Lawmakers will later this morning take up a new state budget proposal.The 8.8 billion dollar package enjoys the support of legislative leaders. It also has the blessing of Governor Craig Benson -- who vetoed a nearly identical proposal in June.
The difference between the budget Governor Benson rejected in June as ?the tax and spend policies of the past? and the compromise plan he now endorses??is about 50 million dollars in new revenue and projected savings??..That hoped for money is slated to come from initiatives that include a state preferred drug list, a new program to improve health care access for people on Medicaid??.. a new state liquor store in Nashua??..and extending the state hiring freeze ??Last month, Benson said he fully expected the projected financial gains to be permanent and spoke enthusiastically about how they will reduce NH?s structural deficit??.
Next time we go into the budget cycle we will be 42 million dollars less than we are right now??Which means the basis next time will be 42 million dollars less??so it adds up to 84 million dollars in savings for both bienniums??so it?s a significant windfall for the tax payers of NH.
Earlier this week, however, Benson?s tone was a bit more muted??and decidedly less evangelical.
?We just need to pass the budget and get on with things??
But have you been talking to people about the budget?.?
I have been but people have told me that things are proceeding and they don?t need a lot of help form me?.so I?ve been taking my cue from what I?ve been asked to do.
But you are confident at this point that the budget is a good one for the people of NH?
I?m confident that we need to move forward and get this behind us and get on with running the state.?
The Governor?s softspokeness is very much in keeping with the tone of legislative leaders?..They all want the budget to pass?..and pass without further controversy??.Such ambitions are certainly likely in the senate.??But In the house, which sustained Benson?s June veto, the vote will be tighter??
?? At a house budget briefing yesterday??Deputy house speaker Mike Whalley urged house members not to try and tinker with what he called a fragile proposal??.Instead?..Whalley and other leaders asked them to consider the bottom line ? That the budget mirrors what lawmakers passed in June??and that projections indicate it will prove balanced regardless of whether or not the anticipated savings actually materialize.
?It?s possible that there will be no liquor store in Nashua during this budget cycle??.It?s possible that the preferred drug list will not result in any savings?. ??It?s possible that the access program will not result in any savings??but it?s not probable??.It?s probable that there will be some savings??It may not be 52 million dollars?..It may not be 52 million dollars?..it may be 45 or 40 or 30 or some other numbers and that amount will be added to the projected surplus of 19 million dollar s that was in the original budget document.?
This argument drew a mixed response??The most hostile coming from house conservatives?. Many predict that even under the best case scenario?. the anticipated surpluses are perilously small. For his part, Hopkinton republican Stretch Kennedy insisted the state?s likely financial cushion compared unfavorably to that enjoyed by the destitute.
I think you are looking for trouble??.I think the whole thing is a disaster??That?s only my option?..but that?s the closest thing you are going to get to the truth.
Conservatives also complained that supporting the budget would mean reneging on campaign promises??After the two hour briefing, Representative John Gibson of Merrimack said GOP leaders support of the compromise runs counter to the will for the people.
?I don?t understand what they are smoking on the third floor?..I just don?t get it anymore?.I think the people of New Hampshire?.are going to be really upset at the end of the next fiscal year when they realize the only way we can close the gap is to be some big state tax that obviously no one in the state supports?.?
But others who ran on a promise to reign in state spending admit that present circumstances dictate taking a more moderate approach. Freshman Representative Richard Morris of Seabrook is a member of the conservative house republican alliance.
?I originally voted for the veto?.However , the governor has committed??House leadership has put a lot of work into it and I am trying to get as many as our group out of the alliance to support the budget just for the sake of moving forward. ?
But pre-vote lobbying efforts aren?t confined to the GOP??Democrats are also working to build support for what they say remains a flawed budget. ??House democratic leader Peter Burling says his caucus would like to have seen more money earmarked for heath and human services and the L ?chip program??but says rejecting the compromise would be counterproductive..
?Yes this is not the budget that we would have passed if we were the majority?..But any budget which success this one would be a lot worse??So we can win defensive battle?..against further cuts to state government that would be a victory even if it isn?t everything we wanted.?
Lawmakers in both chambers will take up the budget later this morning??The house and 10 and the senate at 11.??.As it is after the deadline to hear new bills??.a two thirds majority vote of those present will be required to allow action on the budget package.
