{"id":440048,"date":"2010-03-17T18:28:21","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T22:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011372011_balancingthebudgetheadingintoaspecialsession.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-17T18:28:21","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T22:28:21","slug":"balancing-the-budget-heading-into-a-special-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/440048","title":{"rendered":"Balancing the budget: heading into a special session"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legislature should stop living beyond means \u2014 like we\u2019ve done<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you for printing Kate Riley\u2019s column \u201cThere has to be a better way,\u201d [Opinion, March 12] and Andrew Garber\u2019s article \u201cDespite cuts, state spending actually on track to go up\u201d [page one, March 11].<\/p>\n

My husband has again been laid off after he had been called back as a temp for five months. After his first layoff last April, we went into our \u201csurvival mode,\u201d eliminating all but necessary expenses. It was not that hard to do as we do not frequent movie theaters, restaurants and don\u2019t have satellite or cable TV.<\/p>\n

For the time being, our cutbacks are simple but effective, including turning down our heat, running the laundry and dish washer only when they are full, curtailing our driving and simplifying our meals. We do not buy anything that we do not absolutely need.<\/p>\n

I know we are not the only family in this state that has had to cut back on everyday expenses. It is time that our representatives started listening to us and followed our lead.<\/p>\n

They should stop spending what they don\u2019t have on programs that we don\u2019t need. There are many programs that need to be funded, but Olympia throws money away on too many that should not even get a first look \u2014 let alone funding.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shirley Morgan, Camano Island<\/em><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t afford special session<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am writing to propose a state initiative that would eliminate any payment to our legislators for their participation during special sessions.<\/p>\n

Again in 2010, the citizens of Washington are being asked to reward our legislators \u2014 at a cost of approximately $18,300 a day \u2014 for their inability to complete their required work \u2014 in this case, to pass a balanced budget \u2014 during the constitutionally approved regular session.<\/p>\n

The irony of paying approximately $90,000 for a weeklong session while the legislators try to figure out which state programs to cut sounds too much like \u201cAlice in Washington Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

For me \u2014 the average state taxpayer \u2014 it is hard to understand why legislators need extra time since they always resolve the issues before them [during the regular session]. Paying the legislators for extra time only rewards them for not being efficient. Let\u2019s remove the money and see if that will provide a sufficient incentive to complete their work on time.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Theodore E. Andrews, Lacey, Thurston County<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislature should stop living beyond means \u2014 like we\u2019ve done Thank you for printing Kate Riley\u2019s column \u201cThere has to be a better way,\u201d [Opinion, March 12] and Andrew Garber\u2019s article \u201cDespite cuts, state spending actually on track to go up\u201d [page one, March 11]. My husband has again been laid off after he had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}