Balance state budget by cutting spending.

Byline: Jeff Kruse For The Register-Guard

It is the middle of July, and there still seems to be no end in sight for this legislative session.

Before I expand on this thought, it would be appropriate to reference where we, the House Republicans, started and what has transpired so far. We came into this session with three goals. We wanted to fix the Public Employees Retirement System, remake the Oregon Health Plan and reduce unnecessary government expense.

Very early in the session, Gov. Ted Kulongoski made two important statements: One, that the state should reduce budgets and live within its means, and two, that a kindergarten-through-12th-grade education budget of $5.05 billion would ensure that schools are able to operate for a full school year. Unfortunately, he has since backed away from both statements.

For example, since the governor made public his $5.05 billion school funding figure, we have had two additional revenue forecasts announcing that state revenue will decline by an additional $1 billion. The governor's response was to increase his education budget by $250 million. It is hard to find the logic in such a move.

We have come two-thirds of the way toward fixing the PERS problem but have run into a stone wall when it comes to the creation of a replacement system.

We have done a lot of good work on restructuring the Oregon Health Plan and proposed very sound recommendations for moving much of the plan's management activities into the private sector. However, we were met with a great deal of resistance from an agency that does not want to lose any of its control.

We have tried to go into agency budgets to reduce management and eliminate unnecessary programs, only to be met with resistance in the way budgets are presented as well as budget numbers that consistently shift. For example, the Department of Transportation currently has 350 vacant positions on the books, and we are having a hard time eliminating just 100 of them.

Clearly Oregon is still in a recession, and just as clearly, one of our priorities should be getting our economy back on track. This gets us to the crux of our problem and illustrates how politics tend to override common sense. Any business facing a deficit will reduce expenses, and that is the track the state should be taking.

History also shows us that a government cannot tax its way out of a recession. We have been trying to reach a balanced budget with existing revenue, which leads to some hard choices about what should or should not be funded. It comes down to whether we should fund programs or people. This is where politics plays a large role.

For example, the public employee unions are the most powerful lobby groups in the state and are major sources of financing for many political campaigns, specifically the campaigns of the governor and the Democratic members of the Legislature. Those who owe their elections to the unions find it very difficult to support any measures that would have a negative impact on those unions.

We are therefore at an impasse between those who want to reduce government and those who owe it to their political base to maintain the status quo.

I have stated that our problem is more of a spending problem than it is a revenue problem. I still stand by that statement. My hope is that the stalemate will continue until those who want to increase revenue will come to the realization that the only true solution is to cut spending.

Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, represents District 7 in the Oregon House of Representatives.