Minnesota General Assembly Adjourns. Wheh!
The General Assembly of Minnesota has adjourned--without a tax increase. Coming from the state that gave the nation Walter Mondale and Paul Wellstone, that's nothing short of remarkable.

According to a Start-Tribune wrap-up on the session, DFL legislators call the budget a "retreat from decades of generosity." Uhm, if I take money from Smith and give it to Jones (while keeping a bit for my expenses, of course), am I truly generous? Generosity is a virtue, but generosity with other people's money is virtue on the cheap. Likewise, the end of so-called "humanitarian care for our states most vulnerable citizens" confuses policy with virtue.

The DFL leadership calls the various reductions in spending "a ruthless dismantling of the safety net." Chicken little, call your office. For starters, it's simply untrue that (at least some of) the money at stake is the one thing that separates the most financially desperate people from third-world poverty. As one Republican leader notes, he "can't understand why a family of four making as much as $60,000 could get the state to pay for half of its child-care costs." Aren't people who create children supposed to be the ones who take care of them?

This budget being the result of the political process, there's no doubt that some things in the budget got messed up. DFL leaders charge that some cuts will mean the end of outpatient care for some people on the dole, which and they will in turn end up in emergency rooms instead, costing taxpayers even more than would otherwise be the case. That's a plausible claim. The answer, though, is not to keeping adding money to the status quo, but to try out innovative ways to turn the functional control of Medicaid spending from government officials to Medicaid families themselves. The Buckeye Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis have teamed up to offer one such proposal worth considering.

As the Pioneer-Press reports, the two year budget--for all the cries of cuts and the death of all that is good about Minnesota--does increase over its two year span.

Under the bills, total state spending will decrease by about one-tenth of 1 percent over this year, and then increase by 2 percent in 2005, according to the Finance Department.

So much for the claim by the Senate DFL leader that the budget represents "the most radical turn to the right since the 1920s." Actually, he may be correct. Congratulations to Governor Pawlenty and his colleagues in the Republican-run House for standing firm against the DFL call for yet another tax increase. (Minnesota is, after all, the 3rd highest taxed state).

When individuals and families fear job loss in an era of dramatic economic change, retraint in government spending is necessary for good government, and economic growth. Too bad that this counts as "a radical turn," but the current budget is a start.

Labels: Medicaid

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