The House of Delegates has posed as an outpost of fiscal conservatism on the basis of its (rightful) opposition to raising taxes at a time the state budget is running a chronic budget surplus. But there’s no disguising the fact that the General Fund budget in fiscal 2007-2008 will be about 11 percent bigger than the budget in 2005-2006.
As the Jaded JD points out in his blog, the delegates have not exactly been paragons of spending restraint. JD enumerates a long laundry list of earmarks and spending amendments proposed by House tax hawks. Writes the Jaded One:
If you add together all the budget amendments proposed by the House conferees (excluding fund transfers), you might expect to see a net reduction in the budget, based on House Republican rhetoric. Alas, no. Total increase from the House budget conferees? $1.926B (that’s billion) over the biennium.
Scary, huh? These are the guys we’re counting on to restrain state spending. I shudder to think what spending would look like if the Senate had its way.