State Leaders Aim for Transportation Deal Next Week

ST. PAUL -- State leaders say they need a weekend's worth of work to cobble together a deal on transportation funding.

Gov. Mark Dayton met with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and House Speaker Kurt Daudt briefly this (Thursday) afternoon. The top politicians have agreed to tackle a transportation package first before shifting to deliberations on tax cuts and other spending priorities.

Dayton says his staff, the chairs of both transportation committees and state officials planned to work over the weekend in hopes of reaching deal on Monday.

There's not much time and plenty of work to find a compromise between completely different plans before May 23. Democrats want a gas tax hike to fund road and bridge repairs, while Republicans are pushing to use existing taxes and part of the state's budget surplus.