Lawmakers have only a week to go, but still no budget in Olympia
Jun 4, 2013, 5:48 AM | Updated: 7:47 am
Twenty-two days into the Special Session in Olympia, and lawmakers are no closer to settling on a state budget. Republicans and Democrats are still far apart on how they want to handle the more than a $1 billion shortfall.
Republicans want to cut spending. Democrats want tax increases. Neither side is budging.
“Democrats want tax increases, and they’re not letting us go home with a no-tax budget,” Republican Senator Don Benton told KING 5.
Unless both sides can find some common ground in a week, the 30-day special session will have been a bust and second extra session will be needed. There needs to be a budget by July 1.
Democratic Representative Pat Sullivan said they have been putting in the work. “I’ve been down here everyday,” he said. “I was here, you can ask my wife, Saturday, for 13 hours.”
There had been fears by some in the Republican Party that the Democrats might try to take advantage of the sudden death of longtime Senator Mike Carrell last week to pass its budget, now that the Senate is evenly divided. That now appears unlikely. The Pierce County Council is planning to name a successor Tuesday afternoon.
