Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The GOP insane clown posse leadership in the Arizona legislature is going forward with its slash and burn budget plan today in a game of political brinksmanship with our Accidental Governor, who has already threatened to veto their budget plan.
Howard Fisher reports GOP defies veto threat, pushes budget plan:
Ignoring a threatened veto, Republican legislative leaders intend to push ahead with their own budget plans.
Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said Tuesday he hopes for final action in his chamber later today. The House is expected to take up the package Thursday.
The move comes even though some key elements of what Republican lawmakers want to do is in direct conflict with the proposal unveiled Monday by Gov. Jan Brewer.
The GOP insane clown posse leadership's budget plan provides for bigger spending cuts while freezing state aid to public schools at current levels. They also plan to shift $95 million in school costs to cities by forcing them to hand over part of their share of vehicle-license taxes — something Brewer has condemned as unacceptable. It is also illegal. The Arizona League of Cities and Towns is already preparing for a lawsuit.
Legislators also plan to contract out operation of some state prisons to private companies, counting on those firms to give the state $100 million upfront. And what isn't privatized would be sold off and leased back — essentially mortgaged — with the idea of getting $495 million in immediate cash.
Brewer, who has seen the GOP legislative plan, dismissed it as unacceptable, saying hers is the only "sensible plan for a balanced budget."
"I will not sign a budget that incorporates unrealistic spending cuts, excessive gimmicks or phony revenue projections," the governor wrote to lawmakers when she delivered her budget proposal Monday. "I will not sign a budget that, in the interests of expediency, dims Arizona's future."
Senate President Bob Burns was dismissive of Brewer's threatened veto:
"We'll deal with that," he said. "We'll have to just do what we can do here at our level and see what we can work out with her when we get to that point."
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Burns suggested that the governor's budget plan, aside from having a tax hike unacceptable to most Republicans, comes just a little too late. He wants to proceed with "the budget we've been working on for months."
And Burns said he has no intention of slowing up now to try to incorporate some of what the governor wants into that plan.
"I would hope that we would be able to convince her that it would be a good move for us to move forward with a product that at least addresses part of the problem," he said. Burns said some of the things Brewer wants – other than taxes – might be addressed in future budgets.
The Arizona Daily Star correctly observed in an editorial opinion this morning Compromises must be made on state budget:
The GOP plan relies on deep cuts to education, both K-12 and universities, health programs and aid to the state's most vulnerable citizens. It would, in our opinion, do more than merely dim Arizona's future: It would turn out the lights.
I suspect this is exactly what many Republicans in the legislature secretly (or not so secretly) desire.
The GOP insane clown posse leadership may manage to pass a budget with a bare minimum 31 votes in the House and 16 votes in the Senate. They can claim that they have the minimum number of votes required to pass a budget, and that there are not any votes for Governor Brewer's budget plan. Fair enough. But Governor Brewer can then veto their budget plan. Her veto stamp trumps anything that they've got. The GOP insane clown possee leadership does not have the necessary votes to override the Governor's veto. She can bend the will of the legislature to get what she wants eventually with a veto and the added urgency that time is running out. This is a classic game of political brinksmanship between the executive and legislative branches.
But what is the end game to this political brinksmanship?
The legislature will pass its unacceptable budget and the Governor will veto it. The only thing that will have changed is that the clock will have ticked down several more days closer to a government shutdown, with no budget resolution in sight.
I am beginning to believe that many Republicans secretly desire political deadlock and a government shutdown beginning with the new fiscal year on July 1. What I don't understand is how they think a government shutdown will benefit them politically.
A government shutdown may very well lead to an angry mob advancing on the legislature to "throw the bums out!" before they can do any more harm.