Governor Inslee hopes some sequestration cuts can be mitigated

The sequester is here, and Washington Governor Jay Inslee is hoping that the solution is on the way. “It’s not the end of the universe as we know it,” Inslee says, but he thinks it’s bad news for Washington.

“In Kitsap County,” Inslee tells Seattle’s Morning News, “30 or 40 percent of those in the county [are] associated with the United States Navy.” Most of the civilian employees there could see a 20 percent cut.

It’s a bad time for Hanford, says Inslee. He anticipates some of the workers could be furloughed that work at the nuclear site, where it was discovered six tanks are leaking.

Is there anything that can be done to mitigate the impact of the sequester?

“We hope to remedy some of these – particularly for children,” Inslee says, in reference to imminent cuts on Head Start and early childhood education.

He doesn’t want to do it by proposing a general education tax, instead Inslee thinks he’ll be able to find funds by closing tax loopholes for corporations that aren’t generating jobs.

Inslee admits that won’t make up the gap alone – especially when he looks at other parts of the state that could take a hit because of sequestration. “There may be a tooth fairy, there is no transportation fairy.”

He says he knows jobs and our ability to grow jobs is dependent on a functioning transportation system, “I hope we find a solution for that.”