Reaction to the Governor’s budget proposal is widespread. The Seattle Times has a story which lays out major spending reductions, plus some analysis of how the budget gets built. The Seattle PI has a story focusing more on education cuts.
Political leaders and interest groups also have begun to weigh in on the proposal. Here is a sampling of initial reactions.
I can’t (just) say ‘I don’t love it,'” Gregoire said of her budget proposal. “I hate it.”
Statement from Speaker Frank Chopp on Governor Gregoire’s budget proposal: “The reductions in the Governor’s budget bring home just how serious our national economic situation really is. Cuts in health care for children and services to the elderly, people who can’t work due to disabilities, and the mentally ill will be devastating to them and will cost us more in the long run. I also agree with Senator Brown’s concern that this budget counts federal money we don’t have yet. But this is just step one. The final budget must reflect the basic values of Washington’s people – educating our children, protecting our vulnerable, and building our economy.”
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said the governor’s budget is glaringly flawed by the assumption that Washington will get almost $1 billion from President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress. With that assumption, Gregoire is making the budget-writing look easier that it actually will be, Brown said. Brown said she also hopes for federal help, “but the President-elect Obama has not been sworn in and has gotten nothing through Congress yet.”
Statement from newly selected House Appropriations Chair Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham:”The governor obviously made some very hard choices in her budget, and I can appreciate how difficult that is. But, as she said, this is just the starting point – there are many more steps in this process. We will carefully consider this proposal as we move forward, but many things could change between today and April 22nd. We have another revenue forecast coming in March that could change the picture considerably. The Governor’s budget proposal makes it clear, if it wasn’t all ready, just how dire our economic situation really is.”
Greg Devereux, director of the 40,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees, said the governor let workers down by reneging on recently negotiated two-year contracts that would have given most state workers 2 percent raises in each of the next two years. “She has to come back to the bargaining table with us,” Devereux said. Meanwhile, union officials will work with legislators to devise a plan to close tax loopholes and raise money so final budget cuts won’t be as deep as those proposed by Gregoire.
“I worry about the impact a cut of this magnitude could have on food banks, hospital emergency rooms, homeless shelters and other social service agencies,” said Robin Zukoski, an attorney for Columbia Legal Services, which advocates for the poor.
Republican legislative leaders, who are in the minority, embraced the overall size and philosophy of Gregoire’s budget. “This is 2003,” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, referring to the no-new-taxes budget offered that year by then-Gov. Gary Locke. “We like the size of the box. She’s given the Legislature some good direction. “She showed the political courage she should have showed two years ago,” he added.
Sen. Joseph Zarelli, Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and member of the Economic Revenue and Forecast Council, issued this statement regarding the operating budgets proposed today by Gov. Christine Gregoire: “The governor has put the budget process on the proper course with her proposal for the 2009-11 biennium. It doesn’t quite align spending with anticipated revenue but does spend less than the current budget. And she did what she promised by balancing that budget without tax increases. Those are positive steps. There is some room for discussion about whether the priorities reflected in her budget are the real, core priorities of government. But overall it’s a move in the right direction.
Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, released the following statement today regarding Gov. Christine Gregoire’s budget: “The governor’s budget says, ‘We cannot afford to do many of the things we’d like to.’ This is basically what House Republicans have been saying for the last four years, and we’re glad to see she’s come to that realization.