“This Budget serves the needs of our people” –
Actual straight-faced statement made by a NH Republican leader on the floor of the House - June 22, 2011. NOTE: his people must certainly not be the working families of New Hampshire.
Yesterday [6/22/’11] the NH House met and passed a two year state budget that will be devastating to working families, and local municipalities. The 3:1 GOP legislature continued its slash and burn strategy of dismantling government – especially services to the most needy. They justify their actions as having a mandate to walk away from people. Surprisingly, they were not all united - at least one radical extremist wanted more cuts to State Government and publically stated as much on the House floor! Now for anyone who has followed this blog over the legislative session and ever thought I was exaggerating – please don’t take my word for it - I urge you to review this budget for yourself.
A Budget We Can Live With – NOT!
The House & Senate conferees who met to cut the final deal, crafted this budget behind closed doors, and in small backroom meetings away from the public. The only thing that was public was when votes were taken – and then with minimal explanation. Needless to say – this was not New Hampshire’s finest hour.
During yesterday’s legislative session – numerous democrat representatives rose to speak about the service cuts to New Hampshire’s neediest and the potential downshift that will occur to local government which will result in increased property taxes, but to no avail.
It was as if two thirds of those present were just not listening. One Republican leader actually said something like ‘live with the problems – they’ll go away’! He went on how the budget was complicated and complex and in the most condescending manner implied it was too much for us mere citizens to understand! Seriously, the oozing self-righteousness would have made Marie Antoinette blush.
This self appointed “friend of the people” continued by wrapping himself up in the NH Republican Party Platform and actually said “the Budget is a good deal” comparing it to buying a new car with a couple of dings! Once home – we’ll get used to it, or maybe what he really meant was don’t worry people will forget – and all will be OK!
I especially loved his dismissive comment justifying the 115 million dollar tax on NH’s major hospitals. According to him, it’s because hospitals don’t contribute to the Business Enterprise Tax or the Business Profits Tax! Forget that this tax will merely be passed on to the consumer via increased insurance fees… or that hospitals do things like save lives!
Ayuh – another radical republican leader actually said this is “A BUDGET WE CAN BE PROUD OF!” Thankfully, the democrats pointed out that the Budget (HB1) and its trailer (HB2) will have a devastating effect on children and families and that it doesn’t create any new jobs but down shifts costs and responsibility to local governments. Unfortunately, there will not be a formal written record of what transpired, as they then voted 173 to 167 to NOT have the proceeding/debate on the budget printed in the official House Journal. Yeah – so much for an open and visible government!
In addition to passing the budget – they also chose to over-ride several of the Governor’s vetoes, as well as to defer to the federal government regarding setting the minimum wage.
Yes – these phony patriots who have the whole session complained, attacked and insulted the federal government in the name of states’ rights chose to defer to the federal government and foreswear the opportunity for NH autonomy. OH – their argument for doing this was – some other states do it too! Has the word hypocrite started to come to mind?
They also chose to deal with a few retirement issues – one in particular (SB-33) dealt with retired state employees and was passed 278 to 99. What was personally upsetting was the glee in the voice of the representative who informed the House that those retirees now under the age of 65 may not only pay more, but if they’re slow in paying for their health insurance they will have their health benefits terminated. Many of my friends in state government are asking “when did public sector workers become the enemy?”
Parental Notification
Among the Governor’s vetoes that were over-ridden was HB 329 dealing with parental notification. All the governor was asking were safeguards that it be constitutional, not criminalize physicians and address the issue of rape & incest. Interestingly, the opposition said that was taken care of; hence no need to address his concerns. Did I forget to mention – they’re all constitutional scholars!
They chose to make grandstand speeches paraphrasing the story of King Solomon in the Bible who ordered the baby cut in half to identify the real mother. Interestingly – the majority voted to have this speech included into the permanent House Record!
Now I must share that I normally side with parents, as I believe the family is the basic building block of society. However, this one female representative rose in support of the governor’s veto and shared 3 scenarios/case studies (w/out violating confidentiality) regarding how this bill would have an adverse affect on young girls and how this legislation does not apply to the vast majority of parents. My basic read was: this bill gives a get out of jail free card to snakes and the worst kind of bad parents, so I voted to sustain the veto. Needless to say – there wasn’t a rush to have her testimony included into the permanent record. However at the end of the day, a saner republican head rose & prevailed to include all the testimony on parental notification.
Now I could go on but hopefully I have provided a glimpse of what happened. Sadly, the session may not yet be over – as we still await to be called back to deal with the governor’s vetoes of the anti-worker bill called “Right to Work” and the dismantling of the NH Rail Authority which if left alone had the potential to provide real jobs and revitalize the downtowns of Concord, Manchester, and Nashua.
So stay tuned!
