GOP Lawmakers: Consequences of Budget Veto Mount for Cities, Town

New Hampshire lawmakers heard from state and local officials on Aug. 18, 2015, on the mounting impacts of Gov. Maggie Hassan’s budget veto.

This morning, the Cities and Towns Working Group heard that the Department of Health and Human Services is on pace to run out of money before the end of the year, according to a press statement.

“I’m disappointed in the lack of direction from the Governor’s Office,” said state Sen. Regina Birdsell, R- Hampstead. “Her decision to veto the budget forced us to operate under a Continuing Resolution, but there doesn’t seem to be any plan or consistency from state agencies on how to deal with it, and no guidance for them from the Governor’s office.”

Senate Finance Chairwoman Jeanie Forrester, R-Meredith, formed three Working Groups to examine the consequences of New Hampshire government operating under a six-month Continuing Resolution following Hassan’s budget veto. The bipartisan group of representatives and senators on the Cities and Towns Working Group requested a breakdown of current and projected spending at DHHS from the Legislative Budget Assistant’s Office.

“Health and Human Services is the largest department in state government,” Forrester added. “If it is already spending more than it is authorized under the Continuing Resolution, that deficit will cascade across every other department.”

The Cities and Towns Working Group heard from several state departments, as well as officials representing New Hampshire school districts and counties. It will next meet on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 1:30 p.m.

Democrats, however, called the meetings a “politically motivated dog and pony show” and chastised them for not making a counter-proposal to Hassan’s “fiscally responsible compromise budget plan.”

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, in a statemend, said, “Instead of coming to the table and negotiating with Governor Hassan to develop a responsible budget compromise, Jeanie Forrester and her colleagues have chosen to put on a political show to deflect from their own fiscally irresponsible budget plan that fails to meet the needs of our state. Jeanie Forrester and her colleagues’ political games on the budget won’t work because Granite Staters will see right through them, and it’s long past time for Republicans to finally get serious and negotiate with Governor Hassan in good faith to pass a responsible budget compromise.”