Rep. Chris Corry explains his opposition to the House supplemental operating budget
Feb 25, 2024
House Republican budget leader Chris Corry, R-Yakima, explains the many issues he has with the Democrats supplemental operating budget, including that it does not address the things the public is asking for most. Corry also points out how much Washington spending has ballooned over the past decade and warns against the thinning of reserves.
a good member from the 14th
representative Corey uh thank you madam
speaker and before I begin my remarks
I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge
the challenge it can be even in a
supplemental year to put together a
complex and uh widespread operating
budget so I want to thank the good
members of the 3rd the 43rd the 11th and
the 33rd for their work because this is
above and beyond and it takes a lot of
time to put stuff like this together uh
as I sit on Appropriations we spend a
lot of evenings and weekends hearing
about policy from all around this body
and how that may or may not incorporate
into our state's operating budget it is
no simple
task that's why as the ranking
Republican on the committee I've always
asked to be included in that decision
making that uh you and I can have our
disagreements but we should also have
our moments where we sit together and
try to work through them to figure out
what we can do to better Washington
through the operating budget today I'm
going to be asking for a
no for several reasons I'd like to take
a look back 10 years Madam speaker the
year is
2014 the Seahawks have just won their
first Super Bowl and the legislature was
meeting and adopting their supplemental
budget and what was that budget in 2014
Madam speaker it was $200
million 100 million for maintenance and
100 million for ongoing
policy 10 years later we're once again
looking at a supplemental
budget unfortunately the Seahawks were
not winners of the Super Bowl this year
nor did they get a chance but
yeah sorry let me let let sink in for a
moment uh but we're again passing that
supplemental budget after a Super Bowl
and here we are instead of 200 million
we're looking at 2.2 billion in a
supplemental increase in funding
we're told this is a true supplemental
budget and while I agree that
technically it is a supplemental budget
there is a variety of new policy
programming and spending in here out of
$2.2 billion that's a th% increase over
10 10 years the base budget increased
spending by 5.6 billion last year and
2.2 billion this year for a total
increase of$ 7.8
billion and what does that get us make
no mistake Madam speaker there's a a lot
of good things in this budget and we're
going to hear about some of those and we
would largely agree with them there's
good things all over but it also is
spread across a lot of areas that may or
may not have a priority for Washington
State residents for problems that they
want us to fix right
now there's some good things for some
but unfortunately there's a lot of cost
being driven up for everyone with little
results and little uh impact to their
daily lives washingtonians see their
cost RIS year after year and no doubt in
this budget it does again we are one of
the only States Madam speaker that has
not enacted broad-based tax reform in
the entire country so while this money
while this revenues to our state goes up
we provide no relief to washingtonians
as a
whole this is a good budget for our
government Madam speaker we continue to
fund and expand the growth of government
in a variety of areas that again May may
not have impact to everyday
washingtonians so while this may be a
good budget for some and it certainly is
a good budget for the state it may not
be a it is not a good budget for All of
Washington where does this fall short
Madam
speaker we've offered a number of
amendments today to try to address real
problems that washingtonians like those
in my district and those in yours demand
answers for now not later not at some
point in the future they they want these
problems addressed now our state again
as mentioned previously is 51 out of 51
of police officers per capita homicides
are up 96% in our state since
2019 we're again the number one retail
for retail theft number two for property
crime and number three for Crime overall
Madam speaker those are real problems
that washingtonians like mine
constituents in my district and your
District are asking for answers for now
we're the fourth most most place
expensive place to buy groceries
washingtonians have told us give us tax
relief so we can afford to make our
budget meet and while the state has
continued to grow a lot of our residents
haven't seen that growth in their
budgets Madam speaker we know that a
healthy business climate is essential to
ensuring this continued Prosperity not
just for state coffers but also for the
bank accounts and the savings accounts
for those across our state unfortunately
Ely we continue to fall we're now ranked
35th in the country in terms of a
business-friendly climate down from just
15th two years
ago 60% when you look at education of
our students are failing in math while
50% are failing in reading our citizens
mine and yours Madam speaker are asking
for support to change that now we've
offered those amendments Unfortunately
they were turned down these are just a
few areas that washingtonians are
concerned about that I believe we can do
better you and I Madam speaker can do
better as a state when I came to Olympia
I came to represent my constituents and
help be part of solutions that address
their their problems and those problems
that face our entire State I wanted to
be included in that discussion because I
want all of Washington to succeed I may
represent the 14th but the 14th has
concerns that are similar in the 31st
the 3rd the 45th and so on this budget
should reflect the input and experience
from Members across this state whether
you represent areas from the Puget Sound
to the Yakama Valley the Washington
coast or the Poo we all have ideas and
we all want to be part of moving this
state forward and in a lot of areas
Madam speaker we see that work some of
the best legislation that comes out of
this floor Madam speaker is ones where
we sat down together not Republican or
Democrat but two legislators three
legislators wanting to fix a problem
and that's why it's so important to be
in a room when budgets like this are
created because we have ideas we
represent millions of washingtonians
Madam speaker and while yes we get to
come and propose certain amendments or
you know additional projects that are
good sometimes missed uh being in the
room ensures that those are addressed
beforehand that we say no no no wait a
minute there may be a better way to do
this I think you see that reflected in
the body across the Rotunda as they were
included in all those discussions and
coming to the table please speak to the
policy in front of you and not the
process oh thank you madam
speaker today I cannot support a budget
that excludes input of Representatives
representing millions of washingtonians
and while I agree this budget is filled
with things that I think are good
overall it falls short of addressing
things that we need now this budget
continues to fail to address the rising
cost of living for all the
washingtonians in my district and I
would imagine in your District as well
Madam speaker this budget fails to
address the public safety crisis facing
washingtonians now instead it puts it
off for
later frankly Madam speaker this budget
fails to fix Washington and I'm asking
for a
no