Part of my floor statements during the budget debate are in the video below.
At the end of the day, I don’t believe there is any way that this budget is balanced. The Democrats even stated that there may be a need for a supplemental appropriation (more spending) before they even passed this budget!!
This FY24 budget relies on the Governor cutting $550million from the $1.1 billion free healthcare for illegal immigrants (no way he’ll do that). It doesn’t include money for the new state employee contract. It starts new spending halfway through the year, so that it looks like it only costs half as much! Guess what, it will cost double next year.
The Governor’s Budget includes $719 million in borrowing and $150 million in pork projects in Democrat only districts. AND guess who put in an unconstitutional raise for themselves? Yep. The Democrats did. Currently, the law allows for a COLA (cost of living adjustment) at a federal rate or 5%, whichever is LOWER. The Democrats put it at 5.5%, which is a raise in the middle of a legislative term, which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! All this after voting themselves an 18% raise in last year’s budget.