As I suggested in my last post, Democratic state lawmakers are trying to position the debate about the state budget as “it’s all the Republicans fault” while senators from both sides are now publicly grousing about the lack of progress.
Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, said her party has been offering for months to help.
“Despite our repeated efforts and literally begging, we have not been included in the budget process,” Rios said.
Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City (who opposed the Brewer-Burns-Adams budget deal) responded that Democratic alternatives fail to acknowledge that state revenues are down 40 percent from last year.
“We need to right-size Arizona’s government,” Gould said. “We need to get spending under control and we need to do it quickly. If we need to shut down state government to do it, so be it.”
Sen. Jim Waring, R-Phoenix, showed frustration with his colleagues from both parties.
“One thing that isn’t going to get the budget done is if we keep talking here (on the Senate floor),” Waring said. “Shhh. Stop talking. Let’s back to committee and let’s get the work done.”
Meanwhile, Senate President Bob Burns just removed all of the budget trailer bills from the Senate Appropriations Committee (which blocked the main bill this morning) and assigned them to the “more friendly” Committee on Education Accountability and Reform. The committee is expected to meet shortly. This means the budget deal is still kicking, even if it’s on life support.

Posted in: Uncategorized • State budget countdown |

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