WA budget: Dems tout 'cuts w/ a conscience'

On Day 103 of the 105-day legislative session in Oly, we're finally seeing hard copy on a new $31.4 billion, two-year state budget. It's the majority Democrats' House-Senate compromise that closes a $9 billion budget gap without higher general taxes. Deets here . The session must adjourn by Sunday night, and lawmakers are racing to make that happen. The operating, construction and transportation budgets all must move through both houses, and there's little time for scrutiny or debate. The main operating budget uses about $4 billion in assorted cuts, hiring freezes, pay and travel freezes, and other knicks from the budget knives. Another $3 billion is easy, if only a temporary, stop-gap: federal aid. The remainder of the gap involves using construction budget dolllars, dipping into reserves and draining the balances from assorted pots of revenue. Democrats abandoned plans to ask voters to boost the sales tax by three-tenths of a cent and to adopt a flat-rate income tax on high-wage earners. Democrats said their operating budget relies on "cuts with a conscience." Highlights are here ... The cuts include virtually every area of government -- K-12, higher ed, health and human services, prisons and overhead. Republicans also opposed new taxes, but criticized Democrats for failing to adequate reform and roll back government spending. They said the state will face a big problem next time, when the federal dollars and other one-time solutions disappear.