WA Lege SpecSess: No end in sight, part 2
OLYMPIA -- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp tried to make things look and sound as cordial as possible today, but they still lead two opposing views on figuring out a budget fix and getting the heck out of Dodge.
Of course, most of Legislature is temporarily out of Dodge. It's not clear when they're coming back. In "a few days" was the best estimate Brown could give.
They appeared together around noon, with Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and some others cheering federal health care reform. Afterwards they talked with reporters about how discussions were coming on a fix to the projected $2.8 billion budget hole.
The sticking point is $200 million out of that $2.8 billion.
Senate Democrats have the needed 25 votes for a tax plan that raises about $200 mill with a sales tax. House Democrats don't have the needed 50 votes for a tax plan with a sales tax, and have a menu of other taxes to get that money. Senate Democrats don't have 25 votes for that package.
"We're still working on what the final agreement will look like," Brown said. She added Gregoire's threat last week of having to cut 20 percent off everyone's budget if the Legislature burns through the special session without a decision on cuts and taxes was just "a worst case scenario."
Why not just cut another $200 million from the budget, Brown was asked. The budget has come down enough since last spring that she doesn't consider that a viable solution, she said.
With so little news, reporters were trying to read body language for some clues as to how things were going as the press conference on health care reform started. Brown and Chopp were far apart when they enterred the room and approached the podium, but stood next to each other when most of the other folks were talking. Chopp introduced Brown with a few kind words about her support for the state's Basic Health Plan.
Brown stayed in the reporters' scrum longer to answer questions. Chopp, who looked like he'd rather doing anything else, ducked out as quickly as possible.