The budget deal unveiled by legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is probably the only deal capable of obtaining the votes of 67 percent of legislators in both the California Assembly and Senate.
To close the budget gap, estimated at more than $40 billion over 16 months, leaders propose to balance the budget from four sources: budget cuts, revenue increases, the federal stimulus legislation and borrowing funds.
Of the $42.5 billion balanced budget proposal, 34% ($14.6 billion) comes from cuts, 29% ($12.5 billion) comes from tax and fee increases, 24% ($10 billion) comes from the federal stimulus legislation, and 13% ($5.4 billion) comes from borrowing.
Given the fact that this deal contains many of the draconian budget cuts Republican legislators have asked for, and given that this deal is very similar to earlier proposals worked out by Gov. Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders, one wonders why Republican legislative leaders were unwilling to publicly agree to a deal months ago.
By blocking the approval of a balanced budget for month after month, Republican legislators appear to be attempting to dismantle state government in California. Do they believe this is what is wanted by voters in the Republican primaries? It sure looks this way.
Somehow, voters in these districts need to be asked if they want a crumbling state government.
Perhaps legislators who attempt to starve California governmet should see fewer state grants awarded to their legislative districts. After all, if these legislators really believe state programs are not valid, it seems that at the least these legislators should not complain if state grants are awarded to other communities where legislators will vote for a balanced budget that ensures a fully functional state government.
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