A setback for those pushing a bonding bill for state public works projects, when an 800-million-dollar measure floated by Republicans couldn’t get enough votes to pass in the Minnesota House late Wednesday. Sponsor, Grove City Republican Dean Urdahl says the Senate’s and governor’s proposals are both larger and asked colleagues, “Do you really think that, if we send them a bill, it’ll come back smaller? Do you really think that projects important to you can’t be added?” But House Democratic Minority Leader Melissa Hortman says, “We’re not taking a leap of faith…. We need all the details spelled out before we would commit to supporting it.” Governor Mark Dayton says the dollar amount in the House bill is “unacceptably low” but the question is, where is the mid-point legislators will agree to?
Saint Paul Democrat Alice Hausman echoes the bill is inadequate, and says it’s too late to go the traditional negotiations route. “We should sit down…, House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats and the governor’s office, and literally work out the last of it together,” she says. Five days remain in the legislative session.
More in this interview of Rep. Hausman on the House floor: