House Speaker Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, has removed a key Republican from the House Budget Finance Committee after she questioned tax increases and priorities in the proposals.
State Rep. Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, was removed from the committee just before the vote to approve the bills due to her refusal to support the proposal.
After rumors began circulating that she was removed from the committee, Jim Rivers, the director of communications for the Speaker, issued a statement saying that state Rep. David Hess, R-Hooksett, and state Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, would be put on the committee.
“The budget process is a multi-step process that is in the early stages at this point in time,” Jasper said in the email. “When someone is part of a leadership team they sometimes have to make sacrifices to move the process along for the good of the team. Rep. Sanborn spoke at length with me before a decision was made to replace her on the Finance committee.”
Sanborn released a statement saying she was “shocked and disappointed” by the decision.
“After many conversations with constituents last night, I came to the conclusion that I could not vote for the budget with a clear conscience,” Sanborn said. “I thought it was important and respectful to let the Chair of the committee know how I felt. He immediately called the Speaker and asked him to meet with me. The Speaker asked me to consider leaving or taking a walk at the time of the vote, but I said ‘No.’ I am here to vote for what I believe in and not hide from my positions. He then made the decision to take me off of the committee, immediately.”
Sanborn said that she ran opposing new taxes and fees as well as a commitment to work on responsible budgeting but what the committee proposed “does neither.” She also stated that previously, she was asked to vote on items “without advance communication, without input on strategy, and without details … Our government needs to be open and transparent, and as Representatives we should be given reasonable time to understand legislation before voting.”
The move shocked many at the Statehouse including the already fractured Republican Party, which is still split into two factions – one that is seething that Jasper conspired with Democrats to win the speakership and the other that has taken a more moderate position of supporting higher taxes and fees this budget cycle.
Stunned supporters of Sanborn quickly took to Twitter, using the hashtag #ThankYouLaurieSanborn, with a number of Republican activists Tweeting pictures of her thanking her for “standing up to Speaker Jasper’s cynical budget and defending fiscal conservatism.”
Committee approves budgets
The House Finance Committee has been wrangling with the budget for weeks essentially trying to build a budget that presumes more conservative 1 percent economic growth estimate during the next two years instead of 3 percent growth that the governor is assuming.
During the last biennium, the budget was about $10.5 billion. Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, has proposed about an $11.5 billion budget, including about $950 million in new spending. The House Finance Committee budget comes in around $11.2 billion and includes higher gas taxes – after gas taxes increased last year – as well as higher cigarette taxes, increased fees, Medicaid expansion, the mental health settlement money, and monies returned to hospitals while at the same time, shifting money away for the NH DOT and Department of Safety in order to cover other items.
Ultimately, the committee’s recommendations, HB1 and HB2, were both approved by 15-11, and 15-10 votes.
House Majority Leader Jack Flanagan, R-Brookline, commended the committee for approving of a budget during a process that is “never easy” for anyone.
“I believe the final product is something Republicans will stand by as a fiscally responsible, balanced budget that does not raise taxes and slows the growth of government,” he said. “Republicans were elected to a majority in the House in part to ensure that our state lives within its means. Therefore the Finance committee did what they could with existing revenue. Spending was prioritized to ensure our state’s most vulnerable citizens continue to receive essential services and our state government will continue to meet the needs of its citizens.”
Democrats lash out
Democrats, meanwhile, are also panning the budget … but for different reasons than Sanborn.
Even though spending in the House Finance Committee budget increases by $700 million more than the previous budget, Hassan said the cuts to her proposal were “unnecessary reductions that will hurt families, undermine business growth and take our economy backward.” She added that the committee was “failing to support the priorities that are critical for building the foundation of a more innovative economy.”
She added, “This backward proposal includes drastic cuts to the Department of Transportation, to critical services for seniors like Meals on Wheals, to substance misuse, to mental health, to developmental disabilities, to higher education, to travel and tourism promotion, to municipalities and more, all of which will hurt our economic future and lead to downshifting to local property-tax payers.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley agreed, calling the proposed limits in increased government spending “devastating.” He added that Republicans put “partisan politics before the interests of the people of New Hampshire, voting to slash funding for critical economic priorities for our small businesses and middle class families in service of their radical ideology.”
