Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) issued the following statement today in response to passage of the Democrat majority vote budget:
“This is an incomplete budget plan. We are told there are at least 29 budget and related trailer bills yet we are voting on just nine bills. Why can’t the majority party share the language in print for 48-hours that contains the rest of this budget plan? The statements made to the news media yesterday that budget bills had been available and in print were NOT TRUE.
While Senate Republicans did not participate in a budget hearing on bills that we had not seen, we did watch that hearing yesterday. Anyone else who watched saw members voting on bills they had not reviewed. Even the Budget Chair remarked at one point that he did not know what was in one of the trailer bills. He was followed by a representative from the Department of Finance, who also stated he did not know what was in the bill. Where is the outrage? This secretive, “hide the pea,” budget process has got to stop.
It’s no surprise that the Governor calls the Democrat budget plan “structurally imbalanced.” This Democrat “solution” contains $14.9 billion (93%) tax hikes and gimmicks, and only about $1.3 billion (7%) real programmatic spending reductions. State General Fund revenues are poised to grow by $5 billion this year alone, without the proposed tax hikes, yet Democrat addiction to spending grows even more. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting NO on this budget.”
Senator Huff serves as the Senate Republican Leader and represents the 29th Senate District covering portions of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties.
RADIO STATIONS: Four sound bites in .mp3 format featuring Senator Huff’s Floor Statement on the budget can be downloaded at the links below:
