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8th District legislators
comment on Democrat budget
Rep.
Larry Haler, R-Richland, and
Rep. Brad Klippert, R-Kennewick, released the
following statements today regarding the Democrat budget passing the
House of Representatives:
Rep. Haler:
"I absolutely disagree with the budget priorities that I see in this
budget. Our state's number one priority should be, as the state
constitution says, education. Yet this budget does unnecessary
harm to education.
"I have fought to maintain funding for local
education agencies and voter-approved I-728 and I-732. But the
majority party has not listened to my concerns. I have said from
the beginning that we should fund education first, make sure we're
taking care of our elderly and developmentally disabled, and then we
need to make sure we keep the public safe. The majority party's
budget fails in all three areas.
"The hardworking families of our
state are setting their priorities and living within their means; state
government should do the same. Yet the priorities of this budget
do not reflect the priorities of the citizens of this state. And
because we haven't addressed the overspending in other entitlement
programs, we're going to be right back here again facing an even bigger
deficit in two years. Our families deserve better from their
government."
Rep. Klippert:
"This budget document is
515 pages long and we only received it at 8:30 this morning. We're into
day 103 of the 105-day session, and Republicans haven't seen this budget
before today. The Democrat majority gave us only a few hours before
bringing it to a vote. It's impossible to know all the details of this
budget before we were required to vote on it.
"From what I have seen of
this document, it is a budget of misplaced priorities. Rather than
providing adequately for the education of our children and ensuring
public safety, this budget slashes education funding and provides for
early release of prisoners.
"At a time when taxpayers
can least afford it, this budget adds millions of dollars in new
programs, such as providing three months rent for early-released
prisoners.
"I'm very concerned that
more than $5 billion of one-time money in this Democrat spending plan is
budgeted for on-going programs. That means two years from now when we
come back to the Legislature in a new budget year, we're going to be
billions more in deficit because this plan uses one-time federal
stimulus money for programs that will require continued funding in the
future.
"This state needs to
change its spending habits to live within its means. The majority party
has not done that with this budget."
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For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Senior
Information Officer to Rep. Haler: (360) 786-7698
John
Sattgast, Senior Information Officer to Rep. Klippert: (360) 786-7257
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