Dayton Caves?

Here in Minnesota, Governor Mark Dayton has agreed to the Republican legislature’s June 30 proposal to resolve the state’s budget impasse and end the partial government shutdown, with several conditions added. The most important of these conditions appears to be the Republicans’ agreement to a $500 million bonding bill “to put people back to work throughout Minnesota.” I don’t have a handle on the numbers, but I assume that any number of capital projects (road construction, etc.) are in the pipeline and that a $500 million bonding bill will not be an insuperable obstacle.

As I read Governor Dayton’s letter to the Republican leadership in the legislature, the most notable fact is that Dayton has given up on imposing tax increases as a condition of ending his shutdown of state government. Why did Dayton agree to end his shutdown now? This is pure speculation, but my guess is that he is looking at poll data that are not supportive of his position.

Will the result of Minnesota’s shutdown (assuming the Republicans agree to Dayton’s terms, or something very close to those terms) be a harbinger of what happens at the federal level? I hope so.

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