Posted on 06/22/2005 6:20:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's renewed call for greater cooperation between Democrats and Republicans will be tested in the coming days as the administration tries to forge a budget agreement before next week's start of the fiscal year.
It may not be easy. Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, said Wednesday they have given ground on a variety of issues and will be reluctant to compromise further.
At issue is nearly $1 billion in spending that separates the two parties. Democratic leaders said they are looking for the governor to bring the two sides together.
"We are in the top of the ninth inning; he's got to step up," said Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. "We've moved a mile; they need to move a couple of inches."
In May, Schwarzenegger proposed a $115.7 billion spending plan for next fiscal year that included no new taxes and paid down some of the state's debts while increasing funding for education and transportation projects. Democrats produced a plan last week that largely mirrored the Schwarzenegger proposal but drew Republican objections because it spent almost $1 billion more for health and education while delaying some of the loan repayments.
"Democrats have not moved in a realistic way at all," said Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, vice chairman of the budget committee. "What they are doing once again is putting off into the future things that we need to do today."
While the rhetoric may have a familiar ring, few expect the gridlock to last, primarily because of the special election that Schwarzenegger called for Nov. 8. Democrats have said they believe a long budget fight will improve the governor's argument that big changes are needed and voters should support his overhaul agenda.
Meanwhile, a Field Poll released this week showed Schwarzenegger's popularity falling fast, largely because voters view him in increasingly partisan terms. Few voters see the need for the coming election, the poll found.
The governor said he wants a budget agreement soon.
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said that he and Senate minority leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, have been trying to negotiate a possible budget deal. He promised that a budget bill would be ready for a vote before next week's deadline - with or without Republican support.
Democrats want to include about $800 million in spending to support services for the elderly and disabled, Perata said. He added they're willing to forego paying off some of the state's debt to protect those services.
The governor would rather pay off as many debts as possible to reduce the state's problems in the future, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance.
Even if an agreement can be worked out between Democrats and the governor, Schwarzenegger will have to find eight Republicans in the Assembly who support the plan to reach the two-thirds majority required for passage. That's two more than he needed last year.
Democrats hold 48 of the Assembly's 80 seats but two of their members - Rebecca Cohn of Saratoga and Mike Gordon of El Segundo - are expected to be absent for medical reasons over the next month.
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When the media is openly siding with the unions and legislators that put this state behind the 8-ball, what kind of changes can one expect to occur?
Even if an agreement can be worked out between Democrats and the governor, Schwarzenegger will have to find eight Republicans in the Assembly who support the plan to reach the two-thirds majority required for passage. That's two more than he needed last year.
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He sure didn't have a problem running up the debt last year.
Oh, that's right. First we had to stop the bleeding.. :-\
Stand strong, Republicans. You must not be girlie men like your brethren on the other side of the aisle.
First the Austrian pretender has turned out to be the biggest spender in the state's history.
Now he trying to convince the last men standing (Republicans) to go over to the dark side ("Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's renewed call for greater cooperation between Democrats and Republicans").
What will this uber liberal do next under the cover of his Republican Party cloak?
Budget in apparent stalemate
Sacramento Bee, June 22, 2005
(snip)State leaders still spending too muchSchwarzenegger pointed to numbers from nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, who estimates the Democratic budget proposal would leave the state facing a $6.4 billion deficit in 2006-07. Hill said the Republican governor's budget, in contrast, would leave about $3.6 billion in red ink in the future fiscal year.
"The counterproposal from the Democrats ... returns to the irresponsible ways of the past," Schwarzenegger said.
(snip)The Republican alternative from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also would spend $89 billion. So his is hardly the frugal budget.
With the governor acceding to spending increases and the Democrats not insisting on new taxes, the differences between the two proposals are not that great. "I'd be surprised if this dragged on all summer," Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said. Democrats, he said, know that a long delay would give the governor more ammunition to argue in favor his ballot propositions for this November's election, particularly the "Live Within our Means" initiative.
So Californians will get a budget, almost on time, but the spending increases are actually worse than most sources are saying. The proposed spending increases quoted above are based on proposed budget compared to actual current spending. But, when compared to the budget passed for fiscal 2004-05, spending rises 13 percent. The higher spending occurred because some expected budget savings didn't materialize.
Bottom line: Both "balanced" budget proposals for fiscal 2005-06 spend $5 billion more than they take in from tax revenue. The gap, in each case, is plugged with about $5 billion borrowed in the previous fiscal year but not spent because of an unexpected $6 billion in additional revenue from taxpayers.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
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