Reader Response: Little trust in lawmakers on budget
Jun. 14—The Free Press
A majority of area respondents say they don't trust state lawmakers will finalize and approve budget negotiations during a special session this week, according to a Free Press online question.
Out of 163 total respondents, 88 voters — almost 54% — say they don't believe the Minnesota Legislature will approve a two-year budget during the upcoming special session this week. Another 75 voters had more faith in legislators.
Lawmakers are prepared to head into a special session Monday to extend Minnesota's peacetime emergency by another 30 days. The special session also acts as an opportunity for legislators to finalize more than a dozen budget bills that make up a proposed $52 billion, two-year budget.
The Legislature failed to agree on major budget areas by the end of its regular annual session in mid-May, but state leaders including Gov. Tim Walz say they are confident legislators can come to an agreement over the state's next biennial budget before the current one expires at the end of this month.
Legislators have in recent decades been more prone to heading into government shutdown than agreeing on two-year budgets, though Walz and legislative leaders avoided that during the last round of budget negotiations in 2019. If lawmakers can't agree on budget items by July 1, Minnesota's state agencies will shut down until a new budget is passed by the Legislature and signed by Walz.
The Free Press online question, sent out Saturday, asked, "Do you believe the Minnesota Legislature will finalize and approve a two-year budget next week?"
There were two options to answer, "yes" or "no."
Commenters expressed hope lawmakers could come together on a budget. While some blamed one political party or another for the state's fiscal gridlock, others suggested Minnesota should look into ways to pressure lawmakers to drop political grandstanding and focus on negotiations earlier in the regular session.
"The constitution needs to be changed in a way to hold the Legislature more accountable for not being able to pass a budget in a timely fashion," Howard Rosten wrote. "Seems like it's always May before anything seems to start moving forward. Perhaps remove their per diem, or an enforced pay deduction for everyday pass the mandated deadline. Something needs to be done, because what we see now is not working."
Marshel Rossow wrote, "Anecdotal evidence suggests no. Let's see, how many years in the last several has the Legislature been called back into special session because it couldn't finish its work under the state's constitutional deadline for adjournment? The answer is 'most.' Why would this year be any different? The answer is, 'It probably won't be.' When legislators get paid quite well for those extra days, what incentive is there to finish business on time? The answer is 'very little.' Will the Legislature itself ever do anything meaningful to correct this annual problem? The answer is 'nope.'"
William Kastens wrote, "I really hope. I think every lawmaker should not get paid (during the) special session. In fact, they should be paying back the public their salary and per diem every day. What other organization makes extra money for not doing their job the first time around? It's called comprising, meeting in the center some place. Personally I'm an independent, but I'm really sick of the Trump mentality. Do your job."
Harry Jenness wrote, "Democracy is the art of the compromise. Always has been and always will. For some reason Republicans have forgotten that. The 'my way or the highway approach' has not worked in business or government."
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