Rep. Condotta statement on House Democrat spending plan
The House of Representatives voted today to approve a measure that reduces the 2009-2011 budget by $340 million. The current fiscal year ends June 30, 2011. The approved legislation would still leave a shortfall of $260 million for the remaining fiscal cycle.
Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, opposed House Bill 1086 and said the plan still leaves the budget unsustainable and fails to prioritize government spending.
“I understand we have a difficult task, but this proposal still fails to put us on track for a sustainable, balanced budget in the future,” he said. “This is the same status quo budgeting legislators have used the last few budget cycles. In November, the people sent a clear message, go to Olympia and come up with a different method of handling the budget. Unfortunately, this is the same ‘kick the can down the road approach’ we have seen.
“Our state government needs to demonstrate that we can live within our means like everyone else who has struggled through these tough economic times. Pushing spending into the next biennium and claim it as ‘savings’ is not responsible budgeting.”
“I am also surprised the majority party decided to make such significant cuts to education. Taking money retroactively away from schools removes teachers from classrooms and penalizes the school districts. A striking amendment offered by our side of the aisle would have preserved far more monies for education and given us a much better opportunity to move forward toward a sustainable budget.
“The bottom line is we are still spending very close to the same amount of money we did in the last biennium. At this point, if we cannot figure out how to get the supplemental budget balanced and continue to push this issue further into the next biennium, I would expect more delays, gimmicks and possible fee increases when we work on our biennial budget.”
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Kurt Hammond, Public Information Officer, (360) 786-7794
