No rose colored glasses here

Rep. Shipley and Lundburgh talk about why thy voted against the budget.

Lundberg and Shipley said that when the state anticipates replacing the stimulus money with tax revenues, it is relying on optimistic projections for the speed and scope of any economic recovery.

“When the federal stimulus dollars no longer exist, and the holes we have patched up now with the stimulus money are still there, we will have no choice but to make cuts, and potentially Draconian cuts in many ways,” Lundberg said.

Shipley called the use of federal stimulus money to fund ongoing expenditures “magic money,” and said he favors cutting the state’s spending to a level in line with its income, which has dropped by 9.2 percent, or $955 million, over the past 11 months.

“I didn’t come down here to cut deals on issues like fiscal responsibility and social responsibility,” Shipley said. “Those issues are black and white, and I think you’ve just got to balance your budget and be responsible.”.....

.....The problem, Lundberg said, is that if some rather optimistic projections for economic recovery don’t materialize, the long-term pain will exceed that which a more conservative budgeting approach might have wrought.

“A year from now, instead of taking a $5 million cut, they’re going to look at a $15 million cut. I think it would have been much easier to start laying that groundwork now, and not just with token cuts.”

Shipley said while “all of us are trying” to make legislative decisions that promote economic growth, he foresees a protracted pullback in consumer spending — the key to revenues in sales tax-dependent Tennessee — as American families recover from the credit crisis and overspending.

“Even if we see the rosy recovery that people are talking about we’re not going to see the kind of revenues they’re projecting, and when families are adjusting down you can’t allow government to adjust up — that’s just foolish.”

Lundberg said he would have preferred a compromise that cut around half the revenue deficit, or $600 million, out of the FY 2010 budget.

“It would cause some suffering, no question, but I think it would be far less suffering than we’re going to deal with a year from now. I hope I’m wrong and that a year from now, since we have this tax system based on sales, our jobless rate is cut in half and people are buying new cars and have huge amounts of disposable income. I just can’t wear those kind of glasses.”