Minn. Republicans Shut Down State to Protect Millionaires

It was simple choice: a small tax on Minnesota’s wealthiest 2 percent or shut down state services and programs. The tax would apply to those making more than $1 million a year, only about 7,700 people.
Republican legislators made the wrong choice last night and now, without a budget agreement, all but the most vital state services have closed their doors and most of the 38,000 state employees are out of work. Just one example: State parks will be off limits this holiday weekend.
Gov. Mark Dayton (D), who had proposed a budget with significant budget cuts but also with the small tax to more fairly spread the burden, said the legislators’ refusal to compromise shows they:

prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Republican lawmakers offered a compromise agreement but only if  Dayton agreed to a proposal restricting voting rights through a flawed voter ID program, cutting  the state workforce by 15 percent, enacting new restrictions on a woman’s right to choose and other policy issues.
Says Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, “After having nearly seven months, Republican legislators have failed to do their jobs and come to the middle on a budget agreement.”

Their insistence on protecting millionaires has now resulted in a government shutdown that leaves thousands of public- and private-sector workers without a job. While this shutdown will be harmful in the short run, it is only a preview of what the GOP’s all-cuts budget would look like.