Jeremy Alford: Budget battle pits fiscal responsibility vs. infrastructure needs

The House of Representatives sent a proposed budget package across Memorial Hall to the Senate last week, meaning spending cap negotiations between the two chambers are intensifying with each passing day.

Lines have been drawn in the sand, with the Senate leadership and Edwards administration standing on one side ready to spend $1.8 billion in extra cash and House conservatives on the other side looking to bank the money for the future. 

In order to spend those surplus dollars, however, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Senate leaders need a two-thirds vote out of both chambers because the new expenditures would exceed the constitutionally created spending cap.

Opponents and proponents alike view cap as a campaign issue for the fall — those against would be able to claim fiscal responsibility and those in favor would be in a position to champion new construction work on roads and coastal projects. (Just in time for re-election bids.)

Members of the Freedom and Conservative caucuses in the House have already taken stances against busting the cap, making a two-thirds vote in the lower chamber to exceed the limit nearly impossible at this hour. 

Luckily, there’s still time to negotiate. But will four weeks (final adjournment is June 8) be enough time to carve out a compromise?

Lawmakers and lobbyists alike know practically anything can happen in Capitoland over the course of a few weeks. Yet those same politicos also know this elected body has needed extra time in the past to hammer out spending differences.

That’s why a very quiet chatter is building about the possibility of a special session. While unlikely for now, lawmakers are still joking with each other about making vacation plans after the regular session — or rather not making them yet, just in case.

“My guess is yes,” said Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, with a trademark laugh when asked whether lawmakers might need more time on the spending cap issue. “But it’s really early right now. Things are going to get serious here with the budget on the move. No one is playing chess yet. Everyone is still playing checkers.”

Asked for an update late last week, Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said, “I’m not ready to say if it’s going good or going bad.”
Cortez is the author of Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which outlines the spending priorities for the extra cash. The measure received an approving vote during its initial committee hearing, but is now awaiting debate on the Senate floor.

Now that the Senate has the budget package and the spending cap resolution, senators can set the pace for the remainder of the regular session. This is important, because the House has already set the tone.

The opening position on the budget by Republican representatives is an incredibly tough one. House Appropriations Chair Zee Zeringue, R-Houma, said the budget advanced last week remains under the expenditure limit for the current fiscal year and the next by $544 million.

Put another way, the House decided to leave money on the proverbial table, despite severe budget cuts to early childhood eduction, the administration’s teacher pay raise plan and health care services for the sick and poor.

For many Republicans, that $544 million figure represents much more than an opening position in a debate. To them, it’s the culmination of years of waiting for enough floor votes to see this form of “fiscal responsibility.”

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, said conservatives in the House view this issue as one that’s above politics and, from the perspective of principle and policy, remains non-negotiable. “The action taken by the Louisiana House of Representatives… is the most significant step toward fiscal responsibility in Louisiana in my lifetime,” Seabaugh said.

Moving forward, negotiations could get testy, especially if Senate leaders adopt public budgeting practices where lawmakers find their priorities above or below a line based on their spending cap stances.

For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.