Arizona Republicans Pass Budget With Deep Spending Cuts

Arizona Republicans are moving forward a state budget with deep cuts to balance the budget. The state Senate passed a spending plan Wednesday with $1.3 billion in cuts to balance the budget for the remainder of the year and for the next fiscal year, The Arizona Republic reported Thursday.

"This is going to hurt," said Rich Crandall, a Mesa Republican and chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Under the spending plan, state universities will lose 26 percent of their state funding; K-12 education will see a reduction of about 7 percent.

Sen. Ron Gould, a Lake Havasu City Republican, said the cuts are needed to balance a state budget that has been bleeding red ink for three years.

Gould likened the Senate's work to that of a "stern parent" who has to enforce discipline on a child who has gone too far astray.