MN House members resist vote on expense payment increases

02/26/2007

BY Rachel E. Stassen-Berger
Pioneer Press


The Minnesota House today turned back a move to force the full House to vote on lawmakers' expense payments.

By a 69-60 vote, House members decided they wanted the Rules Committee — not the full House — to deal with the issue. The vote today means the Rules Committee will determine if the full House should later take a vote on the payments.

Usually, the full House need not vote on such changes. But this year, after the Rules Committee voted to increase lawmakers' expense payment from $66 to $77 a day, some representatives agitated for a full House vote on the payment.

A similar controversy arose in the Minnesota Senate this year, after members of the Senate Rules committee voted to increase their per diem payments from $66 to $96 a day.

Last week, the full Senate ratified the increase on a 59-7 vote. In a twist, senators who voted "no" won't receive any per diem, unless they specifically request the payments at a later date.

In about three hours of discussion, the full House today also turned back moves to force votes on housing payments and other changes to members' per diem payments.