Today, Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a Republican plan to drain Minnesota’s budget reserves to pay back part of the school payment shift. Senate DFL Caucus Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, issued the following statement:
“Draining the state’s budget reserves to pay back what Republicans borrowed from our schools is just piling on more debt and puts the state at additional financial risk. It’s fiscally irresponsible and deserved a veto from Governor Dayton.
This was really just an attempt by Republicans to retreat from their own fiscal mismanagement. Last year, Republicans led Minnesota into the nation’s longest shutdown in history and chose to break the gridlock by borrowing $2.7 billion from our schools. They now realize that borrowing from schools wasn’t the right thing to do, but neither is draining the state’s budget reserves. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
If Republicans were serious about paying back what they took from schools they would have joined DFL lawmakers in supporting a responsible plan to pay back our kids by closing tax loopholes on multi-national corporations doing business overseas. Instead, they came up with another borrowing scheme to dig Minnesota deeper into debt.
With a $4.5 billion deficit looming next year, piling on more debt is just irresponsible.”
-30-
Learn more about Sen. Bakk.
Read more news from Sen. Bakk.
