Politics

ST. PAUL (AP) ― The Minnesota Legislature took aim Monday at Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a $6.6 billion transportation bill by putting it to an override vote.

The House debate on a possible override began just after 1 p.m.

"We've reached a point where it is impossible to plug the holes," Rep. Bernie Lieder, DFL-Crookston, said at the outset. "If we don't pass this bill now it's going to be a long dry spell before we pass something."

The Republican governor struck down the bill within hours of its passage last week because he opposed increases in the gas tax, sales tax and car registration fees. The gas tax would go up for the first time since 1988. The money would fuel a decade-long spurt of road-and-bridge construction and expand routes for bus and train riders.

If the bill fails to get 90 votes in the House, the veto stands. It got 89 votes on passage last week, with all but two Democrats opposing it and six Republicans crossing over to support it. The Senate can't act before the House, although the bill's standing is better there.

Republican Rep. Kathy Tinglestad of Andover said she was facing "probably the hardest decision of my career" as she entered the House chamber.

Another GOP member who voted for the bill, Rod Hamilton of Mountain Lake, said he just wanted it over with.

"I'm ready, I'm anxious. I'm eager," he said without tipping his hand on how he would go.

None of Pawlenty's 36 previous vetoes has been overturned.

When he blocked the bill Friday, Pawlenty called it "an overreaching, massive tax increase."

Rep. Dan Severson, R-Sauk Rapids, urged his colleagues to stand with Pawlenty.

"If you reach forward on this bill and you punch the green button," Severson said, "what you are saying to the taxpayers is, `I'm reaching deep into your pocket and pulling out all the green you got in your wallet and I'll leave you the change."'

By fall, the gas tax would climb a nickel, to 25 cents per gallon. It could go up an additional 3-1/2 cents to pay off road bonds, though those increases would be spread out over the next five years and eventually roll back as debt is satisfied.

People with new-model vehicles face higher registration fees for a longer period than they would under the current license tab schedule. State rental car fees would go from 3 percent to 5 percent.

And shoppers in the seven-county metropolitan area would see the sales tax rise by 0.25 percentage point, with the money raised through that tax going for mass transit projects.

The deadly Interstate 35W bridge collapse put fresh attention on Minnesota's infrastructure problems, so lawmakers put $600 million into the bill to fix the state's worst bridges.

DFL leaders were eager to take another run at overriding Pawlenty on road spending after a different transportation plan failed to survive his veto in the final moments of the last session. As the vote approached, Democratic House Majority Leader Tony Sertich insisted the goal was more policy than political.

"It's not about the governor. It's not about us," Sertich said Monday. "It's really about the issue. It's about making progress on an issue that's 20 years in the making."

The transportation bill zoomed through the Legislature in less than two weeks, as backers trimmed about $2 billion from the package to attract support. A key move: Cutting the metro sales tax to a quarter-cent from the original half-cent proposal, which got the influential Minnesota Chamber of Commerce on board.

Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey on Monday reminded GOP lawmakers who defect that they might not be endorsed for re-election.

"It's going to make every Republican pause before giving the endorsement to these representatives if they vote to override the governor's veto," Carey said.

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