SW Legislators To Vote 'No' On Deal

"Incredibly irresponsible."

That's the sentiment of Southwest Minneapolis's Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Frank Hornstein as they reacted today to a deal struck by Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders Thursday afternoon.Many other DFL legislators have made similar statements since the deal was announced.

"I'm very disappointed," Hornstein said. "I don't believe the public supports a policy where you're basically borrowing money to pay off the credit card."

The deal was closed with a combination of cuts to higher-education funding, state services, transportation and $700 million each of "tobacco bonds" and to K-12 schools.

"The deal builds in a $1.4 billion deficit for the coming biennium," said Dibble.

"I think it was an extremely unwise way to proceed (this way) when we had a fiscally sound measure in our hands," he said, referring to Dayton's proposed tax increase on the 7,700 wealthiest Minnesota taxpayers.

"I understand the governor's feelings in wanting to bring the shutdown to an end," said Dibble, but said he could not support the deal.

Hornstein said for his part, he will continue campaigning for tax increases on the wealthy as a deficit solution.

"I'm going to be working very hard over the summer, the fall and the next session," he said. "I'm not backing down at all from my belief that we need to have a balanced structural budget, and that comes from raising revenue."