Governor Tim Walz and Republicans might not resume state budget negotiations until the evening on Mother’s Day, as their stalemate over taxes and spending continues. The governor says he needs a “real offer” from Republicans after they proposed putting human services “savings” into education. “It’s simply not good enough to take and put pain into one place, by cutting children off of health care… and then try and say that that’s a sacrifice [and] we’ll put a little bit of money back into education,” Walz says.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka responds the governor and Democrats must move away from large tax increases they’re proposing, including the gas tax and medical provider tax: “Over a four-year period it was 12 billion dollars…. I mean, we feel like that is way, way high as far as tax increases on Minnesotans.”
The deadline for the legislature to pass a new state budget is less than two weeks away.