Archive: https://archive.today/Ga89v From the post: >>When Gov. Jared Polis announced a special session to address a so-called “budget hole,” he and partisan Democrats were quick to point their fingers at Washington, D.C., blaming Republicans in Congress for our state’s fiscal troubles. The real problem isn’t in Washington. The real issue is right here at home, under the Gold Dome. As a member of the Joint Budget Committee, I have a front-row seat to Colorado’s fiscal reality. The truth is, regardless of what happened in Congress, the Colorado state budget was already projected to start the next fiscal year at least $700 million in the red. Why? Because of years of overspending, a lack of priorities, and zero budgetary discipline from the majority party. Over the last seven years, Colorado has added more than 7,000 new full-time state employees. We’ve created a brand-new department and several new offices. That is not the behavior of a state with a revenue problem; it’s the behavior of a state with a priority problem. One-party control placed more importance on growing the size of government and creating new programs than on funding the essentials like K-12 education, health care, roads, and public safety.