Republican Leaders Want Budget Re-Opened

The criticism may have been fresh, but the sentiment was familiar. GOP lawmakers have complained about the new budget since the early spring. They often referenced these earlier critiques at a midday news conference.

“As you know we have been stating for month and months that the budget is out of whack.”

That was House Republican leader Sherman Packard’s opener. He went on to predict a shortfall that could reach up to 300 million dollars. In short order, he was joined at the podium by Senate minority leader Peter Bragdon.

“I echo the sentiments expressed by of representative Packard, that we face a budget problem of significant size.

While the Republicans repeatedly called for spending cuts, neither Senator Bragdon, nor Representative Packard were willing to spell out any specifics. Here’s Packard:

“I could sit here and we could make suggestions right now. But I don’t think that would be prudent to what we are trying to do.”

But the Republicans did indicate that solutions might come from budget documents held by the governor; documents prepared by agency heads that would have cut spending by 3 percent from the last state budget. The Republicans implied those documents had been withheld, and urged their release. Again, Senator Bragdon.

“That work has already been done, we’d like to see that, we’d like to be a part of the solution.”

But if the GOP was anticipating resistance on the document front, it wasn’t forthcoming. Colin Manning is the Governor’s spokesman.

“We’d be happy to share the documents. As you know those documents provided the basis for Governor Lynch’s budget. He spent many hours pouring over those, working with agency heads, asking for revisions, asking for alternatives. We we’d be happy to share those.”

Manning added that the Governor has no plans to reconvene the legislature to reopen the budget. But lawmakers will be back in Concord to vote on vetoed bills late next month. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lou D’Allesando says if any action is warranted, it can wait until then.

“We’re going to be back on the 28th, if things look bleaker at that point in time then you can talk about doing something; you can actually do something on that day, which I think makes a lot of sense as we move forward. “

The Senate’s top budget writer went on to stress that he doesn’t foresee much appetite for big new cuts, and repeatedly sought to steer the conversation towards his chosen state budget fix, expanded gambling. D’Allesandro says he will push that issue well before next spring, when the Governor’s gaming commission is slated to issue a report on the topic.

“We’re going to move, and the legislature is going to have that opportunity. I think we’ve got to start thinking, we've got to start thinking along those lines."

The filing period for new legislation begins later this month.