Despite a global deal struck by leadership, Minnesota legislators are struggling to fill in the details of how to spend billions of dollars on classrooms, public safety, health care and tax cuts with time running out in the 2022 legislative session.
The priorities for both parties to spend a projected budget surplus of nearly $9.3 billion are on the line without agreements before a Sunday night deadline to pass bills for the year.
"If there's disagreement, it's not going to get done," said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona. "There's not enough time."
DFL Gov. Tim Walz has said he doesn't want to call lawmakers back into a special session, meaning whatever doesn't get done by the deadline could have to wait until a new Legislature returns to the Capitol next year.
A framework agreed on by Walz and top leaders in the Legislature on Monday laid out a sweeping plan to cut taxes by $4 billion over the next four years while spending an equal amount on state programs and leaving another $4 billion unspent.
But legislative negotiators have butted heads all week over the details. A tax bill is expected to include some kind of permanent relief in the form of an income tax rate reduction — a top priority for Republicans in the Senate — and a boosted credit for renters that House Democrats have been pushing.
Legislators ratified contracts for about 45,000 state workers on Friday. House and Senate negotiators meanwhile struck accords on drought relief and higher education but have yet to pass those bills.
Before adjourning until Saturday, Miller told senators that he expected them "to be here through the weekend."