Let’s not forget that our budget isn’t just about abstract numbers. It’s about people. The money we spend each biennium does a lot of good. Conversely, the MNGOP’s massive cuts will do real harm. Here are a few of the most serious consequences:

• Over 100,000 Minnesotans thrown off health care
• Massive cuts to higher education
• A $1.4 billion property tax increase
• 30,000 lost jobs

It would be immoral for the Governor to sign such a budget into law when we can easily make the cuts so much less painful. What’s more, we can make the cuts less painful while making our budget more fair.

The richest 2 percent of Minnesotans pay far less than the rest of us in taxes. Why should we ask for massive sacrifices from the poorest, but nothing from the richest? Such a budget is horribly unjust, and it’s just not the sort of policy Minnesotans support.

It’s not enough that the legislature pass a budget. It has to be a budget that stands for Minnesotan values. We don’t throw our most vulnerable citizens under the bus; we don’t let them die in the gutter. The terrible consequences of the Republican budget cannot and will not be accepted.