Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, has told Republican leaders in the legislature that he will “reluctantly” accept their budget proposal to end a government 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.”
Dayton said accepting the offer, with conditions, would bridge a $1.4 billion gap between him and the Republican leadership without any more drastic cuts to to essential services. “If this gets resolved and gets Minnesota back to work in the next few days, then it doesn’t matter what people say about me,” Dayton said.
More here. Can anyone think of a state in which raising taxes to balance the budget has won out over spending cuts?* Even Democratic legislatures (New Jersey) and Democratic governors (New York) are passing austerity budgets. Shoot, even Illinois is more or less getting the message.
It’ll be interesting to see if this steels the resolve of Republican leadership in Washington.
*Connecticut this year looks a lot like Illinois last year. I don’t think it’ll last long.