Gov. Pawlenty's new budget brings more money to K-12 and higher education, but cuts deeper in health care. The federal stimulus softens the blow so Pawlenty said "it contains good news." He took at shot early at his opponents saying "unlike my friends in the DFL, who are proposing to cut education, we are increasing education." The most emotion was reserved for Senate tax increases. Pawlenty got fired up saying the income tax increase "doesn't kick in at a million bucks... but it kicks in at individuals making $65,000." He called it a "massive increase" that "hits a big slice of Minnesota."
Senate Democrats said that is not true and their income tax increase would kick in for couples making $250,000 and they will find other sources of revenue to hit $2 billion. Senate Tax Chair Tom Bakk will be live on Almanac: At the Capitol to talk more about how he'll raise revenue. Democrats went on to say that when you look at the whole 4 year budget, the governor is cutting healthcare by 35% and local government aid by 23%. Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller said hospitals will close. Sen. Tarryl Clark said 113,000 people will be cut off from healthcare and 11,000 people will lose their jobs. Clark nailed the sound bite saying the governor's message is "don't get sick, don't get old, don't lose your job or you'll lose healthcare."