During Governor Bill Walker’s campaign, he vowed to cut the state budget by 16% across the board, but the Administration is now pushing back against deep cuts in the Senate.
Yesterday, Senators got a chance to ask Budget Director Pat Pitney about Walker’s position.
Sen. Micciche(R-K. Pen): “This isn’t a gotcha’ one, when the Governor was running, he talked a lot about sustainable budgets…”
Sen. Dunleavy(R-Mat. Su): “You know and what I’m starting to hear, I think, what I’m starting to feel, and I don’t usually operate in that manner, is, ‘You’ve gone too far, we’ve got to start looking at taxes.’ And I’m just being blunt.”
Senators Peter Micciche and Mike Dunleavy asked Pitney why the Administration is pushing back against their roughly 9-11% cuts.
Sen. Dunleavy(R-Mat. Su): “I don’t know if you can answer this Pat, but where is the Administration on this cut that the Senate and the House are proposing at this point? Is the Administration behind this reduction or has it gone too far?
Pitney: “In some cases it’s down too far.
Sen. Dunleavy(R-Mat. Su): “So how do we reconcile that with the 16% figure we were hearing at the end of the campaign and at the beginning of this year?
Pitney: “It’s about priorities and getting people to weigh in on what do we want the state to look like?”
Senator Micciche said he’s concerned that the Administration is pushing back on these cuts, since he sees this as just the beginning of a battle that will grow more complicated with widespread elections next year, which tend to make legislators less likely to cut or tax the public.
