(KNSI) – Minnesota’s top Republican in the state Legislature believes a deal will get done at the Capitol to avoid a government shutdown.
Lawmakers have until June 30 to make a deal.
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka joined KNSI’s Dan “The Ox” Ochsner on Monday and said the Governor, Senate, and House have agreements on all but three bills.
“Two of those, frankly that are left for all intensive purposes have agreed. And then they’re just one last one. And so we’re going to get there. I think it would be a disservice to Minnesota for us not to do it.”
The last budget to be negotiated will be a public safety bill.
Gazelka feels the Senate will have all its bills passed by the end of the week, and the House will wrap up next week.
The longtime lawmaker says this year’s budget has been the most challenging.
“This is my third two-year budget that I’ve had to be the leader to fix. And this was the hardest one in that we’d had to navigate through COVID and all the shutdowns and then we got all this federal money right at the end with no guidance about how it could be used.”
The American Rescue Plan passed in March gave Minnesota nearly $2.55 billion for the state and $2.1 billion for cities and counties.
Gazelka says his goals include ending the Governor’s emergency powers.
Lawmakers are in overtime in St. Paul after failing to approve a two-year operating budget before Minnesota’s mandated deadline.
If both sides can’t hammer out a deal, thousands of state workers will be furloughed until an agreement is reached.
The last time there was a Government shut down in Minnesota was in 2011. The shutdown lasted 20 days.
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