prole Posted March 2, 2010 Posted March 2, 2010 The Party of No F#$%ing Idea How would Republicans fix state budget? Tacoma News Tribune 3/1/10 Republicans in the Washington Legislature have united around a clear message that taxes are not needed to bridge a $2.8 billion state budget gap this year. But the minority party is refusing to show exactly how it could get to a budget balanced without new revenue. Top GOP budget writers said in interviews this week that it’s just not worth spelling out details for the public – or for majority Democrats, whom they blame for the state’s financial mess. The Democrats, by contrast, say they need more taxpayer money to blunt cuts to the health care safety net and public schools by raising anywhere from the House’s call for $857 million in new revenue to the Senate’s $918 million plan. “I don’t think you’re going to find that coming from anybody,” Rep. Gary Alexander of Thurston County, the ranking House Republican on the budget, said when asked for his no-tax plan. “I could get to $2.8 billion if I was given the authority to do it. The point is, Why would you come up with ideas when they (Democrats) have no intention to do anything with these proposals?” Democrats say the GOP should do more than make claims. One lawmaker said it appears the minority party’s solution is to offer last-minute amendments to the budget bill that cut here and there but leave gaps and don’t solve the problem. “With 11 days left, where is the package?” House Ways and Means vice chairman Mark Ericks, D-Bothell, asked Friday. “Is that the way they want to offer suggestions? To wait to the last minute and offer amendments?” Ericks added. “If you were complaining about us not taking any ideas, wouldn’t you at least provide the list?” Gov. Chris Gregoire did offer a balanced budget with no new revenues in December, but she said it was against the state’s values because it devastated the social safety net with $1.7 billion in actual spending cuts, and she vowed to seek revenues to avoid about $780 million of the cuts. She made up the rest of the gap with fund shifts, federal help and spending reserves. Gregoire more recently proposed nearly $760 million in new general-fund revenues. Senate Democrats last week proposed their larger plan, which adds a $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes to raise $86 million for health care plans; a temporary three-tenths-of-1 percent sales tax for school programs; and $518 million in reduced tax breaks or closed tax “loopholes.” To be fair, Republican Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield has been offering suggestions for several years to trim state spending over the long haul, and his GOP caucus re-released a list of suggestions last week that was quite a bit out of date. It claimed to save $810 million with one list and $1.5 billion on another. The list included dozens of ideas, including loosening the state’s monopoly on liquor sales, verifying children’s eligibility for health subsidies, stopping spending on anti-smoking campaigns, eliminating all-day kindergarten funding, and “more stringent welfare-reform sanctions.” But the value of those theoretical cuts is difficult to determine because many of Zarelli’s suggestions were for two-year periods, and the estimates appear overstated. In the case of eliminating the last of three learning-improvement days given to public school teachers, Democrats say they will save $15 million, one-eighth of what Zarelli projected on his list. Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla says Democrats have put the state into a situation it could have avoided. He said Zarelli has offered 56 ideas since 2005, and the real issue is whether Democrats are going to act on them. Zarelli, like Alexander, said he is not going to provide a list of how to make ends meet without taxes. He did say the state should quit spending on all-day kindergarten, which is a relatively recent policy initiative, if it cannot afford other basics. Zarelli also would spend less on the subsidized Basic Health Plan for the working poor. He would put more state services out to bid to private contractors, although savings from the latter move also are hard to estimate. Alexander also has offered up a few ideas: He presented $511 million in spending cuts as an amendment to the House Democrats’ budget plan Friday. Alexander’s ideas: Cut an extra $182 million from a GAU, the general assistance program for the disabled and hardcore unemployed; $15 million from alcoholism treatment; $10 million from capped enrollment on Running Start programs; and $49 million from two-year and four-year colleges. Quote
billcoe Posted March 2, 2010 Posted March 2, 2010 "against the state’s values because it devastated the social safety net with $1.7 billion" Is this the much vaunted Mexican illegal health insurance fund thinggy? Cause if you start tossin' around billions, pretty soon it might add up to real money! Well, anyway, there's no crisis, we all know that the taxpayers have unlimited money, just tell them YOU WILL PAY OR ELSE and that will be that. They can model the NEW "Improved" Washington tax form on the old Irish model which was finally discontinued only after their economy sunk deep into the toilet. Here's a sample: "Party on"....with no idea. Quote
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