OKLAHOMA CITY — Democrats and Republicans traded accusations and insults on the House floor Wednesday afternoon but agreed unanimously — and almost incidentally — on a $34 million supplemental appropriation for the Department of Human Services.
Everyone agreed DHS needs the money to get through the current budget year. Apparently, the current budget was passed last spring with the understanding, at least on the part of some, that it didn’t include enough money to keep DHS going for a full 12 months, and a promise to do something about it when the time came.
But, in what is likely to be a preview of the next eight weeks, the minority Democrats accused the ruling Republicans of running the state’s finances into the ground, and the Republicans accused the Democrats of grandstanding.
“The state of Oklahoma is broke, and the people of Oklahoma are suffering because of it,” said Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City.
People are also reading…
Inman, considered a likely candidate for governor next year, said Republican leadership lied about the current budget to get it passed last spring, and said Republican tax cuts have left the state unable to pay for basic services.
He and other Democrats pounded on Tuesday’s revelation that the constitutional reserve fund — known as the Rainy Day Fund — has a zero balance because it’s been used to manage cash flow.
Officials say the money — $240 million to the Rainy Day Fund and nearly $60 million more to other accounts — will be returned once income tax returns start coming in, but the discovery has been unsettling, even to some Republicans.
“That was something I was surprised to find out,” said Rep. Pat Ownbey, R-Ardmore.
Ownbey, who as chairman of the Human Services Committee had the unhappy task of bringing the supplemental request to the floor, took the brunt of Democrats’ assault.
He didn’t like it much.
“I am very frustrated with this Legislature,” Ownbey said. “As a Republican, I believe in small government, but I also believe we do have a revenue problem.
“As chairman of the Human Services Committee for five years, I’ve seen that suffering you talk about, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”
Ownbey said Democrats, who number 26 in the current 99-member body, have offered nothing but criticism during the ongoing budget crisis. He pleaded with them to join some faction of Republicans to address the state’s worsening financial straits.
“My question is, what are we going to do next year?” he said. “We can’t keep pushing it off.”
