Democratic lawmakers came to an agreement Friday to reduce the state’s multibillion-dollar deficit by $17.3 billion through a combination of spending cuts, delays and deferrals, a deal reached behind closed doors Republican lawmakers quickly labeled as “gimmicky.”
“This most recent deal that he’s touting is all reliant on budget gimmicks, cause shifts and deferrals, which, when you look at the numbers, it’s clearly not enough,” Vince Fong, Assembly vice chair of the budget committee told Fox News Digital. “We have a sustainability problem. We have an overspending problem in California, and nothing the governor is working on tackles that.”
The agreement comes after Newsom previously sent a letter to state agencies urging them to “take immediate action to reduce expenditures and identify all operational savings achieved” as damage control.
Republican state Rep. Kevin Kiley, who has been one of Newsom’s top critics in the legislature, told Fox News Digital another driver of costs is the state’s progressive championing of taxpayer-funded health care coverage for illegal immigrants in the state.