They put up all the votes needed to pass the $334 million bill for college campuses and transit, but not enough to override an expected governor's veto.
April 30, 2007
StarTribune
Conrad Defiebre
DFLers flexed their legislative muscle Monday by sending a $334 million public-works bill for college campuses, mass transit, bridges and more to Gov. Tim Pawlenty with practically no help from minority Republicans.
The DFL majorities in the House and Senate alone posted the 60 percent votes needed to approve $168 million in state borrowing for half the measure, but they fell short of the two-thirds required to override expected vetoes from the Republican governor.
"This bill is chock full of more pork than Famous Dave's on the Fourth of July," said House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall. "The only question is whether the governor will veto the whole thing or make so many line-item vetoes that you won't recognize it anymore."
The first major spending bill of the 2007 session passed the House on three straight party-line votes of 84 to 49. In the Senate, Republicans Dick Day of Owatonna and Paul Koering of Fort Ripley joined DFLers on a vote of 45-18.
Now begins a three-day period in which the governor has to decide whether and how to exercise his veto pen. His spokesman, Brian McClung, said Monday that Pawlenty will at least "significantly trim" the measure.
Posted by john5091 at May 1, 2007 08:46 AM