We talked about this with Max Saturday morning and look!, the day before veto override day and it’s here. A backroom budget deal.
The big reveal is sometime today so it’s hard to say what’s what but the Union Leader has this.
Business tax cuts touted by Republicans as a way to improve the state’s business climate would have to reach revenue thresholds or lawmakers would intervene under a compromise reached Tuesday on the state’s $11.35 billion, two-year budget.
Here’s my response on Facebook (H/T to Jeanine Notter for the link.)
So Hassan gets 97% of what she wants and Democrats (and Hassan) can run on a business tax cut that will take longer to take root and boost revenue than the time allotted before repeal, for which Republicans will then be blamed. Does that sound about right?
A rules change is needed to vote on the new budget deal (that probably won’t pass the House) which means the deal is front-loaded with an option for Jaspercrats (Democrats and RINOs) to blame the Conservatarians for “obstruction of Compromise.”
This means that the real deal may be to shift blame for budget related issues caused by Hassan’s veto from our Democrat Governor’s shoulders to the Conservatairans in the NH House. Democrats got everything else they wanted so what was left to bargain with?
Jasper’s opponents in the Republican party.
Hassan agrees to a sunset deal on business taxes that will never see the light of day and everyone gets to dump on Conservatives and Libertarians. If it does pass Hassan and Democrats get to run on business tax cuts that will never live to see the light of day in any meaningful way without a continued GOP majority in the legislature and future Republican governor.
Or am I just being way to cynical?
Update from Bill O’Brien c/o Al Baldasaro
Posted for Bill O’Brien
Dear Colleagues,
For all of you who believe that we should not,
– further increase spending in the budget,
– be fooled by a illusion of “bigger” tax decrease that is in part subject to the DRA certifying certain levels of revenues, an inquiry which they gamed three years ago in order to avoid having the tobacco tax decrease become permanent,
– forgo an opportunity to have public hearings so that the public can weigh in on whether a highly paid group of employees should be paid more,
– vote on new measures in a budget when it appears that the agencies are being told not to talk to (conservative?) legislators about budgets,
– increase spending when we haven’t received the audited financial statements that are due at the end of this month,
– rush into a new budget on less than 24 hours notice when the continuing resolution will run to the end of the year,
– assume we need to spend millions of dollars more in a budget that already has increased state-funded spending by almost 10 times the rate of inflation and has already given Maggie Hassan 75% of the $800 million in increased spending she wanted,
– ignore the fact that until a couple of weeks ago Maggie Hassan hid a $22.5 million accounting charge for unfunded pension obligations that should be in the budget and that seems to have been ignore in this so-called “compromise,” or
– help Maggie Hassan hide her budgeting failures and excesses behind the gauze of a “bi-partisan” compromise when she runs for U.S. Senate,
could you help us?
Could you spread the word not to vote for the suspension of rules tomorrow?
Could you help us gather together 120 votes we need to prevent the suspension of rules? if each one of you will make some calls, ask for support and ask members to come to the 11:30 Majority Caucus, we can get the momentum we will need to avoid this final acquiesce to a Democrat Governor’s spending demands.
If each one you contacts a couple of like-minded conservatives not on this list and tell them to hold fast and require that we as legislators do not past a new budget or new spending without public input, we can defeat this last minute deal. We can avoid a budget deal that is bad for New Hampshire.
Thanks,
Bill
