Ron Saunders Calls House Budget Exercises 'Premature'

House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West sent a memo to his caucus on Monday, arguing that budgetary exercises being launched this week in subcommittees by the Republican majority were premature.

This week, Republican House appropriation subcommittees will call on individual members to identify 15 percent across-the-board spending cuts throughout state agencies. While I urge you to remain active in committee debate, I am skeptical of the exercises and I do not encourage your participation, wrote Saunders.

These exercises are premature since we have not yet determined what funds, including federal stimulus dollars, may be available. There will be a revenue estimating conference held next month to give us the latest revenue and expense numbers, so any decisions should not be made until then.

Conducting across-the-board cut exercises uses an ax rather than a scalpel when it comes to trimming state spending, continued Saunders. I do not support the use of across-the-board cuts since they reward inefficient agencies and penalize efficient ones. Production of our state budget is an important legislative responsibility. These exercises, in my opinion, will not be helpful in fulfilling our obligation.

With 81 Republicans in the 120-seat House, Saunders advice should have little impact in slowing down the exercises.

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