Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, sent a letter today to GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch saying he "reluctantly" agrees to accept the Republican budget proposal from June 30 to end the current state government's shutdown.
“Despite my serious reservations about your plan, I have concluded that continuing the state government shutdown would be even more destructive for too many Minnesotans,” Dayton wrote in the letter. “Therefore, I am willing to agree to something I do not agree with – your proposal – in order to spare our citizens and our state from further damage.”
Minnesota's situation is similar to neighboring Wisconsin's. It's been a Blue State with a compliant Democrat-dominated legislature for years, and spending and the public employee unions have run wild.In the last election, Republicans took control of the state legislature and demanded that Minnesota get its fiscal house in order. They were opposed tooth and nail by Governor Dayton, who simply dug his heels in and refused to sign the budget they presented to him. So the government shut down.
Essential services were maintained, but other things that impacted the daily lives of Minnesotans weren't. Beer, for instance, was affected when the state government ordered MillerCoors to pull its product off shelves because they had overpaid for a state license renewal by $200, and by the time a check in the correct amount arrived the shutdown was in progress and the state claimed the renewal couldn't be processed.Hunting and fishing licenses and gun permits and background checks were also halted, something with a huge impact in Minnesota.
After two weeks of shutdown,Governor Dayton realizes that he has no cards left to play and this wasn't polling well, so he finally gave in.
"During the past two weeks, I have been listening carefully to people throughout Minnesota,” the governor wrote. “They are telling me that, overwhelmingly, they want this budget dispute resolved.”
There's a major lesson here for the Republicans in Congress. If they hold President Obama accountable and refuse to accept the nonsense he's offering, he's going to cave, even if it takes a brief shutdown to underline the point.Let President Obama and the Democrats be seen as the irresponsible obstructionists.
2 comments:
If they hold President Obama accountable and refuse to accept the nonsense he's offering,
uh, yeah, good luck with that.
boehner is getting a manicure in anticipation of grabbing his ankles.
Well, it's his choice Louie. Get screwed by Obama now, or by the electorate later.
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