Olympia's dilemma: Just hours to cut $4 billion
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington's Legislature began its contentious debate on a $4 billion package of state budget cuts Friday night, with lawmakers from both parties arguing unsuccessfully for more spending on education and health services.
It was the first public discussion of the Democratic majority's agreed-to budget plan, which will dictate general state government spending until July 2011. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn its regular session on Sunday night.
Overall, the budget spends about $35 billion. Lawmakers will rely heavily on one-time fixes, including some $3 billion in federal money, to plug a huge gulf between expected revenue and state spending. About $830 million is left in reserve.
Cuts will be felt in almost every area of government, including education, health and social services - areas treated generously during the previous four years, when the Democratic majority oversaw a roughly one-third growth in state spending.
Lawmakers do not count on any general tax increases in their budget, but do call for higher college tuition and a laundry list of fee increases.
Up to 8,000 government jobs could be lost, some 9,000 college enrollment slots could go without state support, and about 40,000 people are expected to lose their state-subsidized coverage under the Basic Health Plan.
After a sometimes emotional debate, the House passed the budget on a 54-42 vote. It now heads to the Senate for further consideration.
House leaders defended their budget as a responsible way to deal with a recession-fueled drop-off in state tax revenue, which helped deliver the largest deficit in some 25 years.
"No one was spared the pain," said House Ways and Means Chairwoman Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham. "As we made these cuts, we tried to make them as fairly as we possibly could. They were nearly impossible decisions to make, but they were important decisions to make."
Democratic leaders had to turn away a handful of proposed amendments, some from their own caucus, that would have shifted more money into K-12 education, as well as health care for the elderly and the disabled.
Republican lawmakers warned that the Democratic budget fix was far too shortsighted because more than half of the projected $9 billion deficit was filled with one-time patches: stimulus bailouts, skipped pension payments, raids on construction accounts, and more.
"Tonight, we're doing an injustice to Washington state by creating an unsustainable budget," said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "We're going to have to break more promises in the future."
Senate and House negotiators finally hammered out an agreement earlier this week, and revealed the full details of their spending plans only 10 hours before beginning debate.
That also upset minority Republicans, who accused Democrats of stifling debate on the budget's policy decisions. The state Senate was expected to begin its own examination of the budget on Saturday.
Lawmakers also unveiled a $4.4 billion transportation budget and a $3.3 billion construction on Friday. Those spending blueprints - relatively uncontroversial - began moving through the Legislature on Friday. The construction budget was approved late Friday by the House on a vote of 63-33.
---
The state budget is House Bill 1244.
It was the first public discussion of the Democratic majority's agreed-to budget plan, which will dictate general state government spending until July 2011. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn its regular session on Sunday night.
Overall, the budget spends about $35 billion. Lawmakers will rely heavily on one-time fixes, including some $3 billion in federal money, to plug a huge gulf between expected revenue and state spending. About $830 million is left in reserve.
Cuts will be felt in almost every area of government, including education, health and social services - areas treated generously during the previous four years, when the Democratic majority oversaw a roughly one-third growth in state spending.
Lawmakers do not count on any general tax increases in their budget, but do call for higher college tuition and a laundry list of fee increases.
Up to 8,000 government jobs could be lost, some 9,000 college enrollment slots could go without state support, and about 40,000 people are expected to lose their state-subsidized coverage under the Basic Health Plan.
After a sometimes emotional debate, the House passed the budget on a 54-42 vote. It now heads to the Senate for further consideration.
House leaders defended their budget as a responsible way to deal with a recession-fueled drop-off in state tax revenue, which helped deliver the largest deficit in some 25 years.
"No one was spared the pain," said House Ways and Means Chairwoman Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham. "As we made these cuts, we tried to make them as fairly as we possibly could. They were nearly impossible decisions to make, but they were important decisions to make."
Democratic leaders had to turn away a handful of proposed amendments, some from their own caucus, that would have shifted more money into K-12 education, as well as health care for the elderly and the disabled.
Republican lawmakers warned that the Democratic budget fix was far too shortsighted because more than half of the projected $9 billion deficit was filled with one-time patches: stimulus bailouts, skipped pension payments, raids on construction accounts, and more.
"Tonight, we're doing an injustice to Washington state by creating an unsustainable budget," said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "We're going to have to break more promises in the future."
Senate and House negotiators finally hammered out an agreement earlier this week, and revealed the full details of their spending plans only 10 hours before beginning debate.
That also upset minority Republicans, who accused Democrats of stifling debate on the budget's policy decisions. The state Senate was expected to begin its own examination of the budget on Saturday.
Lawmakers also unveiled a $4.4 billion transportation budget and a $3.3 billion construction on Friday. Those spending blueprints - relatively uncontroversial - began moving through the Legislature on Friday. The construction budget was approved late Friday by the House on a vote of 63-33.
---
The state budget is House Bill 1244.