Virginia Republicans present their budget plans

The House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Republican caucus presented competing plans for balancing the budget amidst the new revenue shortfall.  While the House plan was written up by the Republican majority, it had broad bipartisan support, as Jim Hoeft notes at Bearing Drift.

First of all, both plans have one tremendous thing going for them - they don’t include tax increases.  Considering that the Democrats are more powerful than they were in 2004 and 2007, the fact that neither “wing” of the legislative party is willing to raise taxes is a credit to all of us who have battled within the party to bring it back to the low-tax, limited-government path (although we still have work to do with four senators).

The plans themselves couldn’t be more different.  The House side listed specific budgetary savings, while the Senate caucus demands a 6% cut across all agencies (BD).  Normally, I’m skeptical about broad-based cuts: they don’t pin down programs to stop or not start; they can be manipulated by the executive branch to look cruel and heartless; and they assume each agency is just as vital as another.  However, the House list of saving does not include anything that will be “shut off.”  While the House clearly won’t agree to Kaine’s wish list for new programs, Senator William Wampler makes it abundantly clear the Senate caucus won’t either (BD):

In the Senate, Republicans proposed not raiding the “Rainy Day Fund” at all by imposing a 6% cut to state agency budgets. Of the Senate budget, Sen. William Wampler (R-Bristol) stated, “We believe that the Rainy Day Fund should NOT be used to fund new programs that will remain in the base budget for years to come. The Rainy Day Fund should be reserved for protecting our core services during exceptionally tough times after we have exhausted all other options. It should NOT be used to pay for new programs.”

So, as much as it surprises me to say it, I think the Senate Republicans have the better plan here.  It’s not perfect, and a bit too blunt, but it will ensure government actually shrinks, which the House plan will not.

Either way, it’s abundantly clear the Republicans will not raise taxes, and they will not  agree to the catastrophic funding cuts Kaine has recommended - which I think are merely stalking horse for tax hikes; after all, the state senate Dems rolled like Atlantic City dice last week (BD), and that was just over the funds lost for the end of the user fee debacle.

So, the Republicans in Richmond have plans; now they need the courage to fight for them.  If they do, we just might avoid a repeat of the 2004 disaster.