State Senate Democrats unveil ambitious $59.2B spending plan
OLYMPIA — With rising tax collections and a bounty of federal aid, Senate Democrats unveiled an ambitious budget Thursday that funds the state’s pandemic response, strengthens its safety net of social services, and confronts long-term challenges posed by wildfires and pensions.
Their blueprint diagrams a whole lot of spending. At the core is $59.2 billion contained in the next two-year budget. On top of that, there’s $7 billion in federal funds coming to Washington via the American Rescue Plan and earlier COVID-19 relief packages.
Of the federal dollars, $1.1 billion is earmarked for the coronavirus response, including vaccination efforts, testing and contact tracing. Another portion is for direct aid to struggling families, businesses, immigrants and health care providers. Existing assistance programs for renters and homeowners get another financial injection. And hundreds of millions of dollars are used to expand child care programs and help operators of long-term care facilities.
Meanwhile, in the regular budget, Democrats, boost spending across state government to reach everybody in all corners of the state. As part of the approach, they sweep emergency reserves in the Rainy Day Fund and pencil in receipts from a capital gains tax to do everything they wanted to do.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/state-senate-democrats-unveil-ambitious-59-2b-spending-plan/
