St. Paul, MN – Welfare recipients and low income people chanted and held signs in the state capitol building here, Nov. 29, while government officials delivered their state budget forecast.

In a statement released prior to the forecast, the Welfare Rights Committee stated, “ We expect to hear that there will be a budget surplus again this year. We expect that Pawlenty will again pat himself on the back and take credit for ‘balancing the state budget.’ The truth is, any so-called ‘surplus’ or ‘balance’ in the state budget will be one forged from the suffering of poor and working Minnesotans.”

The budget forecast indicates that the surplus will run about $2 billion, but some of that represents accounting tricks.

The statement also talked about the battle expected this session of the legislature, stating: “Since 2003, poor and working Minnesotans have been standing up to the Pawlenty assault. We have demanded that Pawlenty and politicians undo the devastating cuts to programs for the poor and to instead tax the rich. This year, the Welfare Rights Committee will be working to undo the 2003 cuts, to raise the welfare grants and to eliminate workfare/slave labor in the state of Minnesota. We will continue to work to close corporate tax loopholes, to increase taxes on the wealthiest and to restore all money stolen from the poor.”

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