A TALE OF Two Shutdowns. “Minnesota’s government shutdown has made national news, in part because it foreshadows, in some respects, the battle that will play out in Washington over the next month on the debt ceiling. What has happened in Minnesota is clearcut: our Republican legislature passed a budget for the next two years, consisting of nine spending bills. Our Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, didn’t think the legislature spent enough money, so he vetoed them. As a result of Dayton’s vetoes, state agencies ran out of funding as of July 1 and, with the exception of certain critical functions, the state’s government shut down. . . . This is not the first time Minnesota has experienced a government shutdown. In 2005, during Tim Pawlenty’s first term as governor, there was a partial shutdown that lasted for nine days. It is instructive to compare the events that led to the shutdowns of 2005 and 2011.”