Reading about the necessity of a special session, a Kinks song kept going through my head:
Standing in the middle of nowhere,
Wondering how to begin.
Lost between tomorrow and yesterday,
Between now and then.And now we’re back where we started,
Here we go round again.
Day after day I get up and I say
I better do it again.
Pretty well sums up where the General Assembly stands today. Governor Daniels isn’t helping matters, accusing legislators of being unready to “face reality.” His posing as some sort of condescending father figure is unproductive. But, he is right to delay calling a special session for a bit. Tempers will have to cool before anything productive can be accomplished.
Senator Long has the right idea:
“The finger-pointing really is useless at this point. It isn’t going to get us anywhere,†he said. “People can blame each other and be outraged or whatever you want to call it, but the fact is we are in this situation because of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression. That has caused our problem today.â€
In order of blameworthiness, I’d put it in the following order:
1. Gov. Daniels — Introduced uncertainty in the process that derailed the budget. He moved the goalposts and was not clear on whether or what he would veto and why or what changes he proposed.
2. House Republicans – This caucus is basically useless. They bellow their complaints and seem uninterested in actually attempting to help govern. I would put them higher, but as the minority party, they are relieved of a good degree of responsibility.
3. House Democrats – If you make a deal on a major piece of legislation like this, you hold your nose, hold your caucus together, and get it passed.
4. Senate Republicans – Looked to be negotiating in good faith and got the budget through their chamber. And, by and large, I really admire Sen. Kenley and think Sen. Long is growing into the major shoes left empty when Sen. Garton was voted out of office by the right wing of his party.
5. Senate Democrats – Always an afterthought. No different here.
My understanding is that in actual fact, the governor has very little real power, because even if he were to veto a bill, the override in Indiana is merely a simple majority, not 2/3 or 3/4 as in most other states. If a bill had a majority going to the governor, that same majority could hold, the governor be damned.
So, I would put the blame on the majorities: The Rs in the Senate, and the Ds in the House.
Indeed, there were sound bites of Bauer saying that he was disappointed with going to a special session, because it would somehow give the governor more power. Well, Bauer could have done something about that. Normally, Bauer does a very good job of holding his caucus together, so who knows why this failed.
Just an interesting note that the governor wishes to increase the state reserve at this time. What are we waiting on as to the use of anything like a “rainy day fund”? Is interesting that Bauer or whoever in the House that kept the Democrats voting in lock step almost the entire session allowed a supposed agreement to fall.
Doug – I think you have absolutely nailed it. The legislature worked for months to come up with a budget that met the governor’s requirements. Only to have the requirements change by $100 M at the last minute.
Mike – you are right in general about the veto power. However, a veto (that occurs after adjournment) can’t be overriden until the next time the general assembly adjourns, which would be November…after budgets have already been set for the next fiscal year. As a practical matter, the effect of the governor’s veto would be to continue the current budget for another year. Unless the governor called a special session to permit the GA to overrule his veto…
Aside from this issue, the governor has a lot of “soft” power; he is much better at getting his ideas out across the state than any legislator; I would be surprised if 25% of the state knows who David Long is, or if 40% knows who Pat Bauer is.
There’s a provision for an expedited “technical” session in which the General Assembly can, among other things, override a veto. If concerned about a post-adjournment veto, the General Assembly can adopt a resolution to meet in a technical session (which can be called off by the leadership if the veto never happens.) At least that’s how I read IC 2-2.1-1-2.5.
Thanks – I didn’t know about the technical session.
Bauer couldn’t keep the Democratic Caucus together — and it’s because many felt that Senate Rs couldn’t pull any House Rs over to support the budget, why should they? Abdul said it right — no one has ever been voted out of office for voting no on a budget bill.
And don’t leave Indiana Black Legislative Caucus off of your list. Mayor Rudy Clay rallied many Black Caucus members to use their votes to lever a casino license to Gary.
The Governor shouldn’t be seen as a threat on a budget bill, especially (as was previously mentioned) since a veto only requires 51 votes to overturn. Bauer controls 52. If Bauer agreed in principle with the Senate Rs he better have had the votes lined up – and it’s clear he did not.
If there has been a “winner” it’s the Governor. He gets to use his pulpit to push the final budget to what he originally presented. No one should be surprised by his position — Bauer in particular. This isn’t Bauer’s first dance with the Governor — but he blew it anyway.