Editor's note, this is today's Capitol View newsletter. Sorry for hitting your email box with a second version of Thursday's newsletter.
Good afternoon,
This weekend a depressingly familiar Minnesota ritual took place: state employees were mailed layoff notices in case of a government shutdown on July 1. If lawmakers can agree on a budget before then, these notices will be just a formality. If they don't, lawmakers will be furloughed — and unlike the norm for federal employees after government shutdowns, state employees generally haven't received back pay after shutdowns resolve. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
But will lawmakers pass a budget on time? Friday was their self-imposed deadline for committees to agree on budget numbers. And in a familiar experience for both lawmakers and journalists, that deadline flew by unmet. The negotiations are largely taking place in secret. Legislative leaders say negotiations are making progress, but no one knows if divisive issues will be bridged in time. [Read more from Tim Pugmire]
The timeline:
Friday, June 4 is the self-imposed deadline for lawmakers to agree on policy issues, of which the most contentious is policing laws
On June 14, Gov. Tim Walz will likely summon lawmakers back for a special session
On July 1, the government will shut down if there's no budget
Another issue dividing lawmakers is the question of amnesty for businesses fined for violating COVID-19 restrictions. Republicans have pushed to forgive these fines as part of a budget deal, while Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison say most businesses complied and it would send the wrong message to let them off. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
Meanwhile new information is trickling about about some of the provisions that will be in a budget deal (should such a deal be reached). Some provisions, like tax cuts for movie productions and construction materials, weren't initially mentioned as part of the big deal, but lawmakers hammering out the details have been instructed to include them in the final budget. [Read more from MinnPost's Peter Callaghan]
Security fencing around the Minnesota Capitol is finally coming down, more than a year after the People's House was first fenced off during the unrest after George Floyd's death.
Joe Becker with Keller Fence cuts zip ties holding a fence together outside of the Minnesota State Capitol on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Photo by Evan Frost | MPR News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be out of office after more than a decade in power. After the latest in a series of closely divided elections, opposition leaders from across Israel's political spectrum have tentatively agreed on a coalition that might secure a majority in the Israeli parliament. Right-wing leader Naftali Bennett will become prime minister under this deal, with support from centrist politician Yair Lapid. The two agree on little other than their distaste for Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister ever. The deal isn't done yet, though, and Netanyahu is scrambling to try to derail it. [ Read more from NPR's Becky Sullivan]
Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Friday filibustered a proposed bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. This won't stop investigations of the attack, but any that happen now are likely to be led by congressional committees, governed by majority rule instead of the elaborate bipartisan rules part of the blocked commission. [Read more from The Associated Press]
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden gave Republicans one week to strike a deal on a major infrastructure bill, before Democrats move to write and pass a bill with only Democratic support. [Read more from The Associated Press]
Texas Democrats used a walkout to block a new bill restricting voting options, depriving the state House of a quorum as the clock ticked down to the deadline. The issue might come back in a special session, however. [Read more from The Associated Press]
The polarization of politics along educational lines has been one of the major developments in the U.S. over the past two decades, but something similar has happened in almost every other Western democracy recently. In 1970, left-wing parties across the Western world did better among lower-income and less-educated voters, while right-wing parties did better among high-income and higher-educated voters. The income split is still the case, but the educational split has completely switched just about everywhere. [ Read more from The Economist]
But: This neat picture is more complicated in most European countries, where a lot of the educational polarization has been driven by new Green parties, rather than coalition shifts inside the big center-left parties. [Read more from Tarik Abou-Chadi and Simon Hix]
Speaking of class and politics, I've been thinking a lot lately about this 2020 essay by historian Patrick Wyman, arguing for the importance of a class category Americans don't usually talk about: "gentry." Usually something we associate more with Jane Austen's England, Wyman defines "gentry" more broadly as affluent people whose wealth is based not on salary income, nor on financial assets or major corporations, but on local, physical assets — think farmland, car dealerships, or restaurant franchises. As a result, they tend to be more grounded in place than either professionals (whose skills can translate anywhere) or globe-trotting plutocrats. [Read more from Patrick Wyman]
Something completely different: Famed children's author Eric Carle died last week. What you might not know is that he originally couldn't find a publisher for his timeless classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, due to its unusual layout with perforated pages of varying widths. Fortunately for Carle and generations of children, Japanese publisher Hiroshi Imamura fell in love with the book and found a way to print it in Japan. [ Read more from Sachi Matsumoto at The Asahi Shimbun]
Listen: The ballad "The Elf-Knight" dates back to the middle ages, and its lyrics have a strong medieval sensibility. But this 1990s rendition by Steeleye Span has real underrated earworm potential. [Watch live]
