Feb. 19, 2009

Rep. Gary Alexander issues statement following today's preliminary revenue forecast
'We cannot balance this budget on the backs of families who are struggling to make ends meet,' says Alexander

Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, and ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council's preliminary report:

"What we heard today was what we expected: things aren't getting better; they're getting worse.  It reiterates our need for quick action in reducing spending now, not later.  Every day we wait, the problem gets worse.  We've already wasted away six weeks, which translates to millions of dollars in savings.  Do we make the difficult decisions necessary now and start putting out the fire?  Or do we wait until Rome burns?

"I've been saying for weeks now that the lack of action by the majority party has led me to believe that they've already given up; they've already arrived at their solution and that's sending a tax increase to the voters.  I believe that raising taxes is NOT the answer.  We cannot balance this budget on the backs of families who are struggling to make ends meet.  We CAN balance this budget without raising taxes and still protect the most vulnerable.

"But we need to act now.  House Republicans have been told the solution to our state's budget crisis will be a bipartisan one, even though the house of cards which formed the structure of our deficit was not.  We feel like we have an opportunity to make some good, long-lasting changes to our budget process that will, in the end, help us come out of this situation much better than we were going in."

# # #

For more information, contact: Brendon Wold, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7698