Minnesota governor balances budget; House sues

The Minnesota House decided Monday to tell a judge that Gov. Tim Pawlenty broke the law.

On a 14-8 party line vote, the DFL-controlled House Rules Committee approved filing a brief in support of a suit against the governor's unilateral budget cuts, known as unallotments.

Pawlenty announced the cuts in June, after he and DFL legislators reached a stalemate in efforts to close the state's looming $2.7 billion budget deficit. The governor claimed the DFL's proposed tax increases, which he had vetoed, would throttle a fragile economic recovery. Democrats, in turn, lambasted the spending cuts for attacking the state's poorest and most vulnerable residents, forecasting cutbacks in aid to students, health care to seniors and housing help for families.