Democrats Unveil New Budget Proposal
By Robert CruickshankYesterday Democratic leaders Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg unveiled a new budget proposal that relies on a tax swap to help close the budget deficit:
The most controversial new mechanism would impose an income tax increase of one percentage point for 2010 on all but the highest bracket as well as a tax hike of half a percentage point on vehicles. Those increases would be coupled with a decrease in the state sales tax rate of 1.75 cents on the dollar through next June. Another sales tax decrease would take place next July.read more
Democrats say the plan would raise roughly $1.8 billion through next June. Though that's only one-tenth the size of the deficit, Democrats consider any revenue idea that could gain GOP support a significant piece of the puzzle.
Boxer Urges Passage of State Fiscal Aid Bill
By Dave DayenSo the energy bill is off the calendar for a vote Wednesday, but with lockstep Republican (and some Democratic) opposition, that was going to be a symbolic vote anyway. A far more consequential vote will come Wednesday, in the form of the state fiscal aid package.
The Senate leadership postponed a vote on this Monday because the offsets came up $4.9 billion short, but they have fixed that problem, they think, and will pursue a cloture vote on the bill, which would provide $26.1 billion in funding for education jobs and state Medicaid programs. Because it is part of an amended FAA Authorization package, it only needs to clear one cloture vote before moving to final passage. As I mentioned Monday, the House would still need to concur with this measure, and they’re out of session now, so the actual money won’t reach states until at least September, if the Senate can pull this off.
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