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Senator Mark Schoesler
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Schoesler says Legislature's response to shortfall is
falling short
'Early action' measure heard in Senate committee today is
another half-step
February 3, 2009
OLYMPIA…Sen.
Mark Schoesler doesn’t often see eye-to-eye with Gov.
Christine Gregoire on budget issues, but a comment the governor
made Monday made it clear she shared Schoesler’s expectation
that lawmakers would be closer to passing a supplemental state
budget than they are.
"The governor said yesterday she had hoped the Legislature would
work ‘sooner and faster’ to adopt a supplemental budget. That
had been my hope also, because overhauling the budget is the
surest way to start downsizing state government to a level the
people can afford without tax increases,” said Schoesler,
R-Ritzville. “Unfortunately the Legislature has fallen short of
what should have been a reasonable hope.
“For Washington taxpayers, the fact that we’re into the fourth
week of the session without a supplemental budget in sight is an
expensive letdown. We need to reduce the state’s monthly
expenses as much as we can and as soon as we can. Each day that
goes by, the state’s ongoing spending commitments consume more
dollars that might have been saved.”
Schoesler and other
Senate
Ways and Means Committee members had a public hearing today
on
House Bill 1694, adopted Monday by the House of
Representatives. It would save an estimated $283 million over
the five months remaining in the 2007-09 fiscal biennium. Last
week Schoesler supported
Senate Bill 5640, expected to reduce costs by $105 million
by June 30.
“These bills came with the responsible-sounding nicknames of
‘belt-tightening’ and ‘early action.’ But let’s be clear: If the
gap in the 2007-09 biennial budget – the budget which is paying
for state programs right now – reaches a billion dollars as a
result of the state revenue forecast in March, these measures
don’t get close to addressing even half,” Schoesler explained.
The governor’s proposed supplemental budget for the final six
months of the 2007-09 biennium would have saved $307 million,
$24 million more than HB 1694.
“I and other Senate Republicans offered in December, shortly
after the governor issued her budget proposals, to start working
with the Democrats on a supplemental budget that could be
adopted a week into the session,” Schoesler explained. “The
Legislature can act quickly when it wants to, and you would
think this would be one of those times. But although I hear
members of the majority party use the word ‘crisis,’ I’m not
seeing them act like it’s a crisis. We need to take control of
the situation, not pin our hopes on a federal bailout.”
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Additional contact:
Eric Campbell
at (360) 786-7503 or
campbell.eric@leg.wa.gov
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