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ST. PAUL, Minn. Minnesota Senate Democrats produced a two-year budget outline Friday that would commit $555 million more for education programs and sock $250 million extra into state reserves, a framework that lands them between the ambitions of Gov. Mark Dayton and majority House Republicans..

The $42.7 billion, two-year plan from the Senate's majority party contains far less in tax relief than the House GOP has proposed and less in spending than Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton suggested. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said it shows restraint with the state's $1.87 billion projected surplus in case the economy deteriorates.

There are "risks that are posed with a surplus because the appetites get pretty strong," Bakk said, adding, "You have to be careful that you don't overcommit."

The framework gives only a broad picture of where the Senate is headed, with granular details coming later. The goal is to hold votes on the Senate's full budget by May 1 to set up final negotiations with the House and governor ahead of the mandatory adjournment three weeks later.

Even with the new money that would be devoted to education, Bakk said it would be financially difficult to enact a public-college tuition freeze for all undergraduates or pay for preschool initiatives offering universal, no-cost access to quality programs for all 4-year-olds.

Senate Minority Leader David Hann, a Republican, issued a statement critical of the Democratic proposal.

"The state budget should reflect Minnesotans' values, but Senate Democrats clearly refuse to do the hard work Republicans are doing to eliminate wasteful spending," Hann said.

House Ways and Means Chairman Jim Knoblach, the top budget-writing Republican, attended the Senate news conference but left without offering reaction. A GOP blueprint released earlier in the week called for $2 billion in unspecified tax cuts, paid for in part by extracting more than $1 billion in savings from state health and welfare programs.

Bakk said Senate Democrats won't agree to a budget that guts MinnesotaCare, a subsidized but premium-based insurance program for the working poor. He noted efforts to dismantle it fueled a government shutdown in 2005.

Because the shape of the proposed GOP tax breaks isn't known, it's difficult to compare the competing budgets in overall size. Enacting only additional credits and exemptions as opposed to cuts in tax rates would count as spending under Minnesota budget practices. All told, House Republicans have proposed a maximum budget just shy of $42.6 billion.

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Senate Democrats stress education, filling state reserves in outline for next two-year budget

Republicans are deploying a new taunt to needle Democrats they say refuse to consider even modest changes to financial oversight laws: Why are you so afraid of Elizabeth Warren?

Its part of an effort by the GOP to portray Democrats as being completely inflexible when it comes to changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank law because they are running scared from the populist wing of the party that views Warren, the most outspoken Wall Street critic in Congress, as their champion.

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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told a roomful of bankers this week that getting banking bills passed, particularly any dealing with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, depends on Warrens sway over her Democratic colleagues.

Its [about] how powerful does Elizabeth Warren become? he said.

Democrats are scoffing at the charge and argue its a ham-handed attempt by Republicans to make Warren the liberal Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican senator whose stances on a variety of issues has stirred up divisions between tea party and establishment Republicans.

Whenever you point one finger, theres three pointing back at you, said Sen. Jon Tester, a moderate Montana Democrat. I think you got to make sure your own house is clean before you start making such accusations.

Warren declined to comment through a spokesman.

The Republican focus on Warren (D-Mass.) follows a fight between Democrats last year over the inclusion of language in a year-end spending bill that watered down new derivatives-trading restrictions and was the subject of a years-long lobbying effort by Wall Street banks. Some Democrats had supported the change in recent years but Warren led an unsuccessful campaign to sink the bill over the provision, warning it would amount to a crack in the dam of financial reform that would lead to a further weakening of Dodd-Frank.

While she failed to get the language out, Warrens campaign against the bill left a mark.

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Who's afraid of Elizabeth Warren?

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House Democrats Suspicious Of Iran Nuclear Deal
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