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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 ??
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