ST. PAUL -- Minnesota senators voted 45-21 Thursday to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a health care program for the poor, even though legislative health leaders are trying to negotiate an agreement with the governor.
"I wish the governor had not been so indecisive engaging in this discussion," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
The vote sends the bill back to the House, where Republicans vow to uphold the veto. That vote may come Monday.
In the meantime, negotiations on General Assistance Medical Care continue with the governor's office. GAMC covers single adult Minnesotans earning less than $8,000 a year.
Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, questioned how Berglin and others can negotiate with Pawlenty while at the same time trying to override his veto. He urged senators to let the talks continue.
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Primary advances
The Minnesota primary election would be Aug. 10, rather than Sept. 14, under a bill representatives passed on a 126-5 vote.
The action was required by Congress, which passed a law giving military and other overseas Americans more time to vote. Minnesota's September primary election did not provide the required time before the November election.
"We've listened to many stories about men and women overseas having their votes arrive too late to count in elections," said Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park.
"But now election officials will have more time to send out and receive ballots from military members and other Minnesotans overseas."
The primary will be the second Tuesday in August from here on. Efforts to make the bill apply only to this year failed.
The measure gives Minnesotans more time to vote by absentee ballot.
House- and Senate-passed versions differ slightly, so that must be worked out before the bill goes to the governor.
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Sign or not?
Republicans raise the question about whether a unique tactic of holding a public works bill in the Senate to avoid a veto is constitutional.
"Don't play political chicken with members of the Senate," Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, told leaders of the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Her comment came in response to a move earlier this week in which the Senate president and House speaker did not sign the public works funding bill, thus preventing its veto by Pawlenty. Since then, Pawlenty, his staff and legislative negotiators have been in talks to figure out a compromise.
Pawlenty says the bill is far too large, and it leaves our four of his top priorities.
Democrats say a large bill puts more Minnesotans to work in state-funded construction projects.
The constitutional question arises because one section says that if presiding officers in the House and Senate do not sign a properly passed bill, they "shall be disqualified from any office of honor or profit in the state."
Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher is running for the Democratic governor nomination.
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Davis reports for Forum Communications Co.
