Issue Position: We should spend no more than projected revenue

In the 2011 legislative session we were finally able to pass a balanced budget in spite of a lot of stalling and opposition from the Democrats. It took until June 30, the last day of the last fiscal year to pass our final budget bill. We stood firm and insisted on a balanced budget and the Democrats who controled the Senate finally agreed to the spending cap that we had insisted on. It did not take quite as long in 2012 and 2013 but we still had to stand firm insisting on a budget that spends less than the revenue that the State receives.The Senate leaders finally agreed to that limit on spending. I will continue to work in the Senate to hold down spending. Unfortunately, we had a small deficit in fiscal 2015 and the state used some of the surplus from prior years to make up the difference. Increased Medicaid costs account for much of the shortfall. I fear we will have another deficit this fiscal year even after the Governor's veto of some of the one time spending. I voted against nearly all the budget bills for both fiscal 2015, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017 because of the likely deficits.

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