Dayton Pushes For Gas-Tax To Raise Money For Road Repairs
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Gov. Mark Dayton blasted the new Republican Majority in the Minnesota House Friday for what he calls a "phony" transportation plan.
Republicans yesterday unveiled a "no new taxes" plan to fix roads and bridges, but Dayton called it "fantasy."
A Blue Ribbon commission on transportation recently reported that Minnesota roads are severely underfunded, and is recommending up to $6 billion to fix them over 10 years.
House Republicans are proposing to spend a total of $750 million over 4 years, including:
-- $200 million in one-time budget surplus money.
-- $65 million from unspecified "savings" at MNDOT
-- $550 million from the Trunk Highway Fund
Dayton, a Democrat who was elected to a second term in November, said the plan is not worth discussing, and that Republicans "worship at the Holy Grail" of no taxes.
"To me, it demonstrates that they don't understand the problem," Dayton said, "and they certainly don't have a serious interest in finding a real solution."
For nearly 45 minutes, an irritated Dayton heaped insult after insult on the new Republican House majority, calling the plan "ludicrous," from "La-La Land" and "Fantasy Island," and comparing the difference between his plan and the GOP's like "talking English and Pig Latin."
The newly-elected GOP House Speaker Kurt Daudt said the proposal is "just a starting point" for debate.
"Minnesotans elected a divided government with the expectation that we'd work together to move our state forward," Daudt said. "I'm disappointed in Gov. Dayton's tone today, but I'm going to keep working on him. I will win him over because I believe we can work together to solve the problems Minnesotans care about."
Dayton has said he wants a 10-year plan that includes a retail fuel tax that could add 12 cents to a $2 gallon of gas, and more per gallon as gas prices rise.
But he dismissed the Republican plan as "not worthy of discussion."
"They got elected into the majority two months ago," he said. "It must have been a really nice vacation, because they demonstrated they haven't done their homework."
