The latest inside hint on which way the session is going came in the form of Rep. Marty Seifert late Monday afternoon.
 
The House minority leader from Marshall greeted the press fresh out of a meeting with Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Main theme: Big bills are problematic.
 
“It was a good meeting with the governor,” Seifert said, adding that he, Pawlenty and a number of Republicans went over small bills to make sure there were no surprises and then moved onto such bigger fish as the environment, agriculture and veterans bills making their way through committees.
 
“The transportation bill is gonna get signed,” Seifert declared, distinguishing that from the other major pieces of legislation. “You don’t have to worry about rest stops shutting down in case there’s a [government] shutdown like in 2005.”
 
It was a laugh line, but there wasn’t much else as far as cheer. Seifert, for instance, pointed to the “biggest hang-up” in an energy bill, part of which seeks to forgive a $30 million economic development loan to St. Paul for the Xcel Energy Center.
 
And, more gloomily, “human services and taxes are such a mess, we won’t even get started on that.”
 
As for the question of a special session, Seifert pointed to some rhetoric from House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, saying she was “sending signals” that did not indicate a timely resolution for this session.
 
With that, Seifert excused himself. “I have an event at the Busted Nut in Hastings,” he said to chuckles, referring to a local restaurant. “An ironically named place in these times.”