Hobbs vetoes both House GOP budgets as Arizona government shutdown looms

A feud over Arizona’s budget is
slogging toward a possible government shutdown, after Democratic Gov.
Katie Hobbs vetoed two budget packages drafted by Republicans in the
state House of Representatives. 

The Arizona Senate returned to the
Capitol Wednesday — after unilaterally seeking to end the annual
legislative session —  for rapid-fire votes on two separate state budget
plans drafted by the House. One was a fully fledged spending plan that
included a host of conservative priorities, the other merely maintained
the current year’s funding.

Both budget packages passed through
the Senate with only Republican support, and those supporters knew they
were headed for vetoes.

That leaves the House and Senate,
both controlled by Republicans, with just days to come to a budget
agreement by a June 30 deadline, when the fiscal year ends. If the two
chambers — which have been feuding over the budget for weeks — can’t
come to an agreement by then that the governor will sign, the state
government would shut down for the first time in history. 

Hobbs called the House budget plans a
“sham” and accused the Republicans who lead that chamber of wasting
time with “reckless and partisan budgets.” 

“I have long made clear that both of
the partisan and reckless House Republican budgets are unacceptable,”
Hobbs said in a written statement. “They gut public safety, slash health
care for Arizonans, harm businesses, fail to lower costs, and leave our
Veterans out in the cold. These unserious budgets are wrong for the
people of Arizona.”

House Speaker Steve Montenegro said in a
statement that he was disappointed in Hobbs’ vetoes and blamed her for a
possible government shutdown.

 “The House has done its job, twice,”
Montenegro said. “We passed a balanced budget that prioritized
responsible spending and core needs. When that plan was rejected, we
advanced a continuation budget to avoid disruption and allow time for
further negotiations. Both were rejected.”

Montenegro promised that House Republicans
would work to ensure government continues to operate and to “protect
Arizona taxpayers from the consequences of political brinkmanship.”

But it was House Republicans who abandoned budget negotiations several weeks ago, prompting the Senate and Hobbs to strike a $17.6 billion deal without them. 

Hobbs praised the bipartisan deal for
its raises for state troopers and firefighters, tax cuts for small
businesses and funding to help homeless veterans obtain shelter along
with an initiative to make childcare more affordable. 

House GOP leaders criticized that plan and instead passed their own budget
— without input from Hobbs or Senate Republicans — chock-full of
conservative spending and policy priorities, which Hobbs promised to
veto. 

Senate Republicans worked last week
to incorporate some items from the House Republican wish list into their
proposal to get them on board with the bipartisan plan, but that plan
soon fell apart. So, the Senate passed its bipartisan budget
last week, and moved to end this year’s legislative session, in an
attempt to force the House to vote on the Senate budget plan. 

Instead the House decided to create a
“continuation budget” which extended spending at current levels beyond
June 30, with the hopes of then working out an agreement with the Senate
and Hobbs. The House voted Tuesday evening along party lines to pass the continuation budget. 

Senate President Warren Petersen on
Wednesday expressed exasperation with political performances by members
of his own party that are holding up the passage of the Senate’s
negotiated budget

“We have to pass bipartisan budgets,”
Petersen said. “It doesn’t take competence or courage to pass a budget
that only has Rs on it, because that is how you live and achieve and
score short-term political points. And with the help of the shock jocks
and troll farms, you can fool some of the people, some of the time. It
takes leadership, competence and courage to pass a bipartisan budget in
divided government.” 

Petersen and other GOP senators have
been smeared by some fellow Republicans as RINOs, or Republicans in name
only, for daring to negotiate with Hobbs. 

Although Petersen didn’t mention
anyone by name, it’s clear that at least some of his comments were
directed at Sen. Jake Hoffman, a Queen Creek Republican and leader of
the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus. Hoffman is known for running online troll farms alongside Turning Point USA ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Hoffman delayed the Senate’s vote on
its bipartisan budget for hours last week as he proposed numerous
amendments copied from the House budget, and pontificated on each of
them at length, even though he knew they had no chance of making it into
the final Senate budget. 

Hoffman accused Petersen and Sen.
John Kavanagh, the Senate’s chief budget negotiator, of bowing down to
Hobbs’ demands. Kavanagh repeatedly explained that he opposed all of
Hoffman’s proposals because they would result in a veto from Hobbs. He
reminded Hoffman that a divided government requires compromise. 

Petersen on Wednesday said that, in
his 13 years at the legislature, he has never seen a more toxic
political environment than the current one. 

“Optics
matters more than substance, and no actual work gets accomplished,”
Petersen said, adding that he’s astonished that experienced legislators
have been “hoodwinked by charlatans.” 

“Let’s stop wasting our time,” Petersen said. “Let’s end the chicanery.” 

In her veto letter to House
Republicans, Hobbs also urged legislators to set aside their “partisan
antics” and to pass the Senate’s bipartisan plan. 

“Now, it’s time for House Republican
leadership to move past their political stunts and work productively
with their colleagues before they force an unnecessary state government
shutdown of their own creation,” Hobbs said in the statement.