Rendell budget full of 'painful' cuts

Rendell budget full of 'painful' cuts He aims to unveil alternative, but GOP ready to OK plan No. 1.

HARRISBURG | -- Calling on state taxpayers to shoulder short-term pain to realize long-term gain, Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday proposed a

$20.8 billion balanced budget for 2003-04 that dramatically slashes government spending and closes a more than $2 billion budget deficit while avoiding a tax increase.

''I hate this budget. I hate it with every fiber of my body,'' Rendell told a packed joint session of the state House and Senate as he rolled out the first spending plan of his new administration.

''These painful cuts will do nothing but balance the budget. This budget does nothing to change our future, nothing to change the conditions we find ourselves in at the present, and it will doom us to repeat the past.''

Republicans who control the General Assembly, however, say they like it just fine and are prepared to pass it and send it to Rendell for his signature next week.

I read somewhere that spending is going up by 5%. So... what is it? Are the "slashing" the amount spent or only the rate of increase in spending?

LOL, I thought that only in DC was a cut in the rate of increase a decrease.

Paradoxically, such talk sent shock waves through the Capitol, because Rendell never intended the plan he unveiled Tuesday to be his final word on state spending. On March 25, Rendell plans to return to the General Assembly and lay out a separate agenda of property tax cuts, increased funding for public schools and an economic development package. That agenda, drawn heavily from his campaign promises, is expected to require a tax increase and extra bond debt.

...By fast-tracking the governor's proposal, lawmakers will avoid annual budget hearings and most of the public hue and cry that will almost certainly follow a spending plan that carves deep chasms into favored programs and eviscerates some entitlements.

and ... For nearly an hour, Rendell laid out a stark program that flat-lines spending for most state programs and establishes 10 percent across- the-board cuts in operating costs for every executive branch agency. He asked the Legislature and the state's three row officers to make similar sacrifices. Overall spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would rise 1.4 percent

The only people these cuts will be painful for are the groups and individuals who have been groveling for government handouts for the past two decades. When these special interest groups get finished whining and throwing tantrums most of the cuts will be restored and tax increases will be initiated to make up the difference.

Rendell is using the standard Democrat tactic. He overstates the economic "crisis" and blames the evil Republicans for any taxes he will be forced to put in. We're watching a real slippery operator here in the Governor's office. It's going to be an interesting next few months.

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