Alright, who stole the DFL?

[vakkotaur]

A year or two ago I wrote about the DFL doing nothing but waiting for Governor Pawlenty to come up with a budget so they could rip on it (and him) without bothering to come up with anything of their own. (I'd link to that post if I could quickly find it.)

This year is different. The DFLers in the Minnesota Senate came up with a budget, and even passed it. It's not ideal, and I likely won't agree with a lot of it, but they actually came up something this session instead of just whining about what others come up with. Now that they have some ideas of their own they have a chance of being taken seriously. That their budget isn't nothing but increased spending and higher taxes, though it does have some of that, but has at least some cuts and uses some extensions of current taxes that are scheduled to fade (rather than explicit tax increases) helps them. For once, they're appearing to be somewhat responsible. That they didn't automatically increase school spending is impressive. Has the DFL realized that throwing yet more money at something that wastes money to get lousy results is a bad idea? Am I hallucinating?

It'll be interesting to see what happens this year with both parties having budget proposals, and each with at least some good points.