House Republican leaders issue statement on Democrat budget
‘We haven’t fixed the problem. This budget is being held together with duct tape and broken promises,’ says Alexander
House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, issued the following statements today in response to the House Democrat budget:
Rep. Richard DeBolt:
“The Democrat budget does not reflect the priorities of the citizens of Washington. It fails to protect our most vulnerable and does not meet the educational needs of our children, especially those in poor districts and rural communities. Furthermore, the Democrat budget burdens the taxpayers and future generations under the weight of tremendous debt and tax increases, with very little to show for it.
“The lack of priorities and the emphasis on special interests is the type of budgeting that resulted in a 33 percent increase in state government spending over the last four years. It is what led to this current fiscal crisis. This budget repeats the same mistakes that have made government a growing burden on working families who are making hard decisions of their own.
“The Democrat budget does not meet the needs of Washington taxpayers because it was the product of one-party rule written without the collaboration of Republicans who fought for a responsible sustainable budget. Republicans continue to believe that government has enough of the taxpayers’ money to fully fund education, protect our most vulnerable and control state spending without the need for tax increases.”
Rep. Alexander:
“We haven’t fixed the problem. This budget is being held together with duct tape and broken promises.
“We’ve cobbled together a house-of-cards budget that uses too much one-time money to backfill excessive spending, makes more promises we won’t be able to keep, ties the hands of future legislators, and sets us up for a massive budget shortfall the next time we have to write a budget.
“Once again, rather than making long-lasting changes to the budget by finding ways to deliver services more effectively and efficiently, the majority party is opting for the quick fix — the easy way out. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict our state’s future: we will be facing a shortfall just as big if not bigger in two years because the Legislature is unwilling to admit its past mistakes.
“With this budget, the majority party is simply pushing the ‘pause’ button in their desire to grow government. So many of their cuts are temporary. They’re just temporarily suspending their overspending habits and then they promise to ‘catch up’ on many of their cuts in the future. But what happens when the state’s economy doesn’t catch up? Do our families get to catch up on their losses? We’re tying the hands of future Legislatures and once again making promises we can’t keep.
“This budget has not gone through the priorities of government process, period. Our developmentally disabled, our elderly — our citizens who are truly vulnerable — are bearing a disproportionate level of cuts in this budget. They’re also making deep cuts to education and public safety while leaving too many other entitlement programs relatively unscathed. Whose priorities does this budget represent? Certainly not mine or those of my House Republican colleagues!”
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