GOP votes down rule that’d prioritize budget over social issues
Wednesday, January 05, 2011 at 9:07 am
- 9 Comments
On the first day of the legislative session, the Republican majority in the Minnesota House voted down an amendment to the rules that would put fixing the state budget deficit before any constitutional amendments. The rule, offered by Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis), was referred to the Rules Committee for further consideration by a vote of 74 to 60. DFL Rep. Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley criticized the vote as an indication that the Republican majority may prioritize delving into divisive social issues over fixing the budget deficit.
“We are facing a budget crisis of serious and historic proportions,” Thissen said on the House floor. “You stated that other more divisive issues should wait until we get that constitutional duty of balancing our budget done. It’s something that I think we’ve all agreed on publicly, and it’s an amendment that says and makes clear to the people of Minnesota what our priorities are.”
Rep. Paul Thissen. Photo: PaulThissen.com
He said, “[The amendment] says that no constitutional amendments will be considered by this body until we actually get our budget balanced and a balanced budget bill signed into law.”
But, Majority Leader Matt Dean moved to have the amendment sent to committee.
“We are focused on moving forward on process and we want to make sure we do this in a thoughtful and in a transparent manner,” he said adding that he wanted members to have a chance to examine the amendment. “However, we want to be able to have our members informed and we want have input from outside the building a well.”
But Thissen said the amendment, which is two sentences long, is self-explanatory.
“It is a straightforward amendment, easily understandable,” he said. “And something we can all agree on is that we should get our budget balanced before we deal with constitutional amendments and other issues.”
The amendment offered by Thissen read:
During an odd-numbered year, a House or Senate bill that proposes a constitutional amendment must not be considered in a committee or on the calendar for the day, the fiscal calendar, or any other floor calendar until bills necessary to provide a balanced general fund budget for the biennium beginning on July 1 of that year have been enacted into law. During an even-numbered year, if the most recent forecast of state revenues and expenditures predicts a deficit for the biennium ending on June 30 of the next odd-numbered year, a House or Senate bill that proposes a constitutional amendment must not be considered in a committee or on the calendar for the day, the fiscal calendar, or any other floor calendar until bills necessary to eliminate that projected deficit have been enacted into law.
Following the vote to send the bill to committee — mainly along partisan lines — Rep. Ryan Winkler released a statement criticizing the move.
“Minnesota is facing historic economic and fiscal challenges. State lawmakers have just a few months to solve a gaping $6.2 billion deficit while preserving essential public services,” said Winkler. “But Republicans in the legislature would rather focus their attention on a divisive social agenda that denies some Minnesotans the right to marriage, denies women the right to choose, and denies seniors the right to vote.”
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter9 Comments
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 9:13 am
Why would the majority let the minority set the agenda?
Did the DFL ever let the republicans set the legislative agenda anytime over the past 30 years?
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 9:34 am
@Dennis: It’s not the minority setting the agenda; it’s holding the majority to their word.
Less than a week ago, the GOP majority took to a press conference announcing their priority is “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Senate leader Koch declared that every bill they pass will “make Minnesota more competitive.” No divisive social initiative will do that.
By rejecting Thissen’s proposal to formally focus on the budget, they’ve shown Minnesotans that they’re more concerned with appealing to their base than governing responsibly.
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 12:37 pm
In both the Minnesota Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans have been tripping over themselves breaking promises they clearly had no intention of keeping. For all the idiots who voted for them, congratulations. You’ve got the government you deserve.
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 1:11 pm
I’m an ex-Minnesotan who’s now living in North Dakota. On Jan. 4, 2011 Gov. Jack Dalrymple gave the state-of-state address. The focus was on jobs, jobs, jobs. So why can’t Minnesota’s major political parties reach common ground and agree on making the economy the #1 issue. The proposed rules change discussed here and voted down by the House majority seemed simple enough. Looks like another round of grid-lock and politics is in store for this upcoming session.
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 6:46 pm
what happened to their “laser like focus” on fixing the deficit? Oh, that’s right, they are beholden to oil, insurance, and other big industry $ right Rep. Koch of Koch Oil fame which funded the tea party nationally in the first place…..
Comment posted January 5, 2011 @ 11:22 pm
Even though it is likely that the Republicans will pass MAMA II (the Minnesota Anti-Marriage Amendment) to be included on the 2012 ballot, it behooves those of us who are fair-minded to repeatedly contact each legislator in St. Paul and let them know that you aren’t in favor of such a constitutional amendment. They need to know that the political landscape in Minnesota is changing in the direction of full equality and inclusion for those Minnesotans who are LGBT – including full access to civil marriage.
In the meantime, continue to reach out to family, friends, co-workers, church members and others with this message, encouraging them to vote against MAMA II.
Comment posted January 6, 2011 @ 9:31 am
We need to get out the message that all the organizations like the Minnesota Family Council that will be pushing an anti-gay marriage amendment are really fronts. They are Republican get-out-the vote organizations and nothing more. They should have to reveal all their donors and report all their finances like every other political organization. They should have to reveal the extremely handsome salaries they are paying to the people who run them.
On another note, the Minnesota Family Council has never done squat for families. They have never addressed any of the issues that are causing family breakdown (all parents having to work long hours to stay employed to feed the family, people unprepared for marriage and child-rearing, and the list goes on). They only want to bang the drum for issues that will get scared and hate-filled people to the polls to vote for Republicans. That doesn’t help families. And besides, all gay people are part of families too. Most were raised by straight parents who love and care about them. What about those families. What is the MN Family Council doing for them?
Comment posted January 6, 2011 @ 12:55 pm
“may prioritize social issues…” ya think? Understatement of the year. the entire scam the GOP has created is to wave red-meat social issues in front of the base while they enrich the plutocracy in private.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
