Wash. lawmakers debate budget that cuts $4B

Washington's Legislature granted final approval to a grim two-year budget Saturday, with Democrats and Republicans arguing into the night over a spending blueprint that would whack $4 billion from education, health care and social services.

It was a stark turnaround from the previous four years, when majority Democrats and Gov. Chris Gregoire pumped money into many of the same programs that face the budget knife in 2009.

Democratic leaders were stung by the change, but in the end did not propose general tax increases to help balance the budget, which will spend about $35 billion through mid-2011. Instead, budget writers cut, transferred and juggled their way through a $9 billion deficit between expected revenue and spending.

About $5 billion of the shortfall was made up with federal money, raids of outside accounts, and other one-time fixes that defer underlying budget problems. The balance was covered with cuts that hit virtually every area of government. Nearly $830 million would be left in reserves.

The budget - unveiled publicly just Friday morning - moved quickly through the sometimes sticky legislative process. The Senate granted final approval on a nearly party-line 29-20 vote Saturday night, sending the plan to Gregoire for final approval. Lawmakers were scheduled to adjourn their regular session Sunday night.

The spending cuts could lead to 8,000 government worker layoffs, strip 40,000 people from the state-subsidized Basic Health Plan, and leave 9,000 college enrollment slots without state financing.

Teachers won't get their voter-approved cost-of-living raises, K-12 schools will get less money to hire staff, and hospitals and nursing homes will be paid less to care for the poor.

Lawmakers knew a deficit was coming when they finished last year's budget work, but the problem became much worse as the economy entered a recession.

Democrats seized the chance to blame national forces for the problem, and said they stuck to priorities that keep the structure of government in place for better times.

"Many of these cuts are heart-wrenching," said Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Margarita Prentice, D-Renton. "But given the size of our budget problem, all of them are necessary."

Not all Democrats were pleased, however. Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, called the budget cuts to higher education "unconscionable" and voted against the budget.

The GOP minority, left out of negotiations among Olympia's dominant Democrats, unsuccessfully offered some changes to the budget plan. Republicans also criticized the last-minute budget votes and the Democrats' heavy reliance on one-time fixes.

"We are kicking the can down the road," said Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee. "This budget is not going to be sustainable, and we are going to be making the same painful decisions two years from now."

In a statement, Gregoire said the budget "required nothing less than great courage and compromise from our elected lawmakers."

"Now the work really begins. We have to take this frugal budget and make it work. We must and will do the work to serve Washingtonians efficiently and intelligently - all within the new limits set by this budget," she said.

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The state budget is House Bill 1244.

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On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.leg.wa.gov