Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Mike Kaszuba
House and Senate Republican leaders said lawmakers will vote on a Minnesota Vikings stadium bill on Monday and they've taken their last minute plan off the table.
House Speaker Kurt Zellers said that they will take the vote even though he doesn't know that the plan -- which would use gambling revenue to pay for the state's share -- will pass and he personally "cannot" support it.
"The fate of the stadium is now in the governor's hands...This is his top priority," said Zellers, who spent months refusing to say how he would vote on the plan.
Gov. Mark Dayton said he was just fine with the responsibility.
"I am very pleased that the Republican legislative leaders have agreed to my request for up-or-down votes in both bodies on a new "People's Stadium" that would provide jobs for several thousand Minnesotans and keep the Vikings here. Now everyone will be able to hold legislators accountable for that momentous decision," Dayton said in a statement.
"I ask all Minnesotans, who care about the stadium, to contact their legislators and urge them to vote "Yes" next Monday," he said.
The epic collapse of one plan and the resurrection of the other adds to the high tension around of the stadium politics, which has turned the legislative session into a circus involving horned Vikings fans confronting lawmakers, union workers shouting for "jobs" and a beloved football team's fate.