Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Appropriations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Appropriations committee says $7 million must be cut from FY26 budget; aims for balanced draft by tomorrow
Summary
Committee members discussed cutting $7,000,000 from the fiscal year 2026 budget, dividing presentation responsibilities, and a schedule that calls for a straw vote Tuesday, floor presentation Thursday and finance on Friday.
Speaker 1, an Appropriations Committee member, told colleagues at the April 17 meeting that the committee must cut $7,000,000 from the fiscal year 2026 budget and that he would try to prepare a balanced draft by the next day. “We still have $7,000,000 to cut,” Speaker 1 said.
The committee discussed how to present the budget on the floor and the sequence for approval. Speaker 1 outlined a timeline: produce a balanced draft by tomorrow, hold a straw vote Tuesday, then present on the floor Thursday and send the package to finance on Friday. “If I could show a balanced budget, and and then we would come back through Tuesday, make any other changes that committee members need to make, and then we have a straw vote on Tuesday,” Speaker 1 said.
Members agreed to divide presentation responsibilities by sections rather than each member presenting every line. The committee plans to rely on the JFO overview and a work report so speakers can highlight key changes rather than review the entire base budget. Speaker 1 said, “We could do our sections and just focus on highlights.”
Committee members discussed workload and targets for reductions. Speaker 1 said he has six sections, five of which had no changes, and suggested that, given the $7,000,000 target, each member should look to identify roughly $1,000,000 in cuts. “So I’m assuming that each one of our goals should be looking at a $1,000,000 piece,” Speaker 1 said.
On questions about detailed technical or programmatic issues, Speaker 3 noted staff would be available for micro-level questions and that committee members could defer to staff expertise. Speaker 1 added that a highlight handout or the full work report could be distributed to the full membership and used to answer floor questions.
No formal motions or votes were recorded during this discussion. The meeting closed the item with the committee planning to reconvene on Tuesday to consider a straw vote and to finalize a presentation for the floor later that week.
