After weeks of thoughtful deliberation, last week the House of Representatives DFL caucus introduced our budget framework to close our record $6.4 billion deficit. In these difficult times, our budget responsibly invests in the priorities we believe will lead us toward a strong and prosperous future.

This budget maintains our commitment to our students and schools, the path we believe will best lead us to long-term economic recovery. Through the use of some federal economic stimulus dollars and smart fiscal planning, early education, K-12 schools, and higher education all are spared funding cuts that would result in teacher lay-offs, larger class sizes or higher college tuition.

We understood going in that deep spending cuts would be required to close this deficit. The House proposed $1.6 billion in strategic spending cuts from our $35 billion state budget.

In addition to protecting education, we worked to minimize the damage cuts will have on our most vulnerable citizens, such as seniors and the disabled, and proposed smaller cuts from Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the Health and Human Services area of the budget.

Our largest percentage cut is to state government, which includes the state Legislature, and we made all cuts with a focus on job protection and creation.

The governor and the House both agree we cannot balance this budget deficit without new revenue. To do so would decimate the core Minnesota values we love.

A “no new revenue” approach would cause job losses in the tens of thousands, including over 10,000 teachers, 445 nursing home employees, and as many as 1,500 city and county employees. More school districts would move to four-day weeks and college tuition would soar. Hospitals, nursing homes and at least one prison would close. These closures would be especially difficult in greater Minnesota, where we depend on our nursing homes and community hospitals for critical jobs and to care for our loved ones close to home.

The critical disagreement in the two proposals is how we generate new revenue and who should be asked to pay. The House proposal would raise $1.5 billion by increasing tax fairness, such as asking the wealthiest to pay an equal percentage in income taxes as the middle class, and other progressive measures.

Gov. Pawlenty would borrow $1 billion through a 20-year loan, which will accrue $600 million in interest and be paid off by future generations, and his deep cuts to local government aid will result in over $600 million in property tax increases.

So, the question really is, what revenue is the most fair and responsible? Do we raise it today, or should we ask our next generation to pay for it? Should the wealthiest Minnesotans share in the burden or should it only be lower and middle class homeowners?

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be working with both the Governor and the Senate to arrive at a budget agreement. We now have three frameworks on the table, and I expect the final budget to be a compromise of all three. I believe it’s important to be straightforward about the impact of both the cuts and the new revenue, and look forward to talking to the residents of our district over the coming weeks about these important decisions.

As always, it’s an honor to serve. Please continue to contact me with your concerns and suggestions about our state budget. I can be reached at 651-296-8216, or by e-mail at rep.robin.brown@house.mn.

Robin Brown, DFL-Moscow Township, is the state representative for District 27A.