News and Press Releases for March 2006

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03/08/2006

Gov. Sanford Issues Statement on Ways and Means Budget

Governor Says Budget Doesn't Limit Government Spending, Urges House Members to 'Put Taxpayers First'

Columbia, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford today issued the following statement on the S.C. House's FY2006-2007 budget, passed today by the full Ways and Means Committee:

"Let's be absolutely clear - whether spending is in one bill, spread over three bills or spread over thirty bills, this budget is actually growing government by more than 11 percent on top of last year's budget which grew state government by 9.1 percent," Gov. Sanford said. "The House bill doesn't completely pay back trust and reserve funds and it spends almost every dime coming into Columbia this year - putting this at odds with what many House Republicans have previously said we could expect from this year's budget in terms of getting our fiscal house in order and slowing the rate of government growth. I know that there are many good conservatives in the House and it is my hope that they will amend what was passed out of Committee today when this budget gets to the floor. And in that regard I would commend Speaker Harrell, Chairman Cooper and the Ways and Means staff for meeting with me and my senior staff earlier this morning to begin discussing how to make that happen through appropriate floor amendments."