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State Senator Mary Jo McGuire District 66 23 State Office Bldg. 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. St. Paul, MN 55155-1206 Telephone (651) 296-5537 Use Mail Form |
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| Sen. McGuire Pleased Shutdown is Over, Disappointed by Outcome of Deal | ||||||||||||
The Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Dayton passed a complete slate of budget bills early Wednesday morning to fill the $5 billion budget gap and end the longest state shutdown in U.S. history. The agreement–reached late last week–entails borrowing an additional $700 million from Minnesota school districts and borrowing an equal amount from anticipated future tobacco settlement payments. Sen. McGuire voted against all of the budget bills, with the exception of the Public Safety Omnibus Bill, due to the irresponsible funding scheme behind the bills. Sen. McGuire stated, “I am glad state employees can get back to work and services will be resumed soon, as the shutdown has finally ended. On the other hand, this deal makes permanent, drastic cuts to critical services and increases the legislature’s I.O.U. to school districts to $2.1 billion. This is unacceptable and was done to protect millionaires at the expense of those that can least afford it. It does not resolve our state’s budget crises, and instead delays resolving it by pushing it into the future.”
Sen. McGuire supported a responsible approach to plugging the $5 billion deficit through some type of revenue increase. Gov. Dayton’s numerous proposals to generate tax revenue from wealthy Minnesotans were all rejected by the Republican Legislature. The governor eventually agreed with a Republican plan to borrow, ending the shutdown and avoiding even steeper cuts.
Sen. McGuire also supported the Capital Investment (Bonding) bill, which will help put much needed investment into our state’s infrastructure–and provide jobs while doing so.
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