Sen. Zarelli statement on Senate Democrat operating budget proposal

March 30, 2009

OLYMPIA…Sen. Joseph Zarelli, Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, issued this statement regarding the 2009-11 operating budget proposed today by Senate Democrats: 

“There are two questions to ask about the Senate Democrat budget: what are the priorities, and where would this put our state in two years? 

“This is not an ‘all-cuts’ budget because it would require tax increases – but even if it was all-cuts, that alone doesn’t make it acceptable. Our families are expected to realign their priorities when times are difficult, yet the Senate Democrats are choosing to increase K-12 classroom sizes so they can allocate more taxpayer dollars for state-employee health care, cut access to our colleges and universities in favor of continuing health care for illegal immigrants, and reduce support for nursing homes instead of freezing wages for all state employees.  

“They point to spending reductions for the Basic Health Plan and General Assistance-Unemployable program, but those are only temporary cuts when what we need are reforms that would bring long-term efficiencies. 

“The state expects to take in as much revenue in the next two years as it will in this biennium, so it really does come down to priorities. Senate Republicans have shown how the Legislature could produce a budget that is balanced without higher taxes, protects services for the most vulnerable and does not repeat the mistake of relying on gimmicks or one-time money. Unfortunately the Senate Democrat proposal falls short on all of those fronts. It does almost nothing to produce the kind of farsighted change Olympia and our taxpayers badly need.  

“Instead of making policy adjustments that will generate substantial ongoing savings, this proposal is about punting and doing temporary backfill that would put off the problem for another two years. It keeps spending artificially high by playing about 3 billion dollars in federal money plus some ill-advised fund transfers that include a raid on the capital budget.  

“It’s not whether you take the federal money, it’s how you spend it. These are dollars we can only spend once – but this budget would use them to maintain programs and services. That is exactly the approach which started our state down the road to a deficit. Back out the one-time dollars and it’s clear how this budget sets the stage for a repeat of where we are now. 

“We will be asked what we would do differently. The answer is we already tried – by repeatedly encouraging the majority party to make timely spending reductions that would have resulted in lasting savings to taxpayers, and sharing our ideas for building the kind of budget our state truly needs. Unfortunately the leaders of the majority party didn’t heed our warnings against overspending, and it doesn’t look now like they’ve taken our suggestions for long-term fixes either. 

 —30— 

For more information contact Eric Campbell
at (360) 786-7503 or campbell.eric@leg.wa.gov