The bill failed by a single vote, setting off a fresh round of partisan jabs between leaders of the politically divided Legislature and raising fears that very little will be accomplished in a legislative session that has just over two weeks remaining. Senator David Senjem of Rochester offered up an alternative plan as an amendment that he said borrowed a total of $992 million. His Democrats, and some Republicans, were critical of what Sen.
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“It’s really hard to understand when people are elected and they come here and vote against the best interests of their constituents”, said Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook.
House Speaker Kurt Daudt congratulated Senate Republicans for not passing the borrowing bill saying it was too excessive. The Republican-controlled House plans a $600 million proposal, but Daudt on Thursday would not say when details will be released. It needed a three-fifths majority vote to pass and it failed on a 26-40 vote.
Minnesota’s Senate narrowly rejected a Democratic plan to borrow $1.5 billion for public construction projects across the state on Thursday, providing just the latest reminder of the wide divide between Republicans and Democrats as the legislative session winds down with little settled.
Failure to pass the bonding bill means the Senate will now restart the process of drafting a new capital investment bill.
Senjem said the GOP proposal “skinnies it up”, referring to the bigger Democratic plan.
While Democrats were criticizing Republicans’ lack of a bonding bill, the Senate Finance Committee struggled with finishing its bonding package.
Democrats went through the smaller bill, complaining about things Senjem left out. This year’s Senate bill called for borrowing $15 million to improve the safety of Highway 12 in the west metro, one of the most unsafe highways in the state. LeRoy Stumpf, D-Plummer, said. For every project that gets funded, the state has billions more in requests waiting to make the final list.
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The Senate’s bonding bill contained several projects in the region, including $70.3 million to complete renovations at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter and $14.5 million for the Minnesota Sex Offenders Program, which has a location in St. Peter, as well as the city’s $855,000 for a new pavilion in St. Peter’ Minnesota Square Park Pavilion.
