Budget Flap Resumes Monday

On Monday the state of California will enter its sixth week without a spending program for the fiscal year that began July first. In all that time there hasn´t been a hint of possible compromise between the majority Democrats and Republicans in the state Assembly on the $99 billion measure. The state Senate approved the budget on June 29th with one Republican joining all the Democrats. But in the Assembly four Republican votes are needed for passage. Their leaders say the G-O-P lawmakers won´t budge from their opposition to three-point-six billion dollars in tax increases. Democratic Governor Gray Davis says the budget impasse is costing the state about 15 million dollars every week. Davis has told the Republican Assembly members: “If you can´t produce an alternative, get out of the way.”