Pawlenty Fights to Save State Budget Cuts
Last summer, facing a $2.7 billion projected deficit, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and the state legislature could not agree on a compromise budget. Taking matters into his own hands, Pawlenty invoked a rarely used budget cutting power – unallotment -- to unilaterally make line-item vetoes, cut spending, shift payments, and balance the new budget. Pawlenty’s move effectively cut the state legislature out of the budget process. In the past, governors had only used their unallotment power when unforeseen revenue shortfalls prompted emergency action. Last week, however, Pawlenty appeared to suffer a setback when a judge placed an injunction on some of his budget cutting actions from last summer and required that cut funding be restored to a state program. Similar decisions could potentially unravel Pawlenty’s budget balancing actions. Pawlenty however has vowed to fight the court ruling, stating that “I'm not going to apologize for trying to defeat proposals to raise taxes and engage in irresponsible spending.”
While his critics have painted the ruling as a political setback for Pawlenty, his suit to preserve the budget cuts could play out very well for him on the national conservative scene. Pawlenty’s most recent media blitz was centered around a proposal for a national constitutional amendment requiring government spending to be limited to revenue collected in the previous two years. But the unfeasibility of an amendment proposal like this could hurt him in the end. The court battle however could highlight Pawlenty’s budget cutting credentials, giving him the opportunity to portray himself as a realistic and shrewd budget hawk fighting “tax and spend Democrats” -- a stance which would appeal to both traditional fiscal conservatives and Tea Party activists concerned about government spending.