ST. PAUL -- The first phase of a legislative budget-cutting effort comes up for votes next week.
Chairman Loren Solberg of the House Ways and Means Committee said each budget committee is to have its budget plans done by Friday, at which time the individual budget proposals will be combined into one bill that cuts the budget of every part of state government other than health and human services and public school education.
The Senate is taking similar action.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty need to fill a state budget deficit of $994 million. Pawlenty wants to do it all with cuts, while many Democrats hope to raise taxes to help the process.
By combining most budget areas into one budget-cutting bill, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, said, the non-controversial changes can be made at once. That leaves the more controversial health and education programs for future bills.
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Pawlenty says that he prefers to deal with the budget as a whole, not phasing in the cuts, but will consider the legislative timeline.
