They're starting to get testy in St. Paul.

A dust-up in the House and some harsh words in the Senate indicate that the tea kettles are ready to boil and the session, instead of winding down, is heating up.

Don Davis of Forum Communications looks at Tuesday's hour-long stand-off in the House between DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and House Republicans and quotes veteran Rep. Bernie Lieder, DFL-Crookston, who called it the fiercest House debate since the late 1980s.

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, said that it appeared Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty intentionally misled the media, and thus the public, last week when he said that his budget plan cuts more money than the Senate-passed budget.

Davis described it as a "a mini-Watergate-style inquiry" of Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson, as DFLers asked how much Pawlenty knew about the budget document he gave to reporters and when he knew it.

Hanson shot back: “I take real issue with your comments that we are politicizing” budget issues.