Roseville's Greiling Says "I Hate Debt."

Editor's Note: The following opinion piece is from Rep. Mindy Greiling, which wrote and issued last Friday as part of an e-mail alert to her constituents. e-mail alert to constituent

Recently Republicans proposed to use some of the state’s budget reserve to start paying our state’s debt to our students.

Democrats fielded a plan to eliminate some corporate tax loopholes that allow businesses to hide profits overseas and also use those funds to pay back students.

I was one of only three Democrats to vote for both proposals.
 
Here’s why: I hate debt. 

Hatred of debt is my one commonality with Tea Party folks. You can blame genes. I come from a family where my parents bought cars and even their second home only when they could pay cash.  My father never had a credit card, and my mother only succumbed to getting one when she could no longer purchase her prescriptions in person and had to get them by mail order, which requires a credit card number. She grumbled mightily about that.
 
My first three terms in office in the early 1990s were spent paying off a school debt.

Since then, legislators of both parties have gone through the same cycle of borrowing and repaying these tricks we use to balance our budgets. We’re one of only two states that use school shifts to balance our budget, California being the other one.
 
Today we owe vastly more than at any time in our state's history. And, for the first time in history, debt to our students and schools is not even accounted for in state budget forecasts. Rep. Ryan Winkler has an amendment to put this back, which I strongly support. I fear legislators in both parties will balk, however, because it is easier to hide this shameful debt while resuming spending.
 
Also, desperately needed school funding is in peril when we owe money to students because payments are typically seen in legislators' minds as new money, which it most definitely is not.
 
We need to get serious about paying this money back. The Republican proposal shines a needed light on the problem although, by not coming up with permanent new money while cutting cash reserves to the quick for a one-time payment, I believe it was more about looking better to with voters in November than it was about making sure our kids get paid back in a timely manner.
 
Regardless of the reason for the proposal, I voted for it as at least something. The DFL plan is more serious. What we need to do is sit down and work on a compromise. Using parts of each party’s plan would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, Republicans have boxed themselves in by signing “no new taxes” pledge, so a compromise will be hard to come by.
 
That will predictably leave us back at square one in addressing our debt to students.