages). Only a portion of business taxes are borne by capital owners as a lower rate of return on their investment.”
and
“Overall, the burden of Minnesota business taxes on Minnestoa households was regressive”
This is the report that is frequently referenced by groups like Growth and Justice and MN2020 because it shows that Minnesota’s tax burden is slightly regressive. This regression is only due to our excessive corporate tax rate.
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
Hear, Hear!!!!!
to all the above posts
Pawlenty should be ashamed of himself!!!!!!!!!! but.. he doesn’t have to worry about being able to go to the Dr, or send his kids to college… he will do just fine.. .so why worry about us ‘little people’ or how he’s going to pay his mortgage/rent….or feed his family…. he’s not ‘one of us’, so why worry?
For shame, Gov. Pawlenty… For shame…
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
It’s tiring to even speak of Pawlenty, to even speak his name and conjure thoughts of all the conservative vitriol he lashes upon us. I cannot even feel upset anymore. The voters of Minnesota spoke to vote him into office twice. As such, we deserve our lashes for doing so until the very last day. Whereas we were once a very educated and spirited state who saw through talk, we are now very ignorant and believe in hype more than I have ever recalled. Obviously the average Minnesotan today has no concept of how politics and economy go together.
Comment posted January 28, 2009 @ 4:30 pm
The Governor announces the cupboard is empty and the left demands he raid someone elses.
In other breaking news, the Sun rose today above Melbourne, Australia while it was still dark over North America. Observers are quoted as expressing, well, nothing.
Comment posted January 29, 2009 @ 7:16 am
“It’s tiring to even speak of Pawlenty, to even speak his name and conjure thoughts of all the conservative vitriol he lashes upon us. I cannot even feel upset anymore. The voters of Minnesota spoke to vote him into office twice. As such, we deserve our lashes for doing so until the very last day. Whereas we were once a very educated and spirited state who saw through talk, we are now very ignorant and believe in hype more than I have ever recalled. Obviously the average Minnesotan today has no concept of how politics and economy go together.”
- the most intelligent post I have read in years.
Comment posted January 29, 2009 @ 10:13 am
Wow! What’s next? A survey of brain surgeons evaluating the intelligence of rocket scientists?
Did you expect something surprising other than knee-jerk reaction from these sources?
Thoughtful reflection on the Pawlenty budget finds reason for criticism in that it doesn’t aggressively seek fundamental government reforms. Arbitrary spending cuts and arbitrary tax increases — neither solve the fundamental budget problem: too much government trying to do many things for too many people and doing little of it very well. Accounting shifts don’t get the job done either.
The opportunity presented by the budget situation, which neither the DFL nor the GOP have the cajones to face, is whether going forward we want to be a state where we sacrifice the dynamics of a market economy and individual decision-making in exchange for free government services where decisions are made for us or becoming a state with limited government intervention in the economy and personal choices while accepting that it is not the responsibility of government to remedy the inevitable inequality of outcomes that necessarily occur in a free society.
There really is no room for balance here. Balance is what we have now, and it necessarily leads to ever-expanding government. If that’s what we want, let’s be honest and say private property no longer has any meaning and government, society, the collective, or whatever language you want to use has exclusive right to every citizen’s labor in whatever quantity the majority, or those who claim to speak for the majority, say it needs (or simply wants). At least that gives productive people the option of taking their brains elsewhere. Or, we could just build a wall ….
Comment posted January 30, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
Cut, cut and cut some more. State spending can not increase forever without some pull back. There needs to across the board cuts to just about every state department.
Comment posted May 19, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
until somebody “big” walks in the shoes of “the poor man” one will never know what it’s like to
go to bed worrying about how you will pay for this and how you will pay for that, how you will
continue to put food on the table and provide for your children. how some people can look themselves in the eye or go to sleep at night knowing how something they did effects so many
helpless and unfortunate people is beyond me.People need to take a stand and fight this together. With out that we haven’t got a chance!!!.
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