April 24, 2009

Statement from Rep. Kirk Pearson on state budget

The Washington State House of Representatives today passed the state operating budget. Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, voted against the budget and sent out the following statement:

"This budget hurts families. I'm concerned about the cuts to public safety in the budget. Cutting supervision for dangerous criminals is not the way we should balance the budget. House Republicans lost the battle to keep our valuable community corrections officers, which is something that should worry us all. They serve on the front lines of our public safety efforts. I believe the citizens are going to speak up about these critical cuts when our crime rates go up.

"Saving money by going soft on property crime offenders and others we will no longer be supervising, is balancing the budget on the backs of victims, and I simply cannot support that.

"I'm also disappointed we did not fix the poor spending habits that got us into the $9 billion budget deficit. This budget will leave an expensive bill for the next Legislature to figure out how to pay. I fear the taxpayers and employers are going to be on the hook for the shortfall yet again.

"This was a challenge we could have faced together and sided with the people to write the budget in a responsible way that spends based on priorities and values. Instead we cut the most vulnerable and our schools.

"Budget writers also raided the capital budget account, in part to patch the budget. That budget is our job-creator money. We need to get people to work if we want to turn this economy around. Now, we've wasted that opportunity to create good-paying jobs that are essential to our communities.

"We could have done better for the people of Washington."

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For more information, contact: Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7252