By Ben Giles | Katie Campbell and Julia Shumway | Arizona Capitol Times
A budget proposal from Senate Republican leaders woefully fails to meet Gov. Doug Ducey’s biggest spending and saving priorities, and has isolated some rank-and-file GOP senators who’ve vowed to vote against it.
Draft budget spreadsheets obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times show that senators are unwilling to meet Ducey’s primary objective of boosting the balance of the rainy-day fund to an excess of $1 billion.
Meanwhile, some Republican senators were flabbergasted by a lack of willingness to spend on everything from health care, including $1.6 million the governor requested to end a freeze of access to Arizona’s version of the children’s health insurance program, and higher education, where the Senate provides no new funding to Arizona’s three public universities, compared to the $35.1 million Ducey requested.
“I think it’s the worst budget I’ve seen since 2015,” said Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, a Phoenix Republican. “I hate it.”
Ducey’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but the governor has been tweeting about his priorities to save and moderate new spending ever since budget documents leaked from the Senate.
