State Budget 'Emergency' No Surprise at All
Solution Is Common Sense
Press Release
October 17, 2008
Representative Bob Hargraves today called for cool heads and deliberate action toward managing the state´s budget problems.
"The House and Senate leadership must join the Governor in taking control of a difficult and disappointing situation," said Hargraves. "The difficulty is clear: More than a billion dollars in planned spending beyond the state´s means. The disappointment is that we need not be in this fix. The Republican minority predicted it last May, well before the massive problems on Wall Street and Main Street surfaced. That´s why all 19 House Republicans and all five in the Senate voted against the budget."
"The shortfall ranges from one to two billion dollars, depending upon who is talking. Whatever the figure, the $28.2 billion budget was clearly out of balance well before the Legislature passed it on to the Governor. Everyone knew, the Governor included. Last spring´s unsustainable, short-term peak in capital gains tax revenue was an obvious signal."
Nonetheless, rather than cut spending plans, lawmakers chose to dip into the state´s reserve, the so-called "Rainy Day Fund," in order to close a gap then estimated at $400 million. Gov. Patrick´s current proposal (House bill 5115) calls for tapping the reserve for yet another $200 million.
"Despite their labeling Ballot Question One irresponsible, my legislative colleagues couldn´t offer a better argument favoring it than they have through their actions," said Hargraves, who is on record in opposition to the measure that would eliminate the state income tax. "Pass or fail, Beacon Hill is in for a stern rebuke on this one."
Taking exception to Gov. Patrick´s Budget Message of October 15, which asserted that "We are all in unchartered fiscal waters," the seven-term House member stated that "I lived through this before, during the Dukakis administration, when I served as a selectman. It´s very well known territory: Spend and then try to tax your way out of the problem. Must the state´s budgetary systems utterly fail before Beacon Hill does the right thing?"
"The way out is clear: begin by unwinding new programs and local pet projects added to state government´s scope since last year. Earmarks must go first. Only then can we talk rationally and in good faith about cutting fat and, ultimately, some muscle from state spending. Scare tactics do no one good."
Along those lines, Rep. Hargraves commended Administration and Finance Secretary Kirwin for her detailed, 10-page listing of Section 9C cuts, items that the governor´s office may trim without the Legislature´s involvement. A brief explanation accompanies each cut. Among them are 64 items classified in whole or in part as earmarks, with $119.7 million to be saved in total. "That is more than 19% of the $624.5 million in Section 9C cuts the Governor plans for the executive branch," observed Hargraves. "It is a good start, and it gives a sense of the impact of earmarks at the margin of the budget, where the tougher choices are made. It now falls to the Legislature to cut several hundred million dollars from items outside of the governor´s discretion. I recommend we go after the earmarks first."
Hargraves reacted to the Governor´s proposal that the Legislature allow him to transfer spending among budget line items by observing that "It would undermine the fundamental idea of budgeting, which is to trade off one item versus another and confront the gap between our desires and our means before we write the check to the Executive. This is the Legislature´s constitutional role for good reason. It should not be invaded."
