In Lehman's Terms
A personal view from the Statehouse
STATEHOUSE (June 29, 2009) - I am not sure where to start or what to really write. It is almost surreal. We are a day away from potentially shutting down state government, but by the looks of things we are back to the end of April.
The budget conference committee is hearing testimony from the same cast of characters that have testified a gazillion times. There seems to be no urgency on the part of House leadership. The purpose of this special session is to negotiate a budget. The key word is "negotiate." Not replay the failed actions of two months ago! The House leadership is turning this into a game of chicken and the prize is your hard-earned cash.
My wife and I really enjoy competition. We will turn about any common event into a game. We start a lot of sentences with "I bet I can ."
The other night, she asked, "In simple terms, what is the biggest difference between the Republicans' budget and the Democrats' budget?"
My answer is this: Assume you had to place a bet on the one of the two budgets and which one will have the greatest success two years from now.
The Republican budget proposal on the table today incorporates responsible cuts with increases in school funding and anticipates a couple of lean years. It protects the lion's share of our surplus but does spend it down below $1 billion (the state spends just over a billion dollars a month). If we are wrong and the economy is better than we anticipated, the increased revenue will be split 50/50 between schools and the general fund. If we are wrong, we have more money in reserve and will not need to raise taxes.
The Democratic budget makes very few cuts today and raises overall education spending significantly and will spend the bulk of our bank reserve in the first year. With no other planned cuts and additional spending in Year Two, it will leave our state with about one day of surplus at the end of two years.
They anticipate an upswing in the economic forecast to pay for these deficits. If they are wrong and the economy has not recovered like we all hope, the state will be broke and have a large deficit to fill, and the only solution is a tax increase.
Place your bet. If either is right, we have money in the bank and happy days are here again. If the Republicans are wrong, we have even more reserve and no tax increase. If the Democrats are wrong, tax increase, tax increase, tax increase. It seems like an easy bet.
The countdown is on. As I head back to Indy today, I really hope we have a budget agreement that is responsible during these times and protects the pocketbooks of all Hoosiers in the future. Too much is a stake to play games. It is time to pass a responsible budget.
Sincerely,
Matt Lehman
State Representative
House District 79
