Democratic legislators in California may be headed toward a budget showdown with Gov. Jerry Brown over his plan to cut the state’s $15.7 billion deficit by reducing welfare spending, the
Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday.
“Our budget eliminates the structural deficit, includes a modest reserve and differs only from Gov. Brown’s plan by less than 1 percent of total spending,” state Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenthal said in a statement announcing an alternative proposal.
But the Bee noted the assembly’s 108-page budget plan fails to explain how blocking most of the governor’s proposals to cut social spending by $1 billion would actually help trim the state’s growing deficit.
State Senate Democrats, meanwhile, published a separate spending plan on Monday that contains no proposals for incorporating Brown’s budget agenda, which could make it difficult to meet Friday’s deadline for producing a spending plan.
The Bee reported, however, that Brown and Democratic leaders from both legislative chambers are continuing to meet and hold hearings in an effort to deliver a unified budget.
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