Earlier today, GOP Sen. Mike Parry and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen refused to yield to a question about their budget bill being discussed. It’s totally routine for Senators on the floor to ask other Senators to yield to questions, and almost always the Senator yields.

Not today.

In an almost unheard of move, Sen. Parry and Sen. Ingebrigtsen refused to yield to a question from DFL Sen. Dick Cohen, who wanted to ask them about $125 unspecified cuts.

It’s understandable that Senators would have some questions about the budget bill. Sen. Cohen probably wanted to clarify where that $125 million in cuts would be coming from. By refusing to answer, Sen. Parry and Sen. Ingebrigtsen are saying they either don’t know or they don’t want to say.

It’s problematic either way: they don’t know what is in their own budget bill, they irresponsibly haven’t considered where those cuts will come from, or they have considered where to cut and do not want us to know. Those cuts could hurt veterans, the elderly, or the most vulnerable, and if that’s the case the Republicans don’t want us to know about it yet.

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