(PatriotNewsDaily.com) – After California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state’s budget deficit was $7 billion worse than he initially projected, his Republican colleagues expressed their disapproval.
With Newsom’s latest correction of the budget deficit, the state’s total deficit nearly breaches $74 billion.
Roger Niello, the GOP vice chair of California’s budget committee, suggested that the state’s budget deficit may be far worse than Newsom’s most recent correction.
Niello pointed to an estimate of the state’s budget deficit from the Legislative Analysts Office (LAO), which he described as being “significantly higher” but also “impartial.”
Niello referenced the LAO’s “long history” of accuracy and questioned why Newsom would suggest the LAO “is wrong.”
Niello also illustrated the long-term ramifications of Newsom’s conservative budget deficit estimates, explaining that by underestimating the deficit, the Democratic Governor would have solutions that “shoot too low” and miss the target, resulting in “bigger deficits in subsequent years.”
In January, Newsom assessed the state’s shortfall at $38 billion, $7 billion less than the LAO’s estimation of $45 billion. When he unveiled his revised budget last Friday, the Democrat had projected the same budget deficit as the LAO for 2024/2025 but only $28.4 billion for 2025/2026, bringing his total to $73.3 billion.
Alongside his most recent announcement, Newsom revealed the state would significantly reduce the more than 10,000 government job openings and slash “state operations” by 8 percent. California’s progressive climate programs will also be reduced.
Niello suggested Newsom’s decision to cut vacant positions was simply a “gimmick” and highlighted the years of “tremendous and unsustainable surplasses.”
In 2022, Newsom signed off on a $301 billion budget and boasted about the state’s $97 billion surplus. The 2022 budget was nearly three times more than the prior fiscal year and included significant contributions to homelessness, climate change initiatives, and education.
However, in the last two years, the budget deficit has exploded.
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