The Senate Republicans released their 2013-15 budget proposal today, and House Appropriations Committee Ross Hunter issued the following statement in response:
“While it is nice that the Senate
Republicans have acknowledged our responsibility to fund the McCleary decision,
they have done so with a budget proposal that relies on assumptions that are
unconstitutional or unsustainable. The Supreme Court has been pretty cranky
about this issue, and this budget will do nothing to improve their mood.
“In addition to being unsustainable,
some of their decisions seem downright cruel. Providing child care subsidies
for parents trying to get back into the workforce was part of the deal when we
“reinvented welfare” two decades ago.
Cutting it now will not only force single moms back onto welfare, it
will perpetuate the opportunity gap in our schools for years to come.
“I am also very concerned with some
of the shaky assumptions made in the proposal.
There are $157 million in unnamed efficiencies, $40 million in an
uncollectable use tax, and $166 million in a school trust transfer that is
clearly unconstitutional.
“We have spent the last five years
making our budget more sustainable with actions like reducing our long-term
pension obligations and cutting staffing at all levels. A budget built on unconstitutional actions
and assumptions that are unlikely to come true moves us away from
sustainability.”
Read this story in Spanish.
Read this story in Spanish.
