In yesterday's episode of Inside Olympia, Austin Jenkins talked with Rep. Hans Dunshee, chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Bruce Dammeier, vice chair of the Ways & Means Committee, about the budget.

Chair Dunshee talked a lot about his dislike of the four-year balanced budget requirement (from minute 10:03):

If you had the four-year balanced budget thing in place, nobody would have come to America, we wouldn't have done the GI bill, we would take no risk, we would never start businesses, we would sit in the status quo, and nothing would change. And for some people that's a great philosophy but I think we ought to be a little more aspirational.

I'm not sure how any of that is relevant to the requirement. The federal government's budget process is quite different from those of the states. (We wrote about the requirement in this policy brief.)

Jenkins pointed out that the four-year balanced budget was put into place as a way to maintain more stable spending levels (as opposed to increasing spending in good times and having to cut funds in bad times). To that, Chair Dunshee responded that before the balanced budget requirement, "there was a good tension of constraint and aspiration" (see minute 11:55). But he argued, "it should be within us, within legislators, that they do have that tension of constraint and aspiration" (12:18). (This brought to mind Alexander Hamilton, who wrote, "Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.")

Both Chair Dunshee and Sen. Dammeier noted the significant philosophical differences between the House- and Senate-passed budgets. Chair Dunshee said that budget negotiations are ongoing, and he noted that it would be an easier problem to solve if it weren't for the four-year constraint. As Jenkins writes,

But even a compromise right down the middle holds little appeal for Dunshee.

“For us it might be better to just stay with the existing budget and leave,” Dunshee said.

For his part, Sen. Dammeier said he thought the Legislature could come to an agreement on a supplemental during the regular session, which ends March 10.