Alabama House passes balanced budget relying on cuts, no tax hikes

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May 19, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House of Representatives passed Tuesday a general fund budget that relies on more than $250 million in cuts, and includes none of the Gov. Bentley’s recommended tax increases.

The bill will cut Medicaid, Mental Health, DHR, and Corrections by 5 percent and every other agency funded by the general fund by at least 9 percent.

With a final tally of 66-36 the vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with only four Republicans voting against the measure.

“It’s hard to put lipstick on this pig today,” said House General Fund budget chairman Steve Clouse (R-Ozark) after the vote.

The bill, should it make it through the Senate without major changes, is expected to be vetoed by Governor Bentley, who called the plan “unworkable” last week.

A simple majority is all that is required to overturn a veto.

House Democratic Caucus Leader Craig Ford said he hopes the Senate makes changes to the bill.

“The budget the House passed today is going to hurt a lot of people if the Senate doesn’t make some major changes,” Ford said after the vote. “The sad part is that all of these cuts, and all the pain that will come with them, could have been avoided. We’ve known for three years that this day was coming. But in all that time, the leadership couldn’t come up with a viable solution to the budget crisis. Now it’s up to the Senators to come up with a better solution. And for the people of Alabama’s sake I hope that they do.”

This story is developing and may be updated.