As I previously wrote, six legislators voted against the $300 million amended budget today.

They are:
- Steve Davis
- Bobby Franklin
- Tom Graves
- Doug Holt
- Barry Loudermilk
- Martin Scott

They wrote a letter explaining there actions, here is the text courtesy of Steve Davis:

During the 2007 session of the General Assembly, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to return surplus revenues back to the taxpayers of Georgia. The House stated that as fiscal conservatives, we owe this money back to the taxpayers to whom it belongs.

We members of the House of Representatives stand by the principles of lower taxes, limited government and the belief that surplus revenues, beyond the constitutional requirements, belong to the hardworking people of Georgia and should be returned to their rightful owner. The 2008 supplemental budget spends surplus revenues in further expansion of our State Government.

We believe the ever upward creep of spending encourages people to expect government to solve all their problems. We desire to reorient state spending so that it reinforces the critical virtues of self reliance and personal initiative that made America great.

We applaud the hard and unenviable work of our Appropriations Committee and its Chairman who have been working with a system that is designed to spend, not return surplus taxes. Our votes against HB 989 are not a negative comment upon the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, House Leadership, the Governor or members of the Appropriations Committee.

Therefore, in standing with true conservative values in which we believe, we the undersigned have voted against the continued spending of excess collected revenues.

Please drop these legislators an e-mail and thank them for their votes and support of the taxpayers.

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The amended FY 2008 budget passed this morning, six legislators voted against it.

One interesting note, there was a rule change in the House that prevented amendments from being offered:

Rule 108.3 No amendment to any appropriations bill shall be in order if the amendment has the effect of both reducing one appropriation and either increasing another appropriation or adding a new appropriation. No amendment to any appropriations bill increasing any appropriation or adding a new appropriation shall be in order unless there has previously been adopted an amendment reducing some other appropriation so as to make funds available for such new or increased appropriation; and no amendment to any appropriations bill shall be in order which would cause the bill to violate the balanced budget requirements of the Constitution.

This is something that I’d expect out of Democrats, in fact I believe that Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) did try something like this on the federal level. He also wanted to wait until conference to insert earmarks into appropriations bills. A similar idea was floated by Georgia House Majority Leader Jerry Keen.

There already isn’t much transparency in the budget process here in Georgia. I guess debate is pointless too.

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When lawmakers arrived today, the amended FY2008 budget was sitting on their desks. The budget has to sit for 24 hours after presentation and will be taken up during the tomorrow’s session.

No copies have been distributed. As soon as one comes available, we’ll get it posted.

[UPDATE] You can view the amended FY2008 budget here.

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Continuing their recent stories on government waste, WSB-TV shows your federal tax dollars at work…researching eye movements while watching porn at Emory University.

WSB will also be doing stories on hidden taxes (this Thursday at 6pm) and how these tax cost us each $3,000 a year and a story on monkey research (next Monday at 5pm), a $1.2 million to study how monkeys interact.

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We here at Georgia Porkbusters encourage our readers to vote their conscience, but we respectfully encourage you not to vote for Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee a taxpayer’s nightmare. During his tenure as Governor of Arkansas, taxpayers saw their tax burden jump from 30th in the nation in 1997 to 13th in 2007.

The non-partisan FactCheck.org has pointed out that Huckabee’s fiscal record is not at all what he makes it out to be:

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration found that 90 tax cuts were enacted in legislative sessions from 1997 through 2005, while Huckabee was governor, and those cuts reduced tax revenues by $378 million. But Huckabee fails to mention the 21 tax increases that occurred under his watch and that raised revenues by substantially more. The total net tax increase under Huckabee’s tenure was an estimated $505.1 million, says the Department of Finance and Administration’s Whitney McLaughlin, adding that the figure has been adjusted for inflation.
[…]
[A]fter adjusting for inflation, we found that spending in fiscal year 1998 (the first budget for which Huckabee was responsible) was actually $10.4 billion, while spending at the end of 2006 was $15.6 billion. That’s a big increase, but it’s a far cry from doubling state spending.

Huckabee uses class warfare rhetoric to rail against free trade and corporations. The Cato Institute gave Huckabee a grade of “F” in fiscal policy in 2006 (16 Democrats received higher grades), and a “D” for his entire tenure as Governor of Arkansas. He supported the 2003 Medicare drug benefit and was the only GOP hopeful that didn’t support Bush’s veto of SCHIP.

This is a candidate that supported an increase in the minimum wage in his state, as well as an increase in the federal minimum wage. He believes that it is a biblical duty to fight global warming and supports cap-and-trade policies. Not to mention that he rails against Wall Street and the salaries of CEOs, going so far as to deem them to be “immoral.”

This is a candidate that supported an increase in the minimum wage in his state, as well as an increase in the federal minimum wage. He believes that it is a biblical duty to fight global warming and supports cap-and-trade policies. Not to mention that he rails against Wall Street and the salaries of CEOs, going so far as to deem them to be “immoral.”

To learn more about Mike Huckabee, please visit the Club for Growth’s examination of his fiscal record to find out why he is called Tax Hike Mike.

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