While Erin Golden the Star Tribune reports in Dayton, GOP leaders resume budget talks in a final push:
Budget negotiations between Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders resumed Tuesday morning, kicking off a final seven-day push to approve the state’s next two-year spending plan.
Talks between the two sides had stalled for several days after Republicans moved to pass a series of budget bills Dayton had pledged to veto. The governor followed through on that promise, vetoing the last of the bills Monday evening.
Dayton and Republicans are divided on the makeup of the approximately $46 billion spending plan. Dayton, a DFLer, wants to expand spending on priority areas like early education and health and human services. Republicans aim to use much of the state’s $1.65 billion surplus on tax cuts and credits for targeted groups, including farmers and businesses. Dayton has also called on Republicans to remove controversial policy proposals from their budget plans. . .
This final sentence makes us fret:
The legislative session ends at midnight on May 22. Lawmakers must pass a budget by July 1 to avoid a government shutdown.
That brings back painful memories of the shutdown in 2011, including the pain detailed in One by one, bars get tapped out:
Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes -- a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.
In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew their state-issued liquor purchasing cards. Many of them did not make it.
Now, with no end in sight to the shutdown, they face a summer of fast-dwindling alcohol supplies and a bottom line that looks increasingly bleak.
"It's going to cripple our industry," said Frank Ball, executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, which represents thousands of liquor retailers in the state. . . .
That story was followed by MillerCoors kicked off state shelves. Soon after, the Dayton administration and the Republican legislature figured it out, and beer flowed once again throughout a thirsty state.
Bluestem contacted the media office of the Department of Public Safety in order to find out whether circumstances have changed since 2011, but have not yet heard back. It's possible the legislature moved to prevent such dire circumstances and we just missed that one.
If not, Bluestem urges all distributors, saloon keepers, bar and grill owners, and liquor store managers to make sure your alcohol purchasing license or distribution permit is up-to-date. After all, it could be a crime if one of the few things the Minnesota legislature managed to accomplish--Sunday sales back in early March--came undone because these clowns can't manage the budget process as well as they can pose and play the 2018 political game.
Let us not be as dry as ever this summer. File your paperwork while there's still time.
Bonus: Some leftist scamps created this charming video during the last shutdown:
Image: From the cover of sheet music to be original Prohibition Era "No Beer, No Work" ditty.
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