House Speaker John A. Boehner's Big Gamble

“I do not see a path to a deal if they don’t budge — period,I mean, if the basic proposition is ‘It’s my way or the highway,’ then we’re probably not going to get something done, because we’ve got divided government.” President Obama

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch is statement regarding Governor Dayton’s decision to force the longest government shut down in recent United States history:

“Despite his insistence during the campaign cycle that he would not allow government to shut down, Governor Dayton has not only allowed Minnesota’s State Government to shut down, but he has allowed it to continue by refusing to call us into a special session. Only Gov. Dayton can end this shut down, which is now the longest government shut down in recent U.S. history.

Over the last 100 days, the majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate have made several balanced budget compromise offers and have repeatedly asked Gov. Dayton to call for a special session to authorize a temporary funding bill. Instead Gov. Dayton chose to layoff over 22,000 people, suspend road construction projects and close state parks.
The costs associated with this shut down are staggering; Estimates of unemployment benefits, lost revenue to the state, uncollected audits, delays in construction projects and the loss of private sector spending comes in at nearly $65 million per week.


Tim "Who" Pawlenty has  since the Minnesota shutdown started July 1,campaign stops and in ads airing in Iowa, Pawlenty has touted his role in Minnesota’s 9 day shutdown in 2005, saying that at times extreme measures are appropriate.

Any deal that “might include tax increases or more spending . . . doesn’t really fix the finances of our country and is unacceptable,” Tim "Who" Pawlenty