We've been out in our garden uprooting thistles, but even with breaks for rain out here in Big Stone County, we've run out of thistles to pull while we wait for the Minnesota House to convene.
That's saying a lot. There's a biblical tide of thistles in these parts.
If it were dry enough, we'd plant sunflowers, basil, purple cauliflower and other such seed, but as it is not, we're left twiddling and reading twitter for signs of hope. At the Star Tribune, Jennifer Brooks and J. Patrick Coolican reported in At Capitol, a push to finish state budget after Dayton, GOP strike spending agreement:
Minnesota lawmakers rested while they could Tuesday morning as the Legislature braced for a marathon special session to finish their work for the year.
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leaders in the state House and Senate cut a budget deal around 11 p.m. Monday night. With only an hour remaining until the midnight deadline for adjournment, Dayton and the leaders agreed on an immediate, brief special session to sew up the $46 billion, two-year state budget.
It’s been all quiet at the Capitol since then. The House and Senate plan to reconvene at 3 p.m., with plans to work through the night in hopes of adjourning the special session at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
It’s not yet clear if that will be possible. By Tuesday afternoon, new budget bills that incorporate compromises between Dayton and Republican leaders on tens of billions of dollars in spending on schools, health and human services programs, transportation, public works construction projects and tax cuts were still under wraps. . . .
That 3:00 p.m. reconvening was nothing but a tease. Capitol media corps member Kevin Featherly (MNLawyer) tweeted:
House gavels in, then goes into recess at the call of the chair. More waiting ahead. #mnleg
— Kevin Featherly (@kevinfeatherly) May 23, 2017
Followed by this:
Senate gaveled in and went right into recess, same as the House. Majority Leader Gazelka says more time is needed to finish drafting bills.
— Kevin Featherly (@kevinfeatherly) May 23, 2017
We're told now at HTV1 that the reconvening at the call of the chair may happen at 6:00 p.m., moving the discussion closer to the dark of night. Meanwhile, Representative Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, has a practical suggestion for frustrated citizens fed up with the conventional wisdom that we don't give a rip about the process:
Show up at your MN Capitol tonight Bring a 🔦, flash light feature, or head lamp. Find out 💡what is going on in the dark of night. 🕯#mnleg
— Rep. Rick hansen (@reprickhansen) May 23, 2017
Were we not hours away, near the South Dakota border, we'd probably do just that. Readers who are closer might consider grabbing a flashlight and heading over to shine a little light on the proceedings. It's our government and it looks like those folks in St. Paul need a lot of help.
And there's this:
A second special session, a suspension of the "rules" or an amendment to the "rules?" #mnleg #14.5hours pic.twitter.com/n3p7mLunJb
— Gary N. Carlson (@garyncarlson) May 23, 2017
Hurry up #mnleg, we're burnin' daylight. pic.twitter.com/5UjbtVhgBb
— Mark Ollig (@bitsandbytes) May 23, 2017
Photo: Every Minnesotan needs his or her own flashlight.
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