Message from
State Senator Liz Krueger . . .
The legislature reconvenes this month and there is no question we face an extremely challenging year. We face a deficit in the neighborhood of $6-9 billion for the next fiscal year, and a divided Senate in which putting together the required 32 votes for anything proves extremely difficult. But I relish a challenge and I am ready to get to work and think creatively about how we meet this fiscal crisis and deal with the many other issues which we must face this year.
One reason for cautious optimism is that last July the Senate adopted a bipartisan rules reform package which goes into effect this month. I am intent on using the various tools in that package to encourage debate on issues such as environmental protections, ethics and election reform, and preservation of affordable housing. I am hopeful that the more open rules we have adopted will create new opportunities for building coalitions - even coalitions which cross party lines - to accomplish shared goals.
It is clear that for this session to be successful, Democrats and Republicans are simply going to have to find ways to work together. Based on the experience of 2009, it is clear that holding our 32 Democrats together for difficult votes is not a strategy which can succeed on a regular basis. I have seen strong evidence from our leadership that they understand this reality, and the final difficult agreement which was reached on the Deficit Reduction Plan proved it is possible to work across the aisle and take good ideas from all parties. The real question is whether, under the higher pressure of an election year, anyone will be prepared to work across party lines to pass a responsible budget and address the other difficult issues we face. I like to think that we will all recognize that the stakes are too high to not work together.
The budget will be our first and most serious challenge. No one likes to cut funding for critical programs, but there is no question that the Legislature will be faced with exactly that reality, as there is simply not enough money to continue existing spending levels. Until the economy recovers, and tax revenues increase as a result, we will have to find ways to reduce spending, and there is no doubt that this cannot be done without inflicting significant pain. Our responsibility is to try to figure out how to minimize that pain and to better focus resources on successful programs and policies.
Last month I held a hearing on improving the State budget process which highlighted both the dismal fiscal situation we find ourselves in as well as the structural limitations we face in making the kinds of informed decisions about how to allocate resources most effectively. As we deal with the immediate crisis, it is critical that we also look at the long-term changes we need to make to put the State on more sound financial footing and to ensure that State resources are devoted to programs which meet their stated goals. I am currently working on a package of existing and new bills to improve State accounting practices and encourage more systematic evaluations of the effectiveness and efficiency of existing programs.
These will be very difficult times for
body.