Dan Walters: A three-way stalemate over California's budget

Sacramento Bee ^ | 6/22/10 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

Budget, budget, who's got a budget?

The governor has a state budget that his fellow Republicans more or less support. Assembly Democrats have a budget whose centerpiece is a complex scheme to borrow billions of dollars. And Democratic senators have a budget that's based on raising taxes and shifting some programs from the state to counties.

Democrats control the 10-member, two-house conference committee that's supposed to be reconciling all three budgets into one version that would be placed before the entire Legislature. They have the votes to do it.

However, the committee has been going through the budget page by page for more than two weeks without settling any big issues and only some little ones. It's now in hiatus after repeatedly hitting a political wall, unable to proceed because it doesn't know how much money it has to spend.

That's because the two Democratic versions of the budget are very much at odds, even if they both agree on rejecting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's slash-and-burn approach to closing a $19.1 billion deficit.

It's a three-way stalemate, with the new fiscal year due to begin next week and with state Controller John Chiang warning that the state will run out of cash this summer if a new budget is not in place.

Nothing will happen until Democrats in both houses are in sync on whether to borrow or tax their way out of this year's version of the chronic deficit.

[SmithL]

Fish gotta swim,

Birds gotta fly, and

RATS gotta tax!

[Lancey Howard]

Nothing will happen until Democrats in both houses are in sync on whether to borrow or tax their way out of this year's version of the chronic deficit.

lol, anything but cut spending.
You can't make this stuff up!

[Huskrrrr]

The latest shell game from Sacramento. WE LOSE!

[4Liberty]

Rats’ solution to everything: RAISE TAXES.

[Impy]

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