SHUTDOWN: Day 5, No Compromise

Day Five of the Minnesota state government shutdown produced little progress toward resolution. Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP lawmakers met for the first time since the parties called for “a breather” last week.

At odds are a $1.7 billion difference between the budgets proposed for biennium 2011-13 and, more specifically, how to close it.   

Republican leaders on Tuesday again asked Dayton to call a special legislative session to pass a lights-on bill that would provide temporary funding and allow the state government to resume operations for an additional 10 days.

“The shutdown was unnecessary,” Senate Majority leader Amy Koch (R-Buffalo) told reporters assembled outside the governor’s office. “We want the parks open and construction going.”

But while Dayton called the talks “constructive” and said he would consider “anything” to achieve progress, his stance on the lights-on bill remained unchanged. With Republicans sticking to its $34 billion-dollar budget, Dayton said, he isn’t hopeful.

“We have the same gulf between us that we have always had,” Dayton said Tuesday.

Owing to the complexity and size of the K-12 Education and Health and Human Services bills, Dayton said they would receive special scrutiny this Wednesday and Thursday.

Dayton said he reached out over the weekend to a handful of moderate Republicans, but wouldn’t divulge which legislators he contacted, to break the budget impasse.

The parties are scheduled to meet again Wednesday afternoon in the governor’s office.

For complete coverage of the shutdown, click .