House Budget Criticized From All Sides

As she briefed colleagues on the budget that’s dominated her waking hours for weeks, House finance committee chair Marjorie Smith didn't exactly accentuate the positive.

"These are very dark days. We know it in our own families we know it in our cities and towns in the state and in the country."

The sour economy forced budget writers to trim the revenue estimates Governor Lynch used his budget proposal by some 130 million dollars. It also drove them to make some unpleasant choices -- in spending and taxes -- that Smith stressed were guided by a basic philosophy:

"We are trying to share the pain amongst everyone, and try to keep that pain as low as possible for everyone, but it’s not a straight line."

And neither is the response of budget critics. During the public briefing, liberal house democrats argued the spending plan underfunds services to the vulnerable and shifts costs onto local property taxes while leaving the well-heeled relatively unscathed.

"I think this is a lie. We can do better."

Democrat Jessie Osborne represents Concord.

"We need to look at lot more things, and I think we are not going to balance this budget on the back of the retirees and we need to do something right."

When House Republicans presented an alternative budget one hour later, the criticism was no less adamant, albeit from the opposite direction.

"They have raised numerous taxes and fees. We have a budget that is probably going to be way out of balance."

That’s House GOP leader Sherman Packard. He and other top republicans say what the state needs now is a budget that holds the line on spending, and avoids hiking existing levys or imposing new ones. Weare Republican Neal Kurk.

"This is a pro-growth, pro-jobs budget. It's somethign we can afford."

What it isn’t however is particularly nuanced or even committed to a spreadsheet; it’s more like a bottom line. To get there, GOP lawmakers would simply direct state department heads to carry out across the board cuts, cuts so deep, that Kurk struggled to find anything close to a precedent.

"It's less than twice as big as the cut in the late 1980s that caroline gross introduced to get the budget from the house across to the senate – that was 7.42 percent. Out cuts are 12.9 percent in 2010, and 13.9 percent in 2011."

The likelihood of the GOP budget garnering support from the Democratic majority is basically nil. As is the likelihood that the plan supported by the democratic majority could win anything more than a handful of republican votes. But don’t expect any House-backed plan to remain intact once it hits the Senate.

"There are probably some good things in each one of these budgets – budget by the democrats, budget by the republicans, budget by the Governor."

That’s Manchester Democrat Lou D’Alessandro, the chairman of the Senate finance committee. He says his committee could borrow from every plan for the Senate budget. But D’Allesandro was willing to say at least one controversial piece of the house plan, a 5 percent tax on capital gains above $5000 could be headed for problems.

"Well, it’s in the House version, but that doesn’t mean it's going. to be in the Senate version."

But as the longtime lawmakers quickly added, the budget process has months to go, and,

"You know, don’t make any statement now that you are going to have retract later."

Practical advice for any politician – particularly during budget season.