Thursday, 4:30 PM
Romney, circumventing veto overrides, slashes $425 million in spending
(AP Photo/Lisa Poole)
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (right) announced today he was using executive authority to cut $425 million from the state budget. David Westervelt, state budget director, looked on.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
Governor Mitt Romney froze state spending today, using his executive powers to effectively reinstate more than $388 million in spending vetoes that had been overridden by the Legislature. In total, Romney said he is withholding $425 million or 1.7 percent of the state's $25.7 billion budget by not funding 455 separate items.
"State revenues are at an all-time high, jobs are being created by the thousands and the stock market is at historic levels," Romney said in a written statement. "... The state is not in a fiscal crisis, but a crisis is looming if the Legislature continues to overspend."
The move renews a fight between the outgoing Republican governor and the Democrat-dominated Legislature. In June, Romney vetoed $573 million in spending, much of which was overridden by the Legislature.
A spokesman for House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi vowed to restore the cuts and criticized Romney in a statement issued to State House News Service.
"He unbalanced this budget through his own actions and now is covering his political hide at the expense of families and communities across the state," spokesman Kyle Sullivan said in a statement. "In the end these cuts may be restored, but his legacy as Governor will not be. His term in office will be remembered, if at all, as four years when personal ambition ruled over the common good."
In October, the governor blocked a $450 million transfer from the state's rainy day fund that state lawmakers had approved to help pay for initiatives in the current state budget, including money for health care and education.
Repeating his warning that the Legislature is heading down a "dangerous path," Romney accused lawmakers of wasting money from the $2.1 billion rainy day fund when the state was not in a financial crisis.
