Democrats did their Job to keep Minnesota Open
"MN Budget"07/17/2005
The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here—with Pawlenty it’s always someone else’s fault
DFL Chair: House Republicans shut down government by rejecting Senate DFLers’ “lights on” bill
State DFL Chair Brian Melendez at a state Capitol news conference Friday laid out the two Parties’ roles in the partial shutdown of Minnesota government that resulted when the Republican-controlled House rejected the “lights on” bill that the Senate Democrats adopted yesterday:
“The DFL-led Senate did its job yesterday by passing a ‘lights on’ bill that would have kept the government open while negotiations continued toward a permanent budget. Every DFLer in the Senate, and every DFLer in the House, voted for this bill, which was clearly necessary and should have been uncontroversial.
“But with one exception, every Republican in both the House and the Senate voted in favor of shutting down the government.
“For weeks, the Senate DFLers have been offering proposal after proposal, in the hope of negotiating a compromise that would have kept the state government open. But Governor Pawlenty wouldn’t even come to the table until this week. And when the Governor’s tactics had finally driven the government to the brink of shutdown, the Senate DFLers passed the only bill under consideration that would have kept the government open. But the Republicans instead voted in favor of a shutdown.”
“Every single DFL legislator voted to make sure that the state’s workers weren’t hung out to dry when government shut down. Almost every House and Senate Republican voted to shut down government. The Republicans are holding Minnesota hostage because they aren’t willing to compromise. By voting against the “lights on” bill and in favor of a shutdown, the Governor and the House Republicans sent a message that they won’t support the over 9,000 state employees and the millions of Minnesotans they represent by keeping the government open. The DFL Party is determined to fix this terrible situation, to stop using people’s lives as bargaining chips, and to get the work of the people done.”
The Republican Representatives who voted to shut down the government:
Abeler Abrams Anderson, B. Beard Blaine
Bradley Brod Buesgens Charron Cornish
Cox Cybart Davids Dean DeLaForest
Demmer Dempsey Dorman Eastlund Emmer
Erhardt Erickson Finstad Garofalo Gazelka
Gunther Hackbarth Hamilton Heidgerken Holberg
Hoppe Johnson, J. Klinzing Knoblach Kohls
Krinkie Lanning Magnus McNamara Meslow
Nelson, P. Newman Nornes Olson Ozment
Paulsen Penas Peppin Peterson, N. Powell
Ruth Samuelson Seifert Severson Simpson
Smith Soderstrom Sviggum Sykora Tingelstad
Urdahl Vandeveer Wardlow Westerberg Westrom
Wilkin Zellers