Bedke: ‘The impacts now are going to be real’
Idaho House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke said, "We're ready to stand and work with the executive branch to work this thing out." He told Eye on Boise that many lawmakers are wary of spending down the state's budget reserves, when they already face a daunting challenge to put together next year's state budget. Many holes in this year's budget were filled with so-called "one-time money," which won't be there next year. "Every dollar that we use to prop up the 2010 budget is a dollar we can't build the 2011 budget around," Bedke said. "You can't keep having the worst economy since World War II without it starting to show up in government. All of the slack is out of the system, and the impacts now are going to be real."