Not So Fast
Anyone involved in an issue sometimes cringes when reading about the issue in the newspaper. I cringed when I read Saturday's D-News story about putting the budget to bed early. Now, I don't know if I disagree with much of the story, other than the first line, which reads,
Legislative leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. hope to present a final budget bill as early as Monday, almost five days before the deadline to pass a budget.
And, even on that, I can't say it's incorrect. I do hope we'll have a final budget by Monday, but I'm not betting on it. Yes, everything has been going very well between the House and Senate and between the Legislature and the Governor. Yes, we've passed bills for the bulk of our budget. And, although the article doesn't mention it, we've also agreed on the buildings to be built, and we've agreed that we'll build them with cash and no debt.
But, I immediately cringed, thinking of the likely reaction of House members, were they to read the article and believe leadership thinks it knows how the remaining money will be spent. Though Legislative leadership and the Governor agree on something, that's meaningless, if a majority in each house doesn't agree. And that's why I cringe. Republican leadership in the House hasn't presented these ideas to its members. Nor has the Senate, I believe. And our members just might be in a sour mood, if they believe we planned on blowing this thing through without a bit of wrangling and revising.
House leadership has taken great pains to involve the members -- from both parties -- frequently laying out progressing budget details in caucus meetings and in weekly meetings with minority leadership. Determination of the final budget details will follow the same course. House and Senate majority leadership will meet early Monday morning to finalize an agreement on ideas that will be taken to the members (those ideas, I should add, mostly come from meshing the recommendations of the appropriation sub-committees with input from the Governor). Though we don't expect the product to be overly surprising to our members, it of course will be presented to them for their revisions -- including complete revamping, if they so determine -- and ultimate adoption.
One of my goals in running for Whip was to wipe out the mushroom caucus (where members are kept in the dark and fed . . . manure). So far, it has worked well; House Republicans actually agreed on the buildings unanimously -- on the very first vote -- which I think is completely unheard of. (Outstanding work by Capital Facilities co-chairs Rep. Gregg Buxton and Sen. Bill Hickman on that one). I don't expect big problems on the remaining budget items, but I also don't expect our independent and opinionated members to simply salute when leadership's ideas are presented to them. In any event, I sure don't want the dedicated members to read the article and think leadership is coming Monday to dump on them a pre-baked pile of . . . manure.
UPDATE (2/20): Thank you, Thomas Burr:
Legislative leaders and the governor hope a final budget bill can be introduced later this week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, and it could gain approval as quickly. If that happens, it would be one of the earliest times the budget is finalized compared to recent legislative sessions.
Legislative leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. hope to present a final budget bill as early as Monday, almost five days before the deadline to pass a budget.
And, even on that, I can't say it's incorrect. I do hope we'll have a final budget by Monday, but I'm not betting on it. Yes, everything has been going very well between the House and Senate and between the Legislature and the Governor. Yes, we've passed bills for the bulk of our budget. And, although the article doesn't mention it, we've also agreed on the buildings to be built, and we've agreed that we'll build them with cash and no debt.
But, I immediately cringed, thinking of the likely reaction of House members, were they to read the article and believe leadership thinks it knows how the remaining money will be spent. Though Legislative leadership and the Governor agree on something, that's meaningless, if a majority in each house doesn't agree. And that's why I cringe. Republican leadership in the House hasn't presented these ideas to its members. Nor has the Senate, I believe. And our members just might be in a sour mood, if they believe we planned on blowing this thing through without a bit of wrangling and revising.
House leadership has taken great pains to involve the members -- from both parties -- frequently laying out progressing budget details in caucus meetings and in weekly meetings with minority leadership. Determination of the final budget details will follow the same course. House and Senate majority leadership will meet early Monday morning to finalize an agreement on ideas that will be taken to the members (those ideas, I should add, mostly come from meshing the recommendations of the appropriation sub-committees with input from the Governor). Though we don't expect the product to be overly surprising to our members, it of course will be presented to them for their revisions -- including complete revamping, if they so determine -- and ultimate adoption.
One of my goals in running for Whip was to wipe out the mushroom caucus (where members are kept in the dark and fed . . . manure). So far, it has worked well; House Republicans actually agreed on the buildings unanimously -- on the very first vote -- which I think is completely unheard of. (Outstanding work by Capital Facilities co-chairs Rep. Gregg Buxton and Sen. Bill Hickman on that one). I don't expect big problems on the remaining budget items, but I also don't expect our independent and opinionated members to simply salute when leadership's ideas are presented to them. In any event, I sure don't want the dedicated members to read the article and think leadership is coming Monday to dump on them a pre-baked pile of . . . manure.
UPDATE (2/20): Thank you, Thomas Burr:
Legislative leaders and the governor hope a final budget bill can be introduced later this week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, and it could gain approval as quickly. If that happens, it would be one of the earliest times the budget is finalized compared to recent legislative sessions.
posted by steve u. at 2/20/2005
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