John Braun: Democrats claim they want to reduce spending, Republicans are showing the way
Friday, February 14, 2025
As this year’s legislative session got underway, Democratic budget leaders were talking like they had already given up on the idea of overcoming state government’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit without imposing more taxes on the people of Washington.
Sure, we’ll look for places to reduce spending, the Senate Democrats’ budget leader said, but at the end of the day there still will need to be some tax increases.
More than a month in, the majority side continues to act like new or higher taxes are inevitable, and people should just resign themselves to that fate.
Republicans have a different view. Raising taxes would make life in our state even less affordable, so we are showing the majority how to avoid that path.
The ideal outcome would be a budget that supports the core priorities of government and delivers the services Washington residents care about the most, especially for our state’s most vulnerable residents, yet stays within the available revenue.
After all, this shortfall is self-inflicted, caused by chronic overspending. We can debate whether it’s $12 billion over the next four years, as Democrats keep claiming, or $6.7 billion, as the Senate’s non-partisan budget staff estimates — but either way, this is not like the shortfall triggered by the Great Recession, when temporary tax increases became part of the solution.
Republicans see it like this: spending decisions created the budget hole, and spending decisions are the way to get out of the budget hole. Two recent public-opinion polls suggest the people of Washington share that feeling.
Poll results released this month by EMC Research show 76% of those responding think the Legislature has enough money to address important priorities and just needs to spend it more effectively, while 65% simply don’t trust the Legislature to spend their tax dollars wisely.
That poll also had 59% of respondents blaming the budget deficit on the Legislature’s failure to control spending — a number that rose to 62% once they heard Republican and Democratic messaging about the deficit.
In the latest Elway poll, released just before this session began, “waste and overspending by government” was by far the most popular answer to a question about the cause of the state budget deficit.
Asked whether legislators should put more emphasis on cutting state programs to avoid tax increases or raise taxes to minimize program cuts, 66% of those responding preferred to avoid higher taxes.
That brings me to some of the common-sense budgeting ideas Republicans have put on the table. They aren’t cuts to services, but are instead reforms that would make government function more efficiently, targeting waste and stretching dollars by delivering services at less cost.
Take childcare. In 2021, citing the pandemic’s effects on private childcare providers, Democrats pushed state government squarely into the childcare arena. The subsidy rates they supported basically ignore local market conditions and often have the state paying far more than it should.
Our Senate Bill 5310 calls for a “pay the lesser of…” approach that would have client families receiving the same level of care at the same cost, no matter who pays.
One of the fastest-growing expenses in the budget has to do with settling lawsuits and paying claims resulting from harmful actions for which state government is found liable. In the past two years alone the payouts for “tort liability” have exceeded a whopping $500 million, yet the fiscal year ending June 30 is on pace to top that rate.
Just this past month, for instance, the state paid out $7.3 million to a group of convicted sex offenders because managers of the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island failed to deal with a water-contamination issue many years ago.
That’s why Republicans have filed Senate Bill 5144. By requiring agencies to explain publicly why their actions led to million-dollar payouts, it’s intended to deter the mismanagement that causes this drain on taxpayer dollars.
Another example of a major savings opportunity is SB 5258, to reduce “improper Medicaid concurrent enrollment payments.” In plain language, it’s about ending the payment of Medicaid premiums by Washington taxpayers for people who no longer reside here.
Whether our proposal saves tens of millions or hundreds of millions, it’s a no-brainer idea that would bring long-overdue accountability.
Republicans are also identifying paths to big savings by looking at policies that are scheduled for expansion at a cost that is no longer affordable. An example is the plan to significantly expand the eligibility threshold for state childcare assistance, which would extend coverage to a family of four with a six-figure household income.
Putting that expansion on pause would save an estimated $300 million in four years, which makes a lot of sense at a time like this. Once the bill to unwind these “layaway” kinds of policies is filed, it will join the list of our “$ave Washington” proposals posted at senaterepublicans.wa.gov, the official Senate Republican website.
We will know in the next month or so, when the Senate and House budget proposals emerge, whether our Democratic colleagues have decided to take advantage of these and the many other potential savings opportunities Republicans have identified.
In the meantime, Governor Ferguson has clearly stated his desire to prioritize budget savings and efficiencies and avoid policy bills that unsustainably increase spending. That’s why we are sharing our $ave Washington ideas with his team.
Republicans realize the new governor hasn’t committed himself publicly about tax increases. However, he has declared there would be no contemplation of additional revenue options “until we have exhausted efforts to improve efficiency.” We agree.
Ferguson also has expressed skepticism about the “wealth tax” found in the Senate Democrats’ nine-piece, $15 billion package of tax increases that became public in December.
It’s puzzling that legislative Democrats continue to cling publicly to the pessimistic position that more taxes are inevitable. What’s inevitable is how our colleagues across the aisle will overspend unless the people firmly tell them no. When revenues increase by 25% but spending soars by 40% during the same period, it’s no wonder we are facing a deficit.
While Democrats have pointed to the November vote against repealing the capital-gains income tax as a sign Washingtonians might support other tax increases, there is no getting around the more recent polling, which shows the people’s clear aversion to sending even more of their hard-earned dollars to Olympia.
Again, when people were asked if they trust the Legislature to spend their tax dollars responsibly, 65% disagreed – and of those, nearly 70% chose “strongly disagree.” It seems foolish for legislators to respond to such distrust by approving tax increases.
The late Sen. Andy Hill, former Senate Republican budget leader, once described tax increases as the “easy way out” of dealing with a difficult budget situation. By definition, then, the hard way includes doing what Republicans are doing right now: Going line by line, looking for savings and efficiencies, and being transparent about what we find. That’s how we “$ave Washington” and make our state better.
•••
Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.