As I write this, it’s 4:50 p.m. Monday. The Senate Appropriations Committee still hasn’t returned to try to take up the budget deal struck late last week between Gov. Jan Brewer, Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams. The House Appropriations Committee was scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. to take up the proposed sales tax election and flat rate for income taxes, but hasn’t. Both the full Senate and the House have taken up other matters this afternoon, and there’s no public sign of any movement on the budget at all. It seems likely legislative leaders will have to give up on the deal for now and seek to quickly pass a temporary spending plan to avoid a government shutdown when the fiscal year ends at midnight Tuesday.
Interestingly, Democrats appear to be leaning toward opposing any such move, under the assumption that Brewer and Republicans would receive most of the blame for a government shutdown. But that’s a dangerous political calculation to make, given the likely impact on tens of thousands of state employees and the average people who receive services from them.
UPDATE: I neglected to mention the other option, one that several legislative Republicans support, which is for Senate President Bob Burns to just send Gov. Jan Brewer the original budget that was adopted June 4 and dare her to veto the package. Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, several times today has publicly encouraged that route, suggesting Brewer could veto two bills that include a lot of budget policies she doesn’t like, but still sign into law the basic spending framework for a $8.2 billion budget.
But that would require Brewer to accept defeat in her showdown with members of her own party. She might be willing to test her popularity versus the Legislature by vetoing the entire package and shutting down agencies that don’t have an immediate impact on public safety.
Twitter