December 13, 2003
Arnold scores political victory
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger scored a huge political victory yesterday as the California legislature voted in favor of his new budget bill.
The bill is the result of compromise by Schwarzenegger and legislative Republicans, who had pushed for tougher economic measures, after Democrats who control both houses blocked their attempts last week.
One large downfall is the $15 billion bond deal. However, there are some bright spots. My favorite provision is the one that stipulates California cannot outspend revenues in any given year.
The package has many provisions, including a mandate that spending cannot exceed revenues in any year, and long-term borrowing to pay operating expenses would not be allowed, except for the 15-billion-dollar bond.
Some Republicans are calling for actual cuts--they are right to do so--but in a state government that is overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats, this bill is just about the only thing that had a chance of passing, and was almost held up by state Democrats until finally breaking through yesterday. Certainly, some control on spending is better than none at all.
Posted by Deleted Author at December 13, 2003 10:25 AMAre you kidding? Of course there will be “actual cuts”! Even Schwarzenegger admits that the 15 billion dollars won’t be enough to actually balance the budget.
What I don’t understand is, why do Republicans think it is terrible for Gray Davis to put the state 10 billion dollars in hock, but a political victory for Schwarzenegger borrow 15 billion dollars? Is a Republican-led insolvent government better than a Democrat-led insolvent government?
Posted by: Woody Mena at December 13, 2003 12:23 PMDustin, I like WatchBlog for these kind of news articles accompanied by evaluation. Thanks.
If taxes won’t be raised and the budget is to eventually be balanced, cuts are inescapable. Question is, who will lose from the cuts, those who can most afford the cost of cuts, or those who can least afford the cost of cuts?
My 10 cent bet is on those who can least afford it unless the Governor listens to his new extended family.
So it seems then, by financing his budget with a $15 billion bond issue, that he’s simply shifting the state’s current debt to tomorrow’s taxpayers. Shouldn’t those who created the debt be the ones who have to face the political consequences of high taxes to pay for the debt? Is repealing the car tax now (at an annual cost of $4 billion) worth the addtional tax dollars it’ll cost California citizens down the road, particularly since the money raised by the tax paid salaries for police and firefighters? Some way to honor those who proect us from terrorism, crime, etc. Schwarzenegger is doing nothing to fix the state’s problems—he’s simply shifting the burden to today’s children.
Posted by: blipsman at December 14, 2003 11:06 AMYes, but will Ar’nuld be able to do something about those nasty Canadians with their low priced dollars that are “stealing” film jobs aways from California as Ar’nuld claims?
Posted by: Ontario Tenant at January 17, 2004 11:42 AM
