A couple of days ago, it broke that Republican legislators were digging in and were preparing to fight JBE on a proposed special session and new tax increases. Republicans were preparing to actually go on the offensive and were going to propose their own budget solution.
On Twitter, the head of the Republican legislative delegation, State Rep. Lance Harris, released his ideas for cutting the state budget. We have to assume that this is the basis of the Republican budget plan. Here’s what it looks like on Twitter:
This demonstrates that the problem can be solved without a special session or without use of the rainy day fund. pic.twitter.com/T1bWb0Gzm3
— Lance Harris (@RepLanceHarris) January 19, 2017
He’s proposing to cut the State General Fund by 4.2% and the statutory dedications by 3.92%. The total cuts would be $304 million.
The area Harris wants to cut the most is the Department of Health and Hospitals. Last year’s state budget increased spending by $2 billion. DHH was the recipient of most of that budget increase, which was funded by higher taxes. Other areas taking deep cuts are capital outlay, which is often home to pork barrel spending, and the Department of Education.
Other areas taking deep cuts are capital outlay, which is often home to pork barrel spending, and the Department of Education. The state Department of Corrections and Public Safety are also in line to be cut.
If nothing else, JBE and his lapdogs can’t say Republicans and conservatives don’t have ideas to balance the state budget.
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