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The Issues » Balancing our budget responsibly

We must have the courage, vision, and leadership to craft a budget that plans for the future and promotes economic growth here in Washington. Down in Olympia, I advocated for solutions that would create jobs, restructure the delivery of state services, and reform the budgeting process.

Frustratingly, however, from my seat on the House budget-writing committee (Ways & Means Committee) I watched my Democratic colleagues pass two short-sighted budgets (House 1244 and Senate Bill 6444) that rely on a combination of one-time monies—fund transfers from dedicated accounts, federal stimulus dollars, and capital project transfers—and tax increases to temporarily plug the $2.8 billion hole in our state operating budget.

It is time for the state to make tough decisions—like our families and employers have had to—and bring spending down to match our revenue.  By continuing to spend more money than we take in, our fiscal problems are merely delayed one year and the problem is compounded. Because of these spending practices, we will be faced with a more than $3 billion deficit again next January. 

Let's do the critical work of reprioritizing our state spending and restructuring how we deliver core services to our citizens. There is tremendous opportunity to trim down the size of state government (e.g. House Bill 2846) and make government more efficient (e.g. House Bill 2197), reducing costs to taxpayers while actually improving services.

We need to get to work—and get to work as soon as possible!