Oct 2, 2007 6:49 pm US/Eastern
O'Malley Calls Special Session To Solve Deficit
by Pat Warren
MARYLAND (WJZ) ―
The future of the state could rest on how it solves a $2 billion problem.
Governor Martin O'Malley will call a special session of the General Assembly any day now to deal with the state's projected budget deficit.
Pat Warren reports leaders aren't all agreeing on that solution.
There's bipartisan concern about trying to write a tax increase bill when the budget isn't even due out until next year.
The House Ways And Means Committee took a look at the subject Tuesday, but it's time to call a special session because time, says the governor, is money.
"The longer we delay at this point, the bigger the problem becomes. It is like having parking tickets that you ignore. Overtime it compounds. It becomes worse, and truthfully, we've been pushing this off for four years," said Governor O'Malley.
Both Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Delegates believe the timing is off.
"This is a unique challenge that he's taken upon himself. I mean it wasn't of his own making so, he's trying to resolve it, but the fact of the matter is I just think it's better done during the normal 90-day session," said House Speaker Mike Busch.
It's one of the rare times when one of the majority leading Democrats and the Republican minority leadership agree.
"We understand our body very well, and there are no guarantees in this process. These people are independently elected. They represent their constituencies, and what Speaker Busch and I both believe is that people are not enamored in a rise in the gas tax, a rise in the sales tax, and expansion of the sales tax, a rise in the income tax and on and on and on," said Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell.
"You know, I don't know that there are 71 votes for slots, I don't know there are 71 votes for taxes. I mean, I don't know there are 71 votes for cuts, but if you don't have the budget in front of you that makes it that much more difficult," said Busch.
Difficult, yes, but to the governor's mind, critical.
"If you look at any one piece in isolation there are plenty of reasons to vote against it, but if you look at the whole package, I think what's at risk here is too important for us not to reach a consensus," said O'Malley.
The governor has constitutional authority to call a special session whether anyone agrees with it or not, but the point of it is to get something passed, otherwise it's not worth it.
Senate President Mike Miller says the sooner the budget deficit is dealt with the better.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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