Legislative Democrats were waiting outside Gov. Butch Otter's stimulus press conference to give their response. While they gave the governor high marks for deciding to take the stimulus money, and had some praise for the process he followed, they objected to the magnitude of cuts in education he endorsed, while essentially banking millions in stimulus money and state reserve funds to hedge against additional future economic downturns. House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, offered this analogy: "If you have a sick family member and money in the bank, to say, 'Well, don't take care of the sick family member, let's save the money in case they get sicker' - that just doesn't make sense to us."

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