The House passed the budget, today. It's the same budget which the Senate approved two days ago. There was less drama, but plenty of posturing. Democrats voted against it. Republican leaders claimed it is the greatest and best budget ever. The Accountability & Performance Audit Commission, a key effort of fiscal conservatives who want to get better oversight of agencies and discover potential waste, mismanagement, and mission-creep; got $2 million, but they said they needed $5 million to provide proper results. Once again the budget chair claims to have passionately fought for mental health funding, but that agency funding remains essentially no different from 3 years ago. The State Auditor's office remains about 60% funded, compared to 10 years ago. This budget nullifies the March budget for common education. But it remains essentially the same as March numbers. While this budget is our first post-recession funding of state operations which have suffered some recent tightening, There doesn't seem to be a real effort to set a 'cushion' so that we can restore our 'Rainy Day' funds for the next fiscal challenge. |
All 29 Democrats who voted, rejected the budget. 5 members of the House Platform Caucus did, as well.
|
Sooner Politics
|