*First appeared in the Dec. 19, 2014 edition of the Laurel Chronicle newspaper
Last week, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) adopted a budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2015. The legislative budget recommendation (LBR) provides a starting point for lawmakers to use when contemplating budget priorities in the 2015 regular session.
As is typical this time of year, I’ve seen some left-leaning types complain about the recommendation. It shortchanges (fill in the blank with your favorite state agency); it saves too much money; it doesn’t spend enough money; etc.
If you look closely, those are the same dangerous arguments which voters handily repudiated in 2011.
Prior to the last statewide election cycle in which Republicans won majorities in the House of Representatives, Senate, and Governor’s Office, the budget writing committee included mostly Democrats. As a result, the budget recommendation reflected irresponsible fiscal practices, such as including one-time money to pay for recurring expenses.
The problem (well, one of…) with this approach is that it automatically creates a funding shortfall the next year, which in turn creates one the next year, and so on. Imagine a cascading funding gap. That’s not a phrase associated with sound budgeting principles.
With Republicans in charge, that’s no longer the case. The JLBC, led by Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Governor Tate Reeves along with appropriations chairmen Sen. Buck Clarke and Rep. Herb Frierson, has put a stop to spending non-recurring revenue on recurring expenses. To you, the taxpayer, this sounds very logical, even common sensical. But it took years of Republicans fighting the status quo to achieve fiscal prudency – and it was ultimately only made possible by the majority of Mississippians who voted for financial conservatism in 2011.
Today, the state’s rainy day fund is filled to its statutory amount, which means Mississippi is on solid footing should we be forced to endure another economic downturn. Saving for the future is important because it lessens the risk that budgets – including education – will be cut during periods of revenue shortfall.
The legislative budget recommendation maintains a full rainy day fund, yet Democrats have cried foul. They claim the LBR stashes away some $622 million in this reserve fund, but that’s just plain wrong. The rainy day fund balance is approximately $393 million, and the remaining unallocated funds will be utilized during the 2015 session for capital projects, education, and other needs.
As we approach 2015, it’s not surprising to see some Democrats attack Republican successes. They’re mad as heck Republicans delivered on their promises to get the state’s fiscal house in order without jeopardizing state priorities.
Consider the following: The Republicans quit spending one-time money. Promise made; promise kept. The Republicans filled the state’s rainy day fund in order to be able to weather unexpected downturns in the economy. Promise made; promise kept. The Republicans even – gasp – increased funding for education! Promise made; promise kept.
Let’s talk about education. For years, Democrats and other like-minded organizations have tried their hardest to make this a wedge issue with voters by making outrageous claims: Republicans hate children. Republicans hate teachers. Republicans hate math and science and rulers and calculators.
Bah-humbug.
Republicans championed and passed a meaningful charter school law to ensure the state’s children have every opportunity to get a quality education. There is only one reason to pass a charter law in any state: To provide more opportunity for children.
Republicans championed and passed a teacher pay raise. By the start of the next fiscal year, every single teacher in Mississippi will be making $3,500 more. As Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves likes to say, Mississippi is “now a leader and not a laggard in teacher pay.”
The Republican-majority budget committee recommended a $32.1 million increase to the Miss. Adequate Education Program, but that’s not all. Legislative leaders have indicated a willingness to increase education spending above this amount when final revenue numbers are determined in the spring.
Over the past three years, the Republican-majority Legislature has increased education spending by a quarter of a billion dollars, or roughly $245 million. These increases have come at a time when many agencies of government haven’t yet seen their budgets rebound from the Great Recession.
That being said, it’s not enough to simply spend more money on education. We must demand results. Too often, the litmus test for support of education is how much money policymakers are willing to spend – with little to no regard of educational outcomes. This is both intellectually dishonest and harmful to those who are working to improve educational quality in a fiscally responsible manner.
In short, Republicans have delivered on their budgetary promises, leading to greater financial stability for the state of Mississippi. As they say, elections have consequences, and voters showed their wisdom by electing budget-minded leaders to office in 2011.
Showing posts with label Democrats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democrats. Show all posts
Friday, December 19, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Pay raises popular among Obama, Democrats
*First appeared in the February 26, 2014 edition of the Laurel Chronicle
Pay raises. That’s a popular phrase these days. Just this week, the Washington Post reports President Obama will propose a one percent pay raise for federal employees and members of the military for the Fiscal Year 2015 budget he’ll announce next week.
Obama is trying to put an “end to austerity” in the budgeting process by increasing government wages. Never mind the fact that’s not happening in the private sector, where employees have seen their wages drop by 0.2 percent during Obama’s presidency.
These pay raises come on the heels of pay hikes implemented under the current chief executive, such as the one that went into effect December 2013 via an Obama executive order.
An administration official explained the most recent proposal, saying it reflected the “tight budget constraints we continue to face, while also recognizing the critical role these civilian employees play in our country…It also recognizes the sacrifices they have already made through prior pay freezes, reductions in awards, and furloughs due to sequestration last year.”
I don’t disagree. Indeed, federal employees have been furloughed, have seen pay freezes, or experienced some combination thereof. But it’s worth noting the root cause of these budgetary restraints: A flailing economy which produced insufficient revenue to pay government workers. (And, very likely, a bloated federal government that should have been right-sized years ago. But I digress.)
The economy isn’t helped by the spend-money-we-don’t-have mentality of the Obama administration, and neither are government workers. (It’s ironic, in an Alanis Morrisette kind of way.)
In some ways, the budget proposal to pay workers more actually jeopardizes the government’s ability to do so. Why?
Because we haven’t gotten our fiscal house in order but continue to spend, spend, spend. This President and his Democrat counterparts spend money with simply no regard for its long-term implications.
Under the leadership (or spending-ship?) of Obama, the federal debt has risen astronomically. During his first term, the nation’s debt rose 83.5 percent. Now in his second term, Obama has seen to it that federal debt has nearly doubled under his watch.
Yet instead of trimming costs, he proposes we spend more money to “end the age of austerity.” I’ve heard more than once that spending money is the enemy of controlling spending. This is a textbook example.
But pay raises aren’t limited to national level Democrats; nay, the Mississippi Democrats are singing from the same hymnal. Just last week, Democrats in the Mississippi House of Representatives attempted (unsuccessfully) to add across-the-board pay raises for state employees to appropriation bills.
I guess they endorse Obama’s fiscal management policies. After all, he’s done such a great job balancing the federal budget (oh wait – it’s taken two terms as President to even get a budget, right?) and decreasing national debt (ummm, see above).
But Mississippians are smarter than to fall for those Democrat beliefs that we ought to pay government workers more than private sector employees. Mississippians understand the importance of a balanced budget and reducing debt by refusing to swipe the state’s credit card for every pet project.
They understand we need less, not more, Obama style policies in the Magnolia State.
Pay raises. That’s a popular phrase these days. Just this week, the Washington Post reports President Obama will propose a one percent pay raise for federal employees and members of the military for the Fiscal Year 2015 budget he’ll announce next week.
Obama is trying to put an “end to austerity” in the budgeting process by increasing government wages. Never mind the fact that’s not happening in the private sector, where employees have seen their wages drop by 0.2 percent during Obama’s presidency.
These pay raises come on the heels of pay hikes implemented under the current chief executive, such as the one that went into effect December 2013 via an Obama executive order.
An administration official explained the most recent proposal, saying it reflected the “tight budget constraints we continue to face, while also recognizing the critical role these civilian employees play in our country…It also recognizes the sacrifices they have already made through prior pay freezes, reductions in awards, and furloughs due to sequestration last year.”
I don’t disagree. Indeed, federal employees have been furloughed, have seen pay freezes, or experienced some combination thereof. But it’s worth noting the root cause of these budgetary restraints: A flailing economy which produced insufficient revenue to pay government workers. (And, very likely, a bloated federal government that should have been right-sized years ago. But I digress.)
The economy isn’t helped by the spend-money-we-don’t-have mentality of the Obama administration, and neither are government workers. (It’s ironic, in an Alanis Morrisette kind of way.)
In some ways, the budget proposal to pay workers more actually jeopardizes the government’s ability to do so. Why?
Because we haven’t gotten our fiscal house in order but continue to spend, spend, spend. This President and his Democrat counterparts spend money with simply no regard for its long-term implications.
Under the leadership (or spending-ship?) of Obama, the federal debt has risen astronomically. During his first term, the nation’s debt rose 83.5 percent. Now in his second term, Obama has seen to it that federal debt has nearly doubled under his watch.
Yet instead of trimming costs, he proposes we spend more money to “end the age of austerity.” I’ve heard more than once that spending money is the enemy of controlling spending. This is a textbook example.
But pay raises aren’t limited to national level Democrats; nay, the Mississippi Democrats are singing from the same hymnal. Just last week, Democrats in the Mississippi House of Representatives attempted (unsuccessfully) to add across-the-board pay raises for state employees to appropriation bills.
I guess they endorse Obama’s fiscal management policies. After all, he’s done such a great job balancing the federal budget (oh wait – it’s taken two terms as President to even get a budget, right?) and decreasing national debt (ummm, see above).
But Mississippians are smarter than to fall for those Democrat beliefs that we ought to pay government workers more than private sector employees. Mississippians understand the importance of a balanced budget and reducing debt by refusing to swipe the state’s credit card for every pet project.
They understand we need less, not more, Obama style policies in the Magnolia State.
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