Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Fresno today issued the following statement in response to Governor Schwarzenegger's proclamation calling a special session of the Legislature to address California's budget crisis and economic woes:  

“Governor Schwarzenegger acted prudently in calling the Legislature back into session to focus on solving California's budget crisis and turning our lagging economy around.  However, Republicans are very disappointed to see that his budget plan includes higher taxes.  We need to open up state government ledgers to ensure tax dollars are being spent as effectively as possible, on necessary programs and projects that truly benefit Californians. Raising taxes is the worst thing we could do right now, it will devastate an economy that is hanging on by a thread, threaten jobs and hurt working families.  

Instead of raising taxes so the Legislature can spend even more on bigger government, Republicans believe that our priority in the special session should be putting California jobs first and encouraging more companies to invest in our state and create jobs here.  Rather than punish Californians, we should work together to make tough choices about budget savings, while renewing our commitment to passing budget reform to help our state live within its means again.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.