Three Way News

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Saturday, July 09, 2005

Minnesota has a budget!

The Minnesota legislature finally reached a budget deal early this morning:

In the wee hours of this morning, Minnesota legislative leaders ended the state's partial government shutdown with the passage of a temporary spending plan and an agreement by state leaders on the outlines of a two-year budget.

...The state's ninth special session in 11 years started moments after the regular session ended. But even that wasn't enough to prompt a swift resolution of the conflicts over spending and taxation.

Budget negotiators worked into the early morning hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday in search of a compromise that would end the shutdown.

Pawlenty and his Republican allies were holding out for the so-called racino at Canterbury Park, pushing for floor votes in the House and Senate on the issue. The Republicans control the house while Democrats are the majority in the Senate.

Fang responds here. Although I'm as grateful as Fang for the DFL's hard work to reach a compromise with Republican leadership that pledged not to compromise, I still have room in my cold heart to quibble with the Strib. Pawlenty was holding out for a racino at Canterbury, but Republicans were hardly united behind the project. Pawlenty's pursuit of a legislative agenda which his own caucus did not fully support was a major roadblock in reaching a deal.