What is MN's Gov. Tim Pawlenty doing to MN ? towing the line for Neo Cons

[annm4peace]

Here is a letter from my State Rep.


Neighbors,



I’m sending this update from the House floor, as we close in on the final hours of the 2009 Legislative Session. It has been a long and difficult day.



Thursday, Governor Pawlenty announced that he intends to unilaterally cut $ 3 billion from the state budget. Rather than commit to continuing to engage in constructive negotiations with the Legislature to responsibly deal with the state’s unprecedented $6.4 billion budget shortfall, the Governor will use broad executive authority to line-item veto and unallot funding from the state budget.



A few hours later, the Governor started making deep cuts to health care, cutting $381 million with a line item veto of the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program. This is money used to treat veterans, senior citizens, the mentally ill and the poorest people in the state. It will devastate over 30,000 Minnesotans and the hospitals that care for them.



Earlier today, the House attempted to override this line-item veto to protect what Human Services Commissioner Ludeman described as “the poorest of the poor, the sickest of the sick” and the hospitals that are first responders in times of crisis; however that attempt was unsuccessful when not a single Republican member voted for the override.



Currently, we are debating an override of Governor Pawlenty’s veto of House File 885, a bill that would protect Minnesota schools, hospitals, nursing homes and jobs with responsible and modest on-going revenue. Without sustained new revenue, more than 20,000 jobs may be lost; schools will face certain budget reductions at the local level; several hospital and community clinics may close and more than 1/3 of all of the nursing homes statewide are at risk of closure. Without ongoing revenue it is predicted that in 2011 we will face an additional $5 billion deficit.



These budget cuts are much more than words on a page – they will significantly impact the lives of Minnesotans in nearly every walk of life. The Legislature has already made significant compromise with the Governor, cutting the budget more than he does and introducing reasonable revenue that would impact largely fewer than 2 percent of Minnesotans. The Legislature’s proposal would impact the state’s highest income earners – couples with $300,000 adjusted gross income - at a rate of only $109 per year, or less than $9 per month, or less than 30 cents per day - for just the next four years. That seems a small price to pay to keep our schools, hospitals and nursing homes intact.



This is the most serious budget crisis in Minnesota’s history, and the next hours will shape our future for a generation. I’ll continue working to find a responsible compromise that protects schools, hospitals, nursing homes and jobs in the way that Minnesotans deserve.



(and the idiot MN Republicans followed right along)

** how many will die because of these cuts ??

[LakeSamish706]

1. It's at this time that I have to say that all Repubs have gone overboard in general....

Not only have they become the party of NO... But now we have individual's coming out of the woodwork and spewing their bullshit... ie: Miss California and many, many others... I think it's time that someone declared open season on Conservatives/Republicans, cause it's long overdue.

[madrchsod]

2. i would say many will suffer and die due to long term cuts...

republicans would rather let people die than to raise taxes.

[Seldona]

3. Those figures are frightening.

This really will result in the preventable deaths of many people. We are through the looking glass, and Coleman just keeps his nonsense up. There will be real crisis soon, worse than what we are experiencing now, with cuts like that hitting mainly the poorest of the poor.

Rough times ahead, to put it mildly.

[rwheeler31]

4. What has gone wrong in Minnesota?

[glinda]

5. Tim Pawlenty is what's gone wrong. Also the Dems have to get tough. People dying?

Doncha know they are "Pro-Life"????

Just have more babies and let others die.


That way there will be just extremist Christians.

[Stellabella]

7. I don't know, but I don't recognize my state anymore.

That weasel Pawlenty is just plain evil and stupid. And selfish and cruel and narcissistic. I hate his guts.

[fulllib]

6. Thanks you for posting this.

This is the effect of this national tea-party, lower taxes bs. Somehow we have to fight it.

My Mother, who used to be liberal, lost a bunch of her retirement egg last fall. She was up here this weekend, and saw some of the debate on the news about this, and was taking Pawlenty's side. I was shocked, thinking that she would naturally understand that these programs need to continue.

I don't understand; I see so much of this as baby boomers who are used to getting their way not wanting to tow the cost when it is their turn. I lost my pension program last week, my raise was cut(despite the company announcing record profits), and our state experiences budget cuts so deep that even hospitals might close. On top of that, my mother, who generally cares about people and has held jobs where she found employment for the difficult to employ people amongst us, cheers this sort of thing.

WHat has happened? We aren't even talking aobut cutting cushy, liberal pet projects (like actually funding preschool and other programs that pay off in the longterm), we are talking actual fabric-of-society types of services that will have a greater impact missing than anyone seems to acknowledge! How can Pawlenty or anyone seriously behave this way?

I know when I am of that age, I will expect to contribute for the younger generations. What is so hard about keeping programs that society has agreed should be available afloat?

[droidamus2]

8. Dream come true

This is a dream come true for the Republicans. Their point has been for a long time to starve government so they could 'cut liberal programs' because of lack of money. Little did we know that the liberal programs they wanted to cut were health care for veterans, the elderly and the needed and schools. Their whole attitude is 'I've got mine. If you don't have yours that's your problem'. No sense of civic responsibility and supporting the social contract we all implicitly have to contribute to making our particular states and our country the best it can be.