Minnesota Republicans swept into power at the State Capitol with the promise of balancing our state budget ($5 billion deficit) and creating jobs. Up until now, they have relied on fantasyland budget numbers, haven't produced a balanced budget and haven't created any jobs. The session ends on May 23, 2011.
On Wednesday instead of working on creating a balanced budget, Minnesota State Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) announced he was going to Washington, DC to get a waiver for Medicaid so MN wouldn't have to do it anymore. He said he'd visit with the MN delegation.
Mainly, this is a political stunt that is approaching Don Quixote proportions. What's baffling is that Hann isn't talking to the people who could actually grant the waiver, just to Republican members of Congress. If he was serious he might have arranged meetings with the people who matter AND the Republican in our delegation at the same time.
Actually, this is approaching real men of genius proportions, too.
"Rather than go on a mission that would be talking to a bureaucratic structure that has no reason to take anything I would say into consideration, what we're trying to do is work with our elected representatives to make the case that if we can reach an agreement on a waiver structure that we believe is sound, then we'd need their help in getting it done," Hann said.
Hann said his meetings with the state's congressional delegation have been positive. The budget proposal put forward by Hann assumes about $600 million in savings from a federal waiver.
[my emphasis] (MPR)
Did you catch that? The fantasyland budget numbers put forward by Hann rely on savings from an item Hann has virtually zero chance of getting?
Not only is this trip a political stunt to provide a distraction from the Republicans inability to balance the budget and create jobs, Hann is even clueless enough to admit that his fantasyland numbers rely on his quixotic stunt bearing fruit.
The stew pud, it hurts. Please make it stop.