House, Senate negotiators seek trims in state bonding bill

Minnesota House and Senate negotiators started reviewing $1.2 billion in previously approved public works projects Sunday afternoon, looking for places to trim spending in order to assemble a bonding bill that costs less than $1 billion.

[Murph]

How they we make a deal with Pawlenty? Give Timmy 89 million dollars to leave now.Then if he wants to use it to feed and house criminals he can do it himself! It's a win win!

[Nancy Pal Osi]

Raise taxes! There is no reason to cut back spending when you can just raise taxes to create jobs.

[Tommy]

Dump special needs mandates from education.

[It was a simple fix]

How about NO bonding bill. You don't put more on the credit card when you have a deficit already you haven't fixed.

[Zeked]

Murph wrote:

How they we make a deal with Pawlenty? Give Timmy 89 million dollars to leave now.Then if he wants to use it to feed and house criminals he can do it himself! It's a win win!

Why does someone from Wisconsin care about Minnesota politics?

[Leprechaun]

There are a load of "wants" in this bill that could be removed. This is not the time for pork barrel spending. We need to concentrate on "needs". Infrastructure, public safety and basic education are necessary. More entitlement programs cannot be afforded. The local civic arenas, money losing trains, lawsuits between public entities and additional hand outs are things we just cannot afford in this economy.

[Leprechaun]

Nancy Pal Osi wrote:

Raise taxes! There is no reason to cut back spending when you can just raise taxes to create jobs.

Raising taxes may be necessary, but it only seems to create more "Government jobs". We already have enough agencies, departments and coalitions. In fact we have way too much duplication in government - State and Federal.

[JAdams]

Cut education spending by a few billion. It's money flushed down the toilet anyway.

[JKS]

This info is from LGA Larry, Posted in the Minnesota Forum (Health care aid for poor vetoed)
I hope we can do something.
99.99% of this pork could and should be eliminated.
So what kind of “critical” projects are included in the DFL proposals?---

American Indian Learning Resource Center ($6.7 million)

· Bike and hiking trails ($39 million)

· Minnesota Zoo ($32.5 million)

· Rochester volleyball center ($4 million)

· Springbrook Nature Center ($2 million)

· Wirth Park Winter Recreation ($1 million)

· Minneapolis Sculpture Garden ($2 million)

· Dakota County bicycle tunnel ($344,000)

· Old Cedar Avenue bicycle bridge ($2 million)

· Rock Island Park trail development ($1 million)

· Potter Center for the Arts ($7 million)

· African-American Cultural Center ($840,000)

· Mankato Civic Center ($14 million)

· Orchestra Hall ($17 million)

· Rochester Civic Center ($28 million)

· Saint Cloud Civic Center ($15 million)

· Ordway Center ($16 million)

· Asian-Pacific Cultural Center ($7 million)

· Oliver Kelly historic farm ($10 million)

· Moorehead sports complex ($4 million)

· Ice arenas ($2 million)

· Midtown Famers’ Market ($500,000)

· Como Zoo ($11 million)

· Chatfield Arts Center ($2.2 million)

· Arrowhead Sports Complex ($3 million)

· Saint Paul Saints stadium design ($250,000)

The DFL claims they understand the seriousness of the budget crisis. They’re actions suggest otherwise.
Maybe scrap some of the pork above and use that to save the all-important "healthcare for the poor".

[spectre000]

Minnesota has one of the lowest debt per capital levels in the country (we're ranked 43rd I believe). Interest rates are low, contractor bids are low, folks are out of work. Now is a good time for a bonding bill. Let's get people to work.

[JKS]

spectre000 wrote:

Minnesota has one of the lowest debt per capital levels in the country (we're ranked 43rd I believe). Interest rates are low, contractor bids are low, folks are out of work. Now is a good time for a bonding bill. Let's get people to work.

Great idea, but what happened to this program????
One year after the devastating so-called stimulus was signed into law, here are some numbers you need to know:

* 3.5 MILLION: Jobs President Obama promised the stimulus would create by the end of 2010.(President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Press Release, Denver, CO, 2/17/09)
* 2.8 MILLION: Jobs lost since President Obama made that promise.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 6.3 MILLION: Jobs President Obama must now create to keep his promise by the end of 2010.(President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Press Release, Denver, CO, 2/17/09; U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 1.1 MILLION: Jobs President Obama’s economists project will be created by the end of 2010.(David Jackson,“Obama Economic Report: Stagnant Job Growth This Year,” USA Today, 2/11/10)
* 5.2 MILLION: Jobs by which President Obama’s economists’ projection leaves him short in keeping his promise.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, USA Today, 2/11/10)
* 6 PERCENT: Not surprisingly, the number of Americans who say Obama’s stimulus created jobs.(Stephanie Condon,“Poll: Economy Brings Down Obama’s Job Approval Rating,”CBS News’“Political Hotsheet” Blog, 2/11/10)
* 7.7 PERCENT: Unemployment rate when President Obama was selling his stimulus plan in January 2009.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 8 PERCENT: Unemployment rate President Obama pledged the Stimulus would prevent us from reaching.(Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein,“The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09)
* 9.7 PERCENT: Current unemployment rate.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 16.5 PERCENT: Current unemployment rate when underemployed and discouraged workers are included.(Sara Murray,“Signs Of Hope As Jobless Rate Dips,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/6/10)
* 334,000: Americans who have given up looking for a job since the stimulus was signed.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 47: States that have lost jobs since the stimulus was signed.(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
* 10: States that moved from single-digit to double-digit unemployment since the stimulus was signed.(U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov , Accessed 2/16/10)
*$862 BILLION: Updated cost of stimulus – a $75 billion increase from last year's cost estimate.(“The Budget And Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 To 2010,” Congressional Budget Office, 1/26/10; Douglas Elmendor, Director, Congressional Budget Office, Letter To Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2/13/09)
* 440: Number of nonexistent congressional districts that received stimulus funds.(Richard S. Dunham,“Site Lists Jobs In Imaginary Texas Districts,” Houston Chronicle, 11/18/09)
*$6.4 BILLION: Amount of stimulus funds that went to nonexistent congressional districts.(Richard S. Dunham,“Site Lists Jobs In Imaginary Texas Districts,” Houston Chronicle, 11/18/09)
*$18 MILLION: Cost Of stimulus website, Recovery.gov .(Rick Klein,“$18M Being Spent To Redesign Recovery.gov Web Site,” ABC News’“The Note” Blog, 7/8/09)

[Freedom Lover]

I for one hope Tim sticks to his guns and shoots the entire bill down if Alic, Margaret and Larry (Three Stooges) continue in this fleecing of the Minnesota Taxpayer. I don't give a rip about their arts centers, it's not a function of government. Public Safety is!