PAWLENTY’S BUDGET HAS FLIPS, CUTS, AND SHORTSIGHTED VISION FOR MINNESOTA
Governor’s Budget Shifts are a Burden to Minnesota Working Families
Governor Pawlenty's 2008-2009 budget proposal includes a flip on his position on health care. After his narrow victory for re-election in 2006, the governor said he wanted to extend health insurance coverage to all Minnesotan children. However, this is no longer the case.
Pawlenty does not live up to
his word. In the past, he has said he was going to cover all kids, increase
emphasis on public health campaigns, and make efforts to enroll everyone that
is currently eligible for health care programs. The Governor’s budget proposal
cuts funding to the health care of 20,000 children, cuts funding for youth
tobacco premium programs, and cuts funding for outreach to individuals that are
eligible for health care programs.
“Governor Pawlenty would raid a fund set up to pay for health care to fill
the budget deficit, working families in need stand to be left with no health
care – dealing another blow to families and the economy,” said Shane Davis,
Secretary Treasurer of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, which represents more than 14,000
Minnesota health care workers.
“The proposed higher education cuts fly in the
face of everything that Minnesota
is about,” Shane Allers, representing public school service employees as
Executive Director of SEIU Local 284. “We
value self-reliance, fairness and responsibility. But these cuts reflect anything but those
values.”
“The
governor is not interested in doing what's right for Minnesota.
His proposal for a sales tax reduction is his way of getting back at the
Democrats and Republicans who overrode his veto of the transportation bill,”
said Javier Morillo, President of SEIU Local 26. “The public lashing that
the governor gave to the six representatives who broke party ranks was uncalled
for. That’s not a leader, that’s a
bully. I salute the Republicans who had
the courage to override his veto and do the right thing for Minnesota on transportation.”