Posted on 01/25/25
| News Source: Maryland Matters
When a reporter framed a question Thursday with a line often used by Gov. Wes Moore (D) — that the state can’t simply cut its way to prosperity — Sen. Justin Ready (R-Carroll and Frederick) laughed out loud.
That was essentially the message from House and Senate Republicans on the Moore administration’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget: Despite billions in reported tax cuts and program reductions, the plan “is still a massive tax-and-spend budget,” they said.
“I don’t think you can say we’re cutting,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany). “Any attempt to couch this as a tax-cut budget is simply inaccurate.”
He was backed by about 20 GOP legislators who gathered to criticize the administration’s $67.3 billion budget, in a respectful but pointed 30-minute session that complained about spending mandates and new revenue increases.
The budget has already been criticized by some Democratic legislative leaders, who worry that it cuts too deeply, particularly with delays and deferrals in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the sweeping 10-year education reform plan now in its third year.
The back-and-forth comes amid projections that the state faces as much as a $3 billion deficit in fiscal 2026, and that the structural deficit could nearly double in a matter of years without action.
Against that backdrop, Moore last week unveiled a budget that he said was carefully balanced to achieve a “growth agenda.” The goal is to jump-start the sluggish state economy, which Moore said has been holding back the budget. Only by growing the economy will the state achieve the stable, long-term growth that will help reduce structural deficits, the administration argues.
Moore said his budget includes about $2 billion a year in spending cuts and operating efficiencies and about $1 billion in new revenues.